What's Wrong with Regular Candles? 95% of all candles sold are made from paraffin wax. Paraffin is a grayish-black sludge, a by- product from petroleum refineries. It is sold cheaply by the petroleum refineries because they would otherwise have to pay to dispose of it. To make this waxy sludge more acceptable it is bleached (which creates dioxins), processed and then texturised using carcinogenic (cancer causing) chemicals (and the whole process creates air pollution). Candle makers then take this bleached, toxic wax, and colour it with synthetic colourants and artificial scents, form them into candles and sell them to you to burn in your living room. Nice! Burning paraffin candles produces the same toxic smoke as burning diesel fuel*. The toxic smoke from the paraffin candles covers your walls, furniture, carpet and curtains, not to mention the inside of your lungs and your skin. To
make matters worse, many paraffin candles are made with a lead core or
zinc core wick, (to slow down their burning rate, diesel burns fast)
further polluting your environment with toxic smoke. It is illegal to sell candles with lead core wicks in Australia, but a study conducted by Mike van Alphen concluded ”… daily (paraffin) candle burning of several hours duration would result in elevated blood lead levels. The burning of multiple candles in a confined space for greater than 3-6 hours daily would readily result in severe Pb (Lead) poisoning." Natural
beeswax is considerably more expensive than paraffin. If a candle does
not say 100% beeswax, then you can be almost guaranteed that it isn't.
Legally, a candle maker is allowed to call their product a 'beeswax'
candle if it has only 10% beeswax content. Some candlemaking companies
simply dip the candlewicks in beeswax, then insert the beeswax coated
wick into a pure paraffin candle, and promote the candle as beeswax. 100% beeswax candles, with the scent of warm honey, create a peaceful, natural ambience only a pure, Australian made, handrolled beeswax candle can give you. But don't buy our candles just because the paraffin candles are bad, buy them because beeswax candles are GOOD! *Note:
Some of the air contaminants in paraffin fumes include toluene,
benzene, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), and naphthalene - substances found
in paint, lacquer and varnish removers. The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has determined that benzene and toluene are probable human
carcinogens (cancer causing substances). Sources of information http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/rtecs/rv55730.html http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/Releases/1999/Oct99/r100699.html |