When sweeping graves and burning incense, beware of burning "4 major cancerous substances"! It is best to take "three major measures" if you have respiratory symptoms
healthorn expert Q&A
Q: Indoor air pollution is five times more serious than outdoor air pollution. What should you do to prevent air pollution from causing cancer?
A: There are many threats to the air in your home. In addition to smoking and burning incense, the easily overlooked “carcinogen formaldehyde” is the main source of indoor air pollution. The boards, sofas, mattresses, and curtains used for decoration will emit a large amount of formaldehyde, further causing the indoor formaldehyde to exceed the standard. Especially for women, children and people prone to allergies, if they live in a space with excessive formaldehyde for a long time, it will increase the frequency of allergies and skin inflammation, and may lead to female infertility, childhood leukemia, cancer and other symptoms.
To solve the problem of formaldehyde poisoning, it is recommended to seek formal formaldehyde removal companies to carry out indoor formaldehyde removal projects. Long-term formaldehyde removal projects usually take more than 3 days to recycle formaldehyde deep inside furniture and decorations using standard construction methods. And it is effectively decomposed to ensure that the formaldehyde concentration in the space is lower than the safe value for a long time. When selecting a manufacturer, special attention should be paid to choosing a manufacturer with a long-term warranty to ensure healthy and non-toxic indoor air quality for a long time and reduce the risk of cancer.
Smoke from burning incense and paper money may cause cancer. “The 4 most toxic chemicals” should be paid attention to
During the Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday, people in Taiwan generally burn incense and gold paper when sweeping their graves to pray for the blessings of their ancestors. However, burning incense and gold paper not only easily causes fires and increases carbon emissions, affecting the environment, but the chemicals produced during burning may also have adverse effects on human health.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency of the Executive Yuan, burning incense or gold paper will produce dioxide, sulfur dioxide, benzene, toluene, formaldehyde or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Among them, benzene, toluene, formaldehyde and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are carcinogens and may cause harm to the body. The following impacts:
Benzene: The American Cancer Society (ACS) points out that inhaling high doses of benzene will cause short-term or long-term effects. In the short term, it will affect the nervous system, causing drowsiness, dizziness, and headaches. Eating food contaminated with benzene will cause vomiting, gastric cancer, and gastrointestinal irritation. External stimulation. Long-term exposure may cause anemia and even acute leukemia and blood cancer.
Toluene: The U.S. CDC points out that exposure to toluene can cause eye and nose irritation, fatigue, confusion, dizziness, headache, anxiety, muscle fatigue, or severe skin inflammation and liver and kidney damage.
Formaldehyde: A common chemical in daily life, it is added in glue, paint, pesticides or laundry detergent. A small amount of formaldehyde will not affect the human body; however, the US CDC points out that excessive formaldehyde exposure can irritate the eyes, skin or respiratory tract, aggravate the symptoms of asthma patients, or cause skin rashes, shortness of breath, or even decreased lung function.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: The US CDC stated that the impact of exposure to low concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on the human body is unclear, but excessive exposure may cause harm to blood circulation and cause serious liver disease.
Poor air quality can easily cause respiratory symptoms Taiwan Health Promotion Administration teaches “3 tips” to protect lung health
In general, people with cardiopulmonary dysfunction are prone to respiratory irritation, and excessive exposure to chemicals will aggravate the symptoms of respiratory diseases (such as coughing, wheezing or difficulty breathing).
The WHO also issued air quality guidelines in 2017. If the air quality indicator is “orange” for a long time (PM2.5 daily average is 35.5-54.4μg/m3), the mortality rate of lung cancer patients will be rose sharply to 15%.
Additionally, people with asthma, chronic Fibroids, as well as children and the elderly, are often more susceptible to the effects of chemicals. The public is urged not to be over-exposed to poor air quality to avoid asthma, headaches, dizziness, allergies, etc.
If you have respiratory-related diseases, the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare, Health Promotion Administration recommends that the public can take the following three measures to protect lung and respiratory health when worshiping ancestors during Qingming Festival:
Use flowers instead of fragrance, or use environmentally friendly electronic incense holders to replace traditional fragrances.
When burning gold paper, you can give priority to environmentally friendly gold furnaces that comply with national standards and minimize the amount of burning. If you burn gold paper in a non-outdoor environment, you must pay attention to good ventilation to avoid inhaling a large amount of combustion smoke, which may cause harm to the respiratory tract.
Wear a mask to reduce exposure to chemicals. Taiwan Health Promotion Administration pointed out that in addition to effectively blocking the new coronavirus from invading the body, masks can also prevent smoke from being inhaled into the lungs or respiratory tract to a certain extent.
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