Scented candles release as many harmful toxins as cigarettes

When U.S. researchers burnt a range of candles in a laboratory for a study published two years ago,the chemicals released in harmful amounts included human carcinogens and chemicals known to cause asthma attacks,such as toluene and benzene.

Dr Amid Hamidi of South Carolina University,who led the study,showed that paraffin-based candles produced “clear sharp peaks” for many chemicals,mainly because they do not reach high enough temperatures when being burned to destroy the hazardous molecules they emit.

“An occasional paraffin candle and its emissions will probably not affect you,” the ‘Daily Mail’ quoted him as saying.

“But lighting many of them every day for years,or lighting them frequently in an unventilated bathroom,for example,may cause problems,” he added.

Research by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has shown that cored candles release the dirtiest soot,sometimes containing particles of zinc,tin,lead and the metal cadmium.