Do Air Fresheners,Scented and/or Aromatherapy Candles, and Incense Freshen The Air?

Who doesn’t love a room that smells fresh and clean with the hint of a comforting fragrance tickling our noses? Advertising has done a wonderful job of convincing us that a room is not really clean unless the air has been “freshened”. After all, those cute, cuddly forest creatures wouldn’t be trying to sell us something that could harm our health, would they?

Think again!!

What these air fresheners do instead is coat our nasal passages with a film that deadens our nerve endings. This confuses us into thinking the room is fresh smelling because it reduces our ability to detect odours.

It is no wonder that problems such as asthma, cancer, SIDS, and Alzheimer’s are becoming more prevalent when you realize exactly what goes into these air fresheners.

The ingredients may include chemicals such as formaldehyde (used in embalming), naphthalene (derived from coal tar or petroleum), artificial fragrances (derived from petroleum), 1, 4 dichlorobenzene (1,4 DCB may harm lung function), camphor (affects the central nervous system), ethanol (synthetic ethanol is from petroleum) and benzyl alcohol (depresses the central nervous system). Wow!!

Are scented and aromatherapy candles any better at clearing the air safely? Not when you take a closer look. Most candles of made of paraffin wax (a petrochemical), artificial scent (a petrochemical) and/or pure essential oils. Essential oils convert into unhealthy byproducts when burned. Metal or lead core wicks are used in most scented paraffin candles. When the wick burns, lead is released into the air to be inhaled or cling to furniture and walls. All of the lead you breathe in ends up in your bloodstream. Lead has been proven to contribute to irreversible neurologiecal damage as well as renal disease, cardiovascular effects and reproductive effects, and reproductive toxicity. The black soot created from burning these candles is toxic.

The American Lung Association gives this warning: "scented, paraffin candles cause lead poisoning and using slow-burning paraffin candles cause poor indoor air quality, and a serious health concern."

Incense has been proven to release dangerous amounts of cancer-causing toxins into the air. These toxins are inhaled and circulated throughout the body doing the same damage to your body as air fresheners and candles. So…how do you freshen a room?

Here a few simple, inexpensive, healthy ways to freshen the air in your home.

• Open the windows
• Burn 100% pure beeswax candles with 100% cotton or paper wicks
• Simmer fragrant herbs such as rosemary or thyme in a saucepan or warming diffuser
• Use baking soda in your closets and bathroom as well as your fridge
• Use vinegar and water to clean
• Mix a few drops of a pure essential oil with water in a mister and spritz
• Crush dried lavender and place in a small lidless container out of sight
• Grow air-cleaning household plants. The top ten air cleaners (in descending order) are: areca palm, Reed palm, Dwarf date palm, Boston fern, Pothos, English ivy, Australian sword fern, Peace lily, Rubber plant and the Weeping fig. An additional benefit these plants provide is to reduce the carbon dioxide in a room
• Use volcanic rock to absorb odours
• Simmer homey spices like cinnamon and cloves on the stovetop