Check this out....

[Trae]

I belong to a massage therapy board since I will soon be attending massage school. I plan on incorporating aromatherapy candles into my massage business one day. Anywho, someone on the board asked if made soy candles and I answered no, I use paraffin. Well, another member retorted with this:

Just thought you might want to know what you are selling

The Truth about Paraffin Wax Candles….

Paraffin is the greyish-black sludge leftover from petroleum refinery

processing. To make paraffin wax the sludge is:

bleached

chemically colored

texturized with harmful chemicals, including acrolein

In January 2001, the EPA reported as a worse case scenerio that you are

exposed to the following chemicals when burning paraffin candles:

Regarding formaldehyde, the EPA states, "It is shown to cause cancer in

animals and may cause cancer in humans." Also, "...may trigger attacks in people

with asthma" and "...ozone generators are not effective in removing....

formaldehyde."

Regarding acrolein, the EPA states "It is extremely toxic to humans from

inhalation...." According to the EPA, acrolein is formed from burning gasoline.

Regarding acetaldehyde, the EPA states "Based on the carcinogenicity of

acetaldehyde in animals, EPA has concluded that acetaldehyde is a probable human

carcinogen."

The January 2001 report also touched on the risk of harmful black soot

particles. They stated that although soot particles are very small and can

potentially penentrate the deepest areas of the lungs, further research has not

been done on the subject.

Guess there's at least one paraffin basher on every board. Any comments on this??

[Violetsexoticcandles]

I prefer soy to paraffin. I think that you should ask him to site his sources.

A lot of people who are into massage therapy are nuts about soy and all natural products. Not a bad thing.

I keep meaning to update my website to be more objective- time consuming stuff... when I started I felt as that person felt, because that was what I was told.

I still think soy is better, as a personal preference... and I hated working with paraffin wax, especially the blocks.

That being said, I no longer buy everything I'm told. Maybe that's what your response should be - 'don't believe everything you hear', or 'show me the source behind the facts.'

Don't let people get you down.

Violet

[Trae]

I just responded that I wasn't there to get in a soy vs paraffin war, I was there to learn about the massage therapy world and it's a personal choice and mine happens to be paraffin. Just thought it was kinda funny how she hopped right in and started bashing paraffin. I'm kinda seeing how all these Massage Therapists are into the soy thing. To each his own I guess!

[Di_in_AZ]

Go to epa.gov under candles. They have done a study debunking most of those myths. Some things you can say are:

1) Paraffin used in today's candles are food grade, ask them if they eat apples and candies--same paraffin.

2) The EPA burned 30 candles in one room for 3 hours--less toxins than in ONE cigarette

3) The toxins registered mainly come from the fragrance oil. If they have unscented soy candles, they have a somewhat better argument, but I hope they don't burn scented ones, they are putting the SAME toxins in the air

4) Tell them knowledge is their friend and being ignorant of their facts also makes them look stupid! (should probably leave this line out!)

[Laura]

IGI also has a great page for correct info on paraffin that i have handed out to peeps after paraffin bashers gave their bashing at shows.

[Di_in_AZ]

Also if you do a search on here, theDallasTexasDean posted a wonderful quote from I believe Island Candles who very eloquently dealt with this issue. I am not so good at phrasing it as my aggravation tends to get in the way:o

[PamR]

This has been floating around since soy became available. I made both, soy & paraffin. I agree that soy burns cleaner, but there are certain types of candles that I cannot make with soy. The 'all natural' has always bugged me, though, how natural are the insecticides used in the soybean fields? Are there any residuals in our wax? And unless you use EOs(which I'm sure in the massage field you would), then the wax is no longer 'natural'. Just a gripe I have when I hear all the paraffin bashing. There is a place for both!

PamR

[chauntelle]

surely if this had been proven parrafin wax and candles would have been banned!! I use parrafin and maybe in the future will try other waxes. i just find it sad that people are so quick to bash the product just because they have read these facts somewhere.

