Belated Eid Greeting.
Ramadan is a time for spiritual connection with the Quran. This
is a holy month to engage in fasting, prayer and charity. Eid-ul-Fitr marks the
end of the holy month of Ramadan. We celebrate this festival with family
gatherings and family meals.
This Eid, I got to spend time with my mother’s side of the
family at my parents’ place for the traditional Eid lunch and then we travelled
to Dubai to attend a Eid gathering with my husband’s family at lovely hotel. We
greeted one another and renewed kinship to share the joy of the occasion. I
truly love the excitement Eid brings to the children around me. The sight of
the young children adorned in their brand new Eid attires and running around in
bliss brings a lot of joy to the heart.
The venue of our Eid dinner gathering was a glamorous gold and
white themed, with candles adding to the warmth and ambience of the décor. As I
sat there looking at the flickering flame of the candles, my mind asked me why we
are allowing our children to breathe the air with the lethal mix of all known
carcinogens emitted by the burning candles.
These innocent looking candles with their soft warm glow and the
lovely scent that elevates a space to the next sensory level are a source of
indoor air pollution.
The next day when I visited my co-sister’s house I was surprised
to find a number of lit candles in the kitchen. On asking her why she wanted to
deplete all the oxygen in the air and replace it with the byproducts of
hydrocarbon combustion, she told me that her husband likes to fill the house
with candles and she doesn’t object because it takes gets rid of all the bad
smells. That’s when I realized that it’s
time to throw some light on what a candle really is.
What makes up a candle?
Paraffin is a petroleum waste product and has to be deodorized
and chemically bleached before it can be made in to wax. Most candles are made
of paraffin wax with added fragrance and a wick.
My first encounter with a candle was at my grandparents’ house
in Kerala during my vacation visit. There was a half-an hour period of
‘power-cut’ when the electricity would go off and all the gadgets in the house
stopped functioning. We used to stop all our activities, gather in one room
usually around a candle or an emergency light, sit peacefully and chat during
this period of absolute silence. I was utterly fascinated by the burning candle,
dancing flame, melting wax and the shadows it cast on the wall. When I asked my
dad why we don’t have this in our home in Abu Dhabi my dad replied that candles
and oil lamps were used as a source of illumination in the pre-electricity era.
In the developed world, we use electric bulbs and tubes as they are convenient,
safe, and free from pollution.
Ironically today, when we have the luxury of uninterrupted electricity
and clean energy, we have brought back the candles as a sign of opulence- for
its scent and aesthetic value. Our ancestors didn’t have a choice, but we do.
Smoke inhalation- a deadly killer
Most people who live in affluent countries simply
flip a switch or turn a knob to prepare a meal, and any smoke created is
whisked away by fans and ventilation systems. Not so in the developing world.
The cost of a “clean” cookstove can be a significant obstacle for people who
live on $2 or less a day.
Today, nearly half the world’s population - close
to 3 billion people –eat meals cooked over fires that use charcoal, wood, or
even animal waste for fuel. A year from now, 1.9 million of those people will
be dead. Their death certificates will cite pneumonia, lung cancer or
tuberculosis, but the underlying cause is exposure to cooking smoke. Women and
girls in developing countries, who spend several hours a day cooking meals over
open flames or on smoky cookstoves, are disproportionately vulnerable. These
people don’t have a choice, but we do.
Toxins in a burning candle
Paraffin wax creates highly toxic benzene and toluene when
burned (both are known carcinogens). In fact, the toxins released from paraffin candles are the
same as those found in diesel fuel fumes.
On top of that, many scented candles also have wicks that
contain heavy metals like lead, and even a few hours of burning them can create
levels of airborne heavy metals that are much higher than the acceptable limits.
Exposure to high amounts of lead has been linked to hormone disruption,
behavioral problems, learning disabilities, and numerous health problems.
One of the known secondary products of all fragrance chemicals
once they react in the air is formaledehyde, with its carcinogenic and skin and
breathing-irritant properties. Everyday
exposure to indoor chemicals such as formaldehyde may contribute to increasing
incidences of asthma, cancers and other
illnesses, and many countries have taken steps to control exposure. Exposure to high levels of formaldehyde indoors is a source of concern among health professionals,
particularly their effect on the delicate airways of children.
What can we do to detox our indoor air?
In the 1980s, Nasa published a paper supporting evidence for a simple way of
to reduce chemical levels in enclosed space stations. The great scientific breakthrough? The humble
houseplant. Certain common plants were shown to remove toxic agents naturally
from the air.
You can diffuse essential oils to freshen indoor air.
We can control the levels of these toxic chemicals in our homes
by using fewer scented candles, and choosing aromatic products sensibly. And next
time you light a candle, open a window as well.
