We all want what’s best for our young families. We want them to eat well and get exercise and we want to provide a nurturing environment that promotes growth, learning and health. As for yourself you are working at finding balance in your busy life and part of that is healthy natural living. A consideration in that environment should be air quality. You need to look at what you are putting or not putting in the air that keeps it clean and healthful to breathe. This is especially true in what is our sanctuary – our homes.
I have put together a collection of articles for you to read if you wish to find out about candles and their effect on air quality in your home and how it might affect you and your family if you are burning the wrong candles.
For many what makes a home comfortable and cozy is burning candles. If it is paraffin candles that you burn regularly you may be putting you and your children at risk. Although it is older an article entitled Candles – A Burning Air Quality Issue in Natural Life Magazine is still relevant. The writer, Wendy Priesnitz states that paraffin candles contain benzene, toluene, styrene and acetone. Acetone is the smelly stuff in most nail polish removers. For more on this topic I suggest that you refer to a study made by the American Chemical Association. You can access that study here, Romantic, candle-lit dinner: An unrecognized source of indoor air pollution.
Wendy Presnitz in her article in Natural Life Magazine also says that a major concern is soot produced by paraffin. It is blackening walls and affecting air quality. I had evidence of this from Brenda, a customer from Abbotsford BC a couple of years ago. She told me, “I just finished painting my house. I had to paint the ceiling three times because it was so stained by soot from burning paraffin candles. I am only using pure beeswax candles from now on. They burn so much longer than paraffin and so much cleaner.”
There is another good article worth reading at the informative website ethicalcommunity.com. They took some time to research candle burning. Their concern is indoor air pollution. There is so much information here and they covered so many topics I would suggest if indoor air quality is important to you that you check this article out for yourself. They write about lead wicks from imported candles; smoke from paraffin candles; candles scented with synthetic fragrances and candles made from soy, palm and beeswax. After their extensive research the conclusion is interesting for me. They decided to stick with pure beeswax candles. The photo I have provided shows a beautiful pure natural beeswax Honey Candles® square Pillar burning at a dinner party. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by following the advice of the writers and researchers at ethicalcommunity.com and that is to burn only pure natural beeswax candles in your home.
Tell us what you think after you read these articles. I would love to hear your comments.
