Peter Jennings died of lung cancer

As everyone knows Peter Jennings died of lung cancer yesterday. They say he smoked since he was 13 years old, so smoking is the designated cause of his lung cancer. I suppose this is true. However, I have known people that smoked and lived to be in their 70's and 80's. Two of the longest lived women, Hava Rexha and Jeanne Calment, were lifelong smokers.

Conversely, I know of several people who never smoked and did not live with smokers but died of lung cancer. So this is not so cut and dried as the powers that be want to make it out to be.

Clearly there are other causes. Maybe candles?

I have just learned that common paraffin wax candles are known to produce soot and other inhaleable toxins such as formaldehyde, acrolein, benzine and acetaldehyde. These toxins have been known to clog and damage the lungs, and can sometimes even lead to emphysema-not unlike the effects of nicotine smoke. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), some of the chemicals found in paraffin candles are not only toxic, but are carcinogenic and neurotoxic as well, and could cause issues with not only the lungs but also the heart, circulatory system and nervous system.

I was glad to find out that there is a healthy candle made from soy wax, a mixture of hydrogenated soybean oil. This means that they burn clean into the air and recent research has shown that the use of soy candles in the home increases the surrounding air quality by a staggering 90% as compared with traditionally produced paraffin or petrochemical based candles. They are also water soluble (easy to clean up), burn cooler and up to 50% longer.