This time of year, I had candles burning all the time...until I learned this. In addition to cigarette smoking, candles provide another indoor pollution mechanism that is hard to replicate. Most commercially sold candles are made from Paraffin (petroleum based) and emit toxins and carcinogens like benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein and soot into the air. The ‘bargain' candles produced both here and overseas are even more dangerous. We would not consider burning a diesel engine in our living room, but Paraffin candles emit many of these same dangerous particulates. Gel candles are also petroleum-based, and therefore just as (4 comments)