We love candles around our house, especially my wife. She buys new
ones every week-- large or small, and scented with everything from a
clean pine scent (my favorite) to cherry or pomegranate. We enjoy them
every evening as we wind down from a busy day.

But -- it really hit home last night how dangerous candles are, and
what a health hazard they can be.

We have some cheap gold candles that must have been painted on the
outside to give them a glittery appearance. When my  wife blew them
out and we went to bed, one of them continued to smolder for half an
hour in the dark, without a flame but with the wick still red and
smoke pouring into the room. When I went out later to see what the
smell was, the entire house was filled with paraffin smoke. This
little 99¢ candle had trashed our living room.

When I began to investigate paraffin smoke and its ingredients, I
found out why my wife and I should have checked into a hotel last
night instead of lying there breathing that disgusting air. Did you
know that candles throw out as many as 11 different carcinogens? It's
not only after you blow them out, but the entire time they are lit you
are experiencing a steady stream of these compounds, generally due to
the petroleum-based wax used to produce the candle. This wax is mixed
with synthetic fragrance that in most cases is not even meant to be
burned. Many candles have chemical fixatives added to them, synthetic
glosses or "paints" as our candle had, and more.

In fact, candle ingredients are not even listed on the package,
despite the fact that anyone within range inhales those ingredients
when it is lit. There are so few regulations that a candle listed as
"beeswax" can still have petroleum paraffin as an ingredient. Some
wicks even have small amounts of lead in their core to help them burn
just right, and no one regulates the amount of lead that gets inhaled
during those romantic, candlelit nights. Candles seem to have bypassed
the regulatory agencies in most countries, probably because many of
them are purely decorative and never meant to be lit.

My advice is to stick to quality brands of plant-based wax, such as
"soy" candles. And any candle, when it is extinguished, needs to be
covered for some time in order to trap those huge volumes of smoky
carcinogens that are released when the candle is blown out!

Dave

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