[ILikeWaxMelts]

Go to epa.gov under candles. They have done a study debunking most of those myths.)

Di_in_AZ, Could you perhaps link us right to the page that study is on...

Thanks in Advance

[Oh-MYo]

I find it amazing how many people do other people's work for them; that is, by energetically echoing someone else's opinion without checking anything for themselves.

It's not about which wax type is best because they both have distinct advantages and disadvantages. I am pleased that there is a choice. My preference is parraffin but that's neither here nor there.

Pure paraffin oil is totally clear; like water. I am a little dubious about paraffin wax being bleached but maybe so. The more I think about it, the more sense it would make to melt it and use just the pure parraffin crystals that float to the top. A lot more efficent than bleaching, but I cant back that up with anything but my own opinion.

The only online references to paraffin being bleached was more copies of the text in blue; offered by both beeswax and soy web sites....(big saprize! )

Anyone can magnify the dangers of components of products. I suppose if we were to break down potatoes into their different chemical compounds we could scare the pants off the gullible too.

[Scented]

After laughing so hard that someone is that ignorant and stupid, try sending them to the National Candle Association's FAQ page.

http://www.candles.org/about_faq.html

[Trae]

It's pretty funny...now some of the people on the massage board that do paraffin hand and foot treatments are all worried that they are exposing their clients to the "poisons" of paraffin!! I totally forgot about that part of the massage world!! Maybe they'll think before being so quick to bash paraffin.

[Di_in_AZ]

Di_in_AZ, Could you perhaps link us right to the page that study is on...

Thanks in Advance

A quick search here or there will pull it up. Not being rude, I have just posted it here over and over and it can be easily found on their site as well by doing a search.

[Brad Ford]

paraffin is not bleached...

paraffin has been used in spas as the "hand dip wax" for decades. Some companies might add some die or fragrance, but its just plain 'ole scale wax - FDA approved for direct food contact...nothing to worry about.

Liquid paraffin - mineral oil (baby oil) has been used as a laxative for even longer. It is completely inert - if you can drink it...can't be all that bad.

Tell your "friend" to stay away from chewing gum, vitamins, medications (pills), butcher counters, make up, lotions, creams, etc....paraffin is far more than fuel for candles.

[Debra Phelps]

Well I got tired of all this non sense, and I decided that I would eat the parrifin wax and see what happens. If it makes me sick, then it MAY be bad to burn. If it doesn't make me sick, than I think it would be safe to burn. So I started on my first slab. Not bad if you put sugar on it. No problem so far. Then I made a stew out of the 2nd slab, and it was delicious. Added some wax beans to it. Great stuff. You know this wax stuff is not bad. Since then I have started thinking about opening a restaurant, using parrifin wax to make all of my recipes. I could call it The Waxed Bean! To heck with making candles, I am on a roll here.

[Auntie S]

You are too funny Debra. ROFL

[Debra Phelps]

My point is, there are several grades of parriffin. The kind that they use for candles is not the kind that comes out of the ground where the oilfield is. NOT! You can not turn that stuff white. No way. They make wax parriffin lips for kids to chew on. That parriffin is not dangerous, or they would not do that. Just because parriffin puts off some black soot, does not mean that it is dangerous. Paper towel does the same thing, and it is made from a tree. And if you knew the chemicals used to make the soy bean into wax, you would freak. Not so pure. I am just tired of all this mess about them waxes. And tired of all these craft shows I attend, watching candlemakers telling all of this stuff. Most of them don't know what they are talking about. Then the customer runs down to our booth and says, so and so said that your candles are not safe. Or her candles are much better than yours. Here I am sending the other candlemaker customers, like if I don't have a scent they need, or they want 100% soy, etc. I try to help them out. Why can't we all work this way. Ok, I am off on a rage. It is my Birthday, and I deserve to be able to grip a bit. Ya know. Ok, I am done.