...Queen B Candles - Just in time for Earth hour

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Cate, the owner of Queen B candles . What a lovely, kind and generous soul she is and definitely one who "walks her talk".  She is passionate about what she does.  Her company make the most exquisite candles that are made from pure beeswax.   They are beautiful, have the faintest smell of honey and are HEALTHY to burn.  If you would like to order some candles from Queen B, it's not too late to order them now, just in time for earth hour (26th March).  If you enjoy burning candles, please take a minute to read the info below.

The beautiful Cate

The main alternative to beeswax is paraffin - representing over 95% of all candles sold.

Paraffin is a petro-chemical by-product which, when burned, emits a toxic smoke (for toxicity information go to http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/rtecs/rv55730.html). Paraffin is the grayish-black sludge oozing out of petroleum refineries. 

To make this waxy sludge more 'palatable' it is then bleached (which creates dioxins), processed and then texturised using carcinogenic chemicals. Candle makers then take this bleached, toxic wax, and colour it with synthetic colourants and artificial scents selling these candles to the unsuspecting public to burn in their living room!! Fantastic!

The toxic smoke from the paraffin candles covers your walls, furniture, carpet and curtains, not to mention the inside of your lungs and your skin.

In addition, many paraffin candles are made with a lead core or zinc core wick, further polluting your environment with toxic smoke.  There is a lot more profit in paraffin.

A similar study was conducted in Australia by Mike van Alphen which concluded "Modelling of a number of residential scenarios and detailed exposure assessments readily demonstrate that daily candle* burning of several hours duration would result in elevated blood lead levels. The burning of multiple candles in a confined space for greater than 3-6 hours daily would readily result in severe Pb poisoning." (go to http://www.lead.org.au/mr/9-8-99.html)