Cape Town - People who burn incense indoors and inhale it could be putting their health at risk, with research showing that incense smoke could be more toxic than cigarette smoke.
The study, carried out by Chinese researchers on hamsters, found that incense smoke was not only toxic to the cells and their genetic contents, but the toxins caused cell mutations that could eventually develop into cancer.
Published in journal Environmental Chemistry Letter, it is the first study to evaluate the health risks associated with burning incense indoors.
The findings are expected to be of interest to South Africans, who use incense for religious purposes and for its pleasant smell.
Researchers tested incense smoke that contained argawood and sandalwood – the most common ingredients used to make incense. They then gauged the effects of incense and cigarette smoke on Salmonella tester strains and on the ovary cells of Chinese hamsters.
They found that incense smoke was not only dominated by ultrafine particles which, when trapped in the lungs, could cause inflammatory reaction, but it was also found to be more cytotoxicand genotoxic in hamster ovary cells than the cigarette used in the study. This means incense smoke was potentially more toxic to a cell, especially to its geneticcontents.
It was also found to be mutagenic, meaning it contained chemical properties that could potentially change genetic material or DNA of the cell and therefore cause mutations. All these changes were linked to the formation of cancer.
Cape Argus