Beeswax Candles Offer Clean Alternative to Petroleum-Based Products

Clean Candles
Penn Live, 7/11/2007

Have you ever considered the chemicals you might be releasing into the air when you burn a candle?

Most candles are made with paraffin-based wax. This is derived from petroleum and may be made from foreign or domestic oil. Do you notice black smoke when they burn or soot on items around where you burn your candles after you have burned them for a long time? This is from the petroleum and is a sign of the toxins and possible carcinogens you are filling your air with.

Care2.com reports that the EPA found the following checmicals in a random group of thirty candles: Acetone, Benzene, Trichlorofluoromethane, Carbon disulfide, 2- Butanone, 1, 1, 1-Trichloroethane, Carbon tetrachloride, Trichloroethene, Tetrachloroethene, Toluene, Chlorobenzene, Ethylbenzene, Styrene, Xylene, Phenol, Cresol, Cyclopentene and Lead. Besides, petroleum isn't a renewable resource. Starting to not smell so nice, huh?

Most scented candles are made from synthetic fragrances. Since the chemicals that make up these fragrances aren't required to be listed, the consumer is left with little ability to judge what exactly they are inhaling.
So choose soy, beeswax or palm oil candles as an alternative to the petroleum-derived kind. All of these candles are clean burning, which means you won't see the toxic soot you see with the paraffin kind…