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Candle Safety: More Than Just Getting Burned

The Quick Facts: Burning candles in your home may be more of a health risk than just the creation of a fire hazard. Candles that are made with lead-cored wicks and burned indoors can exposure your family and kids to lead. In 2000, an investigation by the nonprofit Public Citizen found that a significant number of candles on the market had lead-cored wicks despite a voluntary industry commitment made in the 1970s to not use lead-cored wicks in candles. In 2001, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission placed a ban on the sale of both domestic and imported candles with lead-cored wicks. This ban became effective in October 2003. Despite the federal ban you may want to take steps to reduce your family’s exposure to lead by examining, testing, researching and observing your candles to determine if they have lead-cored wicks prior to burning them.

During the winter, when night temperatures are cool and the snow is falling, many people burn candles in their homes to provide a feeling of warmth. If you have kids, than likely you take extra precaution when burning candles by placing them up and out of reach on the mantle or the stovetop. While such precaution may help to reduce the risk of kids getting burned or knocking the candle over, you may be surprised to learn that another danger associated with candle-burning still lurks. When burning candles, your kids may be exposed to lead through the burning of lead-cored wicks.

Get the Lead Out: Lead and Kids
Lead-cored wicks can emit lead into the air during burning. Children are potentially exposed to lead when they inhale the vaporized lead or when, through crawling and playing, they come into contact with and ingest lead dust that has settled on objects in the home. Lead accumulates in the body, and exposure to even small amounts of lead can contribute to the overall level of lead in the blood.

Lead poisoning in children is associated with behavior problems and learning disabilities. If not detected early, children with high levels of lead in their bodies can also suffer from: damage to the brain and nervous system; slowed growth; and hearing problems. Adults can also be negatively impacted by exposure to lead and can suffer from difficulties during pregnancy and other reproductive problems; high blood pressure; digestive problems; nerve disorders; memory and concentration problems; and muscle and joint pain.

All Fired-Up About Lead-Cored Wicks
The controversy over lead-cored wicks has been going on for decades. In 1973, Public Citizen, a national nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, petitioned the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to ban candles with lead-cored wicks based on possible health risks. The CPSC is the federal agency charged with ensuring that consumer products are safe for public use. In response to Public Citizen's petition, the CPSC investigated and concluded that the level of lead given off by the burning of lead-cored wicks did not constitute an "imminent threat," and at that time did not ban candles with lead-cored wicks. In 1976, the CPSC warned consumer and religious organizations that lead-cored wicks may give off some levels of lead but concluded that the health risk was not "unreasonable." The candle industry later imposed a voluntary ban on the use of lead-cored wicks.

More than two decades later, in 2000, Public Citizen maintained its concern over the health risk associated with lead-cored wicks and conducted a study that examined candles purchased from stores in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland area. In the study, 285 candles were examined from 12 stores. Of those, 86 were found to have metallic lead-containing wicks. Nine candles had wicks with high amounts of lead ranging from thirty-three percent to eighty-five percent by weight. Armed with these findings, Public Citizen, together with the National Apartment Association and National Multi-Housing Council, again petitioned the CPSC to ban candles with lead-cored wicks and to order a recall of all metal-wicked candles.

In 2001, after an independent investigation, the CPSC placed a ban on the sale of both domestic and imported candles with lead-cored wicks that finally became effective in October 2003. The CPSC's investigation revealed that despite the candle industry's 1970s voluntarily imposed ban on lead-cored wicks, a small percentage of candles sold in the intervening years still contained lead-cored wicks. The CPSC determined that lead-cored wicks could emit large amounts of lead into the air during burning, and found that some of the candles tested emitted lead levels that were about seven times higher (3,000 micrograms per hour) than the rate (430 micrograms per hour) found to be hazardous in children.

Reduce Your Exposure
So, before you spice up the holidays with scented candles or rev up your romantic life with candle mood lighting, you may want to check to see if your candles have a lead-cored wick. Although the CPSC's ban on lead-cored wicks went into effect in 2003, candles in your home may have been bought before the ban was in effect and the inventory in stores may be outdated.

Here's how to check if your candles have a lead-cored wick:

Information used in this article was found at the following sources, which you can visit if you want to find out more about this topic:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/leadwick.asp (Snopes.com, Rumor Has It, a for-profit organization that researches and reports about the veracity of urban legends; 2000 Answer detailing stories told about effects of burning candles with lead wicks)

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml03/03105.html (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction; Office of Information and Public Affairs, 2003 Press Release entitled "CPSC Bans Candles With Lead-Cored Wick")

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=434 (Public Citizen, a national nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and the courts; 2000 Press Release entitled "Millions of Dangerous Candles Sold Throughout U.S. Lead Wicks Pose Major Safety Hazard Especially to Children")


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