Incense Burning Might Lead To Cancer   By Michael Todd
13:00, August 26th 2008

A recent study conducted and presented by the researchers of the department
of epidemiology from Copenhagen's Statens Serum Institut, shows that there
is a connection between the exposure to burning incense and airway cancers.
The study was led by Dr. Jeppe T. Friborg and demanded a long term
involvement from the entire research team.

"This association is consistent with a large number of studies identifying
carcinogens in incense smoke," Friborg's team writes, "and given the
widespread and sometimes involuntary exposure to smoke from burning incense,
these findings carry significant public health implications." According to
the results, the long-term exposure to the incense smoke leads to certain
respiratory tract, lung, tongue and mouth cancers.

The incenses are usually made from a series of plant materials such as tree
bark, roots, resins, flowers or essential oils. While burning, these
materials are known to produce potentially carcinogen substances such as
carbonyls, benzene and hydrocarbons (PAHs).

This is not the first study targeting the effects of inhaled incense, but so
far none of them managed to provide conclusive information. What sets this
research apart from the others is the long term observation process on
healthy people, which provided all the needed data to help the researchers
reach the firm conclusion.

The study involved the careful observation of about 60,000 Chinese residents
of Singapore. They were recruited between 1993 and 1998 and followed until
2005. At the time of their selection they were all cancer-free and had to
answer several questions about their diet, lifestyle habits and offer
details about their exposure to incense – close to 75 percent were frequent
incense users.

The results after more than eight years of tests listed 325 upper
respiratory tract cancers and 821 lung cancers, and the frequent incense
users appeared twice as exposed to developing squamous cell upper
respiratory tract cancers including nasal/sinus, tongue, mouth and
laryngeal. The risk appears to be the same for smokers and non-smokers.
There are still many more aspects of the issue that demand attention, such
as the upcoming analysis which will be focused on whether different types of
incense are associated with different degrees of cancer risk.

"Given that our results are backed by numerous experimental studies showing
that incense is a powerful producer of particulate matter and that incense
smoke contains carcinogenic substances, I believe incense should be used
with caution," said Dr. Jeppe Friborg.

The news were quickly acknowledged by many, and Dr. Norman Edelman, chief
medical officer of "The American Lung Association" explained for US News &
World Report that incense exposure will be added as a risk factor on its
lists.

Even though is it considered far less dangerous than smoking, people should
try to avoid it as much as possible, as there are many more ways of keeping
the house perfumed without worrying about these risks. The problem is that
the incense burning trend is extremely popular all over the world and it
might take a while for everyone to understand the risks and keep their
places incense-free.



(c) 2007 - 2008 - eFluxMedia

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