Why Burn Beeswax?

Many commercial candles, particularly those imported from overseas countries, emit poisonous chemicals when burned.

Often candles are highly scented with artificial, synthetic oils and marketed to freshen the air.

Of course they don't actually freshen or deodorise anything, they just mask smells with chemicals stronger and dangerous to our health.

An American EPA report lists the known carcinogens acetaldehyde, formaldehyde and acrolein as potential toxins given off when burning these candles.

The horror is further compounded by an American Lung Association report* which lists acetone, benzene, 2-butanone, carbon disulfide, carbon tetrachloride, creosol, chlorobenzene carbon monoxide, cyclopentene, ethylbenzene, lead, mercury, phenol, styrene tetrachloroethene, toluene, trichloroethene and xylene as among the toxins that can be released from burning candles.

So, how do you decide which candles are best to keep the indoor air quality of your home safe for you and your family.

The answer is easy – burn beeswax - an all natural, non-toxic, non-polluting, non-allergenic product with a wonderfully natural honey sweet aroma.

Beeswax is a renewable resource which is said to produce negative ions that actually clean your air of odours, pollens, smoke, dust, dust mites, viruses and other allergens and hazards.

They are the only candle for anyone with chemical sensitivities or allergies. Beeswax burns brighter, hotter, cleaner, and longer than any other wax.

When properly made and burned, beeswax candles are smokeless and dripless.

However, if the label on the candle doesn’t say 100% beeswax it almost certainly is not because a candle may be labelled beeswax if it contains as little as 10% beeswax.

A pure beeswax candle will smell of honey with varying intensity and colours.

The type of plant from which the honeybee harvests pollen determines the fragrance of the beeswax.

A lighter beeswax indicates the bees are collecting materials from blossoms.

A darker beeswax is produced when bees collect from plants such as eucalyptus and avocado.

Over time you may notice a white powdery dust on a beeswax candle, usually when the wax is cold and exposed to air.

This is called bloom and is caused by the softer oils in the wax coming to the surface.

Bloom is a good indication that your beeswax is pure. I

t is not harmful and may be removed by blowing warm air from a hair dryer over the wax or by buffing the candle with a nylon stocking (although this does not work well with hand-rolled honeycomb candles).

* Reference: http://www.alaw.org/air_quality/indoor_air_quality/candles.html

Interested in knowing where you can find this high qualtiy beeswax candles, just click on the link below and you will get into the wonderland of the bees and their products.

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Helena Ederveen, Associate Member Australasian College Nutritional & Environmental Medicine, Master Practitioner Neuro Linguistic Programming. e mail brainlongevity@iinet.net.au Phone within Australia 08 9285 2121/9285 2123