News and Politics | August 26, 2008 | 4 comments

Burning incense linked to respiratory cancers

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Burning incense may create a sweet scent, but regularly inhaling the smoke could put people at risk of cancers of the respiratory tract, researchers reported Monday.

In a study of more than 61,000 ethnic Chinese living in Singapore who were followed for up to 12 years, the investigators found a link between heavy incense use and various respiratory cancers.

The findings are published in the medical journal Cancer.
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4 comments // Burning incense linked to respiratory cancers

  • love_is_my_religion
  • EclecticBadger
    • 0
      EclecticBadger  
    • Whilst ingesting the particulate by-product of any burning substance can have negative affects on the lungs there is a great deal of difference between occasionally burning one or two joss sticks around the house and lighting up bundles of incense sticks as might be used in a Buddhist temple.

      Also to be considered - what is being burnt (herb, resin, oil etc) and the volume of the space being censed - how for example, would the Catholic Church react if it were told that it had been poisoning its parishioners for the last 2000 plus years?

      Personally, I used to inhale a lot of incense, but now Im down to two boxes of nag champa a day.

    • 3 years ago
  • TheSodaJerk
  • JanaPokana
    • 0
      JanaPokana  
    • I always get a headache when smelling any kind of incense, room sprays, scented candles, burning oils, etc. so it does not surprise me at all that they are not good for you ...

    • 3 years ago
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