Are Your Candles Safe & Non-Toxic?

Fragranced consumer products, such as air fresheners, cleaning supplies, and personal care products, are very prevalent all over our homes. I enjoy lighting a candle late a night or when I want to relish in a relaxing moment or two. When I realized that that there are no rules or bans in the works for paraffin candles and those scented with synthetic oils, I started to research what was in my candles.

Look for a “lead-free” label when shopping for new candles: Fortunately, lead-core wicks were banned in 2003. A candle with a lead-core wick releases five times the amount of lead considered hazardous for children and exceeds EPA pollution standards for outdoor air, says the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Look for non-toxic wax: Beeswax, vegetable and soy based candles are all considered non-toxic formulas for candles.

Understand that even more clean based candles still emit soot into your air: Even after I switched to soy, essential oil based candles that were handmade, it is important to understand that even essential oil based candles omit soot, pollutants and particles in the air that may have an impact on our health. To reduce soot, no matter what kind of wicks are in your candles, trim wicks to 1/8 inch.

Consider that we all are impacted slightly differently by fragrance: We must consider that all of us our impacted differently by fragranced products. An NIH funded study in 2016 said that 34.7 % of those who responded to the survey reported health problems, such as migraine headaches and respiratory difficulties, when exposed to fragranced products.

-

Free giveaway! Sara, creator of BoldBeats Fitness is accepting survey responses on non-toxic lifestyles. Anyone can enter and receive an opportunity to receive a free soy candle (with cotton wicks and essential oils) made from a black owned, U.S. based company, NaturalAnnie's! All you have to do is 1) answer this brief survey, 2) enter your contact information at the bottom of survey 3) live in the United States to receive the gift 4) You will receive bonus points for sending to a friend!

Citations:

1) Green America: https://www.greenamerica.org/toxic-candles

2) Consumer Product Safety Commission: https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/pdfs/foia_canwick2.pdf

3) Fragranced consumer products: exposures and effects from emissions by Anne Steinemann: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5093181/

Photo by Jessica Delp on Unsplash