Most candles: toxic leftovers.
Most commercial candles are made of
poisonous chemicals.
Paraffin is petroleum industry waste
that is bleached (adding dioxin and other poisonous
chemicals) and texturized with acrolyn. Stearic acid,
a byproduct of the meatpacking slaughterhouses, is
added as a hardener. Often candles are highly scented with
artificial, synthetic oils and
marketed to "freshen" our precious air.
Of course they don't actually freshen
or deodorize anything, they just mask smells with
chemicals stronger and dangerous to our health.
"Aromatherapy" candles may be some of
the worst, and marketing takes advantage us using nice
names like "harmony", "rejuvenation" and "bliss". Some
companies use good quality essential oils and the
focus our attention on that fact, but they are in a
paraffin candle. This makes no sense to us, and we
trust that intelligent people will see through all the
nonsense, however poetic and "spiritual".
According to the American EPA, paraffin candles are
known to release carcinogens like benzene and toluene. When
burned, they spew choking toxins and black soot as harmful to
our health as second-hand tobacco smoke that coats our
walls, our art and our lungs. Just try
breathing directly over a lit paraffin candle and you’ll know
immediately how poisonous it is.
The American Lung
Association says "Refrain
from burning scented or slow-burning candles that have
additives." This
is such a serious issue that the insurance industry is
issuing stern warnings - and policies.
Click here to read an excellent little article.
More and more
candles are being made with vegetable waxes such as
soy and palm. This is a great improvement over
chemical candles in all terms, but as an aesthetic
matter, they burn at a very
low temperature and give off a cold, eerie light.
Also, though quite clean-burning, they do not possess
the same magical qualities as beeswax.
Beeswax: made from flowers by
honeybees. Solid sunlight™.
Beeswax is very different:
all natural, non-toxic, non-polluting, non-allergenic,
and with a delicious honey-sweet aroma. A perfect,
renewable resource, beeswax is made by the female
worker bee for honeycomb, which safely contains their
honey and the Queen’s baby bees.
To produce one pound of beeswax, the worker
bees eat about ten pounds of honey (yum), fly 150,000
miles, and visit 33 million flower blossoms! Beeswax
is precious stuff.
Pure beeswax is healthy.
Beeswax produces negative ions that actually
clean your air of odors, pollens, smoke, dust, dust
mites, viruses and other allergens and hazards – the
only known fuel to do so. As does a rainstorm,
beeswax candles leave your air fresher and cleaner
- they are a true air purifier.
They are the only candle for anyone with chemical
sensitivities or allergies.
Increasing negative ions in the air and
on the body, such as when one bathes in water,
improves mood and sense of wellbeing.
With increased negative ions, studies
show:
Why Beeswax?
