This is something that Meghan Budden experienced up close, when she discovered something dissturbing on her infant son.
Meghan was nursing her baby when she discovered mysterious black dots in his nostrils.
But what she didn't know then was that these spots are behind about 20,000 deaths each year in the United States alone.
It was just another ordinary day for Meghan Budden, who lives in New Jersey with her husband, Jeff.
But when the new mom was nursing her infant son, Jimmy, she noticed black specks on a towel. And when she looked closer, Meghan saw specks in her son's nose, too.
Meghan had no idea what might have caused the specks, and even after she cleaned Jimmy's nose, it still had black soot in it.
Soon, Meghan put two and two together and had a realization. It was her scented candles.
There on the candle box was a warning in small print: "Do not burn more than three hours at one time."
Meghan's scented candles had started to produce soot, which spread throughout the room leaving little Jimmy no choice but to breathe it in.
Meghan hopes her story raises awareness about the risks of lighting scented candles—and if you look at the statistics, I think you'll agree that more people need to know about this.
According to health consultants Cashins & Associates, the inhalation of small particles can cause cardiovascular disease, asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory diseases. It also says that about 20,000 people die prematurely each year in the United States as a result of being exposed to soot particles.
Moreover, soot causes respiratory problems behind approximately 300,000 asthma attacks and 2 million lost work days each year.
The soot from scented candles is so fine so that it's undetectable in the air.
Experts recommend trimming candle wicks regularly and not letting them burn for more than a few hours at a time to prevent them from spreading soot.
If you see soot billowing up from a candle, put it out immediately.
Fortunately, everything ended well for Meghan and her son. She hasn't noticed anything since the incident, and now Jimmy is a healthy 1 1/2 year-old.
But Meghan says that from now on, she'll look twice at the warning labels on candles—and so will I!
I hope that this story helps raise awareness about the risks of lighting scented candles indoors.
Hopefully, can help each other by sharing this information so that in the future, no child has to inhale toxic soot from candles!
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