Light a candle, poison your home

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | June 21 2002

[dead]

Candles made in Asia are tainted with so much lead that burning them may spread toxic particles throughout the home, according to research reported in next Saturday's New Scientist.

Lead is added to the candle wick to stiffen it and give it a more even burn, and it has long been known that toxic particulates may be released into the air around the candle flame.

However, researchers at the United States' Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have discovered that burning a leaded-wick candle raises particulates not just near the candle but throughout the house.

In a test of eight leaded-wick brands, they found that burning just one candle for only four hours raised lead levels in that room to 6.2 micrograms per cubic metre and two micrograms per cubic metre throughout the rest of the house, the British weekly says.

The maximum permitted level under US air quality standards is 1.5 micrograms per cubic metre.

The worst candle would raise lead levels in the room where the candle is burned to more than 13 times the safety level, the scientists found.

The research is to be published in a future issue of a specialist journal, The Science of the Total Environment.

The New Scientist report did not identify the candle brands or say which countries manufactured them, describing them only as having been made "in the Far East".

It noted that all US and Western European manufacturers are committed to using safer but more expensive alternatives to lead such as zinc, and that the United States is studying plans to outlaw leaded-wick candles.

Lead is toxic, especially for children, because it hampers brain development.

Sales of imported candles in the United States market have grown by 800 per cent since 1992, and are now running at some three million per year.

AFP

[Dialup Llama]

>and that the United States is studying plans to outlaw leaded-wick candles.

Call me crazy but buring lead particles in your house strikes me as one of those things you shouldn't do.

[lds23]

I want reparations from China. Look what they've done to my mind!

[Carolina]

LOL! Aromatherapy might be more than you bargained for.

[alloysteel]

Ah, the craziness that prevails in "earth mother" homes shall be further exacerbated and extended by the heavy-metal poisoning caused by the volatilized lead. Didn't they take Ethyl (tetraethyl lead) out of gasoline some years back for this vary reason?

[mbynack]

According to the "www.snopes2.com" urban legend site:

Most domestic candle manufacturers took lead out of their wicks in the 1970s, though the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1974 didn't find it a health hazard. Concerns about the potential for harm continue to rage. In February 2000 the Public Citizen's Health Research Group asked the CPSC to immediately ban lead-wick candles and recall any that were still on store shelves.

According to the National Candle Association, the majority of wicks manufactured today in the U.S. are made entirely of cotton, with no metal cores. Those few wicks made with metal are typically zinc-core wicks. All of these wicks are safe, so there is no need to eschew metal wicks, just lead ones.

The National Candle Association says there is an easy way to test whether a candle has a lead core wick: Take an ordinary piece of white paper and rub it on the tip of an un-burnt wick. If the wick leaves a light grey pencil-like mark, it has a lead core. No mark, however, and the candle is lead-free.

Concerns about the effect of candles on health are not solely limited to worries about lead's being loosed into the air -- some people have voiced apprehensions over potentially carcinogenic dyes and perfumes used in these products, and yet others fear the consequences of paraffin fumes, asserting "It is never healthy to breathe petroleum products." How valid these misgivings are is anyone's guess.

[GOP_Lady]

As a part-time employee of Yankee Candle Company, we use no lead wicks (most better candle manufacturers don't). Remember: Always keep the wick trimmed to 1/4"; this will eliminate carbon build-up which can blacken walls and ceilings if not done. If this is done, burning candles are safe. Also remember to never, ever leave a burning candle unattended.

[NautiNurse]

Yankee Candle Company

Love those candles!

[general_re]

As a part-time employee of Yankee Candle Company...

Baaaaaaahhhhh. As someone who has been subjected to an endless succession of girly scents at the hands of his wife, I'd like to know when Yankee Candle will have some scents that are a touch more masculine? Where's the leather-scented tart? Beer scent? The one that smells like warm motor oil?

It's discrimination, I say. Baking cookies - bleh. Lavender - blah. Roses - feh. I want scents for me... ;)

[swarthyguy]

This news came out in an obscure article a while back. Candle burning friends of mine refused to believe it. The ironic thing is some of them are so concerned about their diets and unhealthy influences in their lives but will sit for hours in a sealed room in the winter eating brown rice and veggies with half a dozen lit candles refusing to believe that they contain lead.

[jto2]

LOL General_Re, you obviously don't shop for Yankee Candles. They DO have a leather scent, as well as one called "campfire" that smells like campfire smoke. They do not, however, market a burning oil one, but I bet it's only a matter of time before they come out with a "NASCAR" scent. Smells of gasoline and spent tires. hehehe

[RightWhale]

Makes one wonder, doesn't it.

[GOP_Lady]

May I suggest Mountain Lake or Midsummer's Night (this one smells like a man's cologne and the wax color is black). Oh, by the way, I did see a leather fragrance car jar (air freshener) believe it or not.

[general_re]

I am at the mercy of the candle shopper here, so it sounds to me like someone's pulled the wool over my eyes. But you left out the beer scent. And better than the beer scent, how about a bar scent - smells like cigarettes, beer, and peanuts ;)

[Aggie Mama]

Hmmm, that's good to know.

[general_re]

Yankee Candle needs a suggestion box for new scents. I suggest one called "Baseball" - it smells like leather, fresh-cut grass, and pine tar ;)

[ArrogantBustard]

The one that smells like warm motor oil?

If they'd make one that smells like Hoppes' No. 9, I'd buy it. They could call it 'Hunting Season', or some such.

[Hoosier Patriot]

Why not a magnesium core wick, for that warm, cheery, arc light glow?

[Hoosier Patriot]

I agree. There's nothing like the aroma that comes wafting out when I open the gun cabinet. Pure manly bliss.

[general_re]

That's what I'm talking about - "Hunting Season", smells like Hoppes solvent, with maybe just a hint of cordite ;)