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Sign up. Already have an account? Log in. They will give you further instructions. This is a free and confidential service. All local poison control centers in the United States use this national number. You should call if you have any questions about poisoning or poison prevention.
It does NOT need to be an emergency. You can call for any reason, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The provider will measure and monitor the person's vital signs, including temperature, pulse, breathing rate, and blood pressure. Symptoms will be treated. How well someone does depends on how much liquid incense they swallowed and how quickly they receive treatment.
The faster medical help is given, the better the chance for recovery. Aronson JK. Nitrates, organic. The incense and cigarette smoke was toxic for the hamster ovary cells. Toxicity was maintained at all different levels for the different samples. The incense smoke was toxic at lower concentrations than the cigarette smoke.
This laboratory study found smoke from burning incense can produce fine particles and chemical compounds of a type that may irritate the lungs and damage health. This is not surprising, as most types of smoke indoors produces fine particles that are likely to have this effect, whether from cooking, smoking tobacco, or burning incense. The suggestion that incense smoke might be more harmful than cigarette smoke needs to be treated with caution.
The four incense stick samples had different effects when tested for the ability to mutate cell DNA and toxicity to cells. These were compared with just one cigarette. This means we cannot draw conclusions about whether most incense sticks produce smoke that is more or less toxic than most cigarettes.
Also, research using animal cells in the laboratory is not the same as research on living humans. Adding substances to cells in a petri dish can cause very different effects from what happens when people come across these substances in a dilute form in the environment.
The way we use incense and tobacco is different. Cigarette smoke is drawn directly into the lungs and held there before being exhaled. They concluded that exposure to Ma'amoul incense could induce ultrastructural pulmonary changes which may imply compromised respiratory efficiency [ 61 ]. Similar ultrastructural pulmonary changes have also been reported in rats exposed to Bakhour, an Arabian incense [ 62 ].
It is interesting to note that in several epidemiological studies, incense burning had shown no harmful effect. In their study of the association of indoor and outdoor environmental exposures and physician-diagnosed asthma, Lee et al. They reported that daily cigarette consumption in families and incense burning at home showed negative effects to the occurrence of childhood asthma.
They proposed a possible explanation for their finding; cigarette smoking and incense use might have been decreased in families with children with atopic disease and thus had less atopic asthma [ 63 ]. In another study, Koo et al. They found that there was no association between exposure to incense burning and respiratory symptoms like chronic cough, chronic sputum, chronic bronchitis, runny nose, wheezing, asthma, allergic rhinitis, or pneumonia among the primary school children, their non-smoking mothers, or district matched controls.
Incense burning also did not affect lung cancer risk among non-smokers, but it significantly reduced risk among smokers, even after adjusting for lifetime smoking amount. They suggested a likely explanation for this unexpected finding: incense burning was associated with certain dietary habits, i.
Thus, their results indicate that diet can be a significant confounder of epidemiological studies on air pollution and respiratory health [ 64 ]. They found that incense burning was a risk factor for elevated cIgE [ 65 ]. Lead exposure could stimulate the IgE production [ 66 ].
The concentrations of lead have been detected at 0. It is speculated that lead emitted from incense burning could be absorbed on PM 2. However, the authors have not yet proved the relationships between incense burning, cord blood lead, and cord blood IgE levels [ 65 ]. As indicated in the previous section, incense smoke cause morphological changes of alveolar pneumocytes and infiltration of neutrophils into alveolar lumena in experimental rats [ 61 , 62 ]. Activation of resident and recruited inflammatory cells can lead to elaboration of a plethora of mediators, culminating in airway inflammation and remodeling.
Th2 cytokines by regulating IgE class switching as well as inducing humoral immunity, would aggravate allergic respiratory disease. While cytokines such as IL-4 and IL are crucial to production of IgE by B lymphocytes, others such as IL-5 are essential to eosinophil hematopoiesis, activation and survival in tissue.
Numerous factors, including incense smoke, may contribute to the development of the Th1-Th2 imbalance [ 72 - 75 ], and the interaction between the innate and adaptive immune systems may lead to inflammatory changes and airway remodeling [ 76 ]. Incense burning smoke has also been associated with dermatological problems.
Hayakawa et al. A 48 h closed path testing revealed perfume in the incense was the cause. It was suggested that the perfume and airborne particles from the burning incense contacted the skin and caused the allergic contact dermatitis accompanied by depigmentation [ 77 ]. In addition, the same group also reported cases of contact dermatitis due to long-term exposure to musk ambrette vaporized from incense burning [ 78 ].
Extracts of particulate matter from incense smoke are found to be mutagenic in the Ames Salmonella test with TA98 and activation. This suggests that incense burning can cause indoor air pollution and thus cancer akin to that from cigarette smoking [ 28 ]. To study the causes of leukemia, Lowengart et al.
The mothers and fathers of acute leukemia cases and their individually matched controls were interviewed regarding specific occupational and home exposures as well as other potential risk factors associated with leukemia.
Analysis of the data from the matched pairs showed an increased risk of leukemia for children whose parents burned incense at home. Furthermore, the risk was greater for more frequent users [ 79 ]. Incense smoke contains various N-nitroso compounds, which have been shown to be potent nervous system carcinogens, particularly when animals are exposed transplacentally [ 80 ]. Preston-Martin et al. They found that increased brain tumor risk was associated with maternal contact with nitrosamine-containing substances such as burning incense, side-stream cigarette smoke, and face makeup [ 81 ].
However, conflicting data on the effect of incense burning smoke on neoplasm have also been reported. Several studies have shown there is no association between incense smoke and cancer. In studying risk factors associated with lung cancer in Hong Kong, Chan-Yeung et al. Similarly, McCredie et al. A similar conclusion was reported by Koo et al. They found that, although incense was identified as a major source of exposure to nitrogen dioxide and airborne carcinogens, it had no effect on lung cancer risk among nonsmokers and, more intriguingly, it significantly reduced risk among the smokers [ 84 ].
They attributed the findings to the relatively healthy diets among smoking women who burned incense versus those who did not. Bunin et al. Similarly, Ger et al. They reported that, while occupational exposures to asbestos and working as a cook were significant risk factors associated with adenocarcinoma of the lung, an inverse association between incense burning and the adenocarcinoma was noted [ 85 ].
Incense burning emits smoke containing particulate matter, gas products and other organic compounds and causes air pollution, airway disease and health problems. When incense smoke pollutants are inhaled, they cause airway dysfunction. Incense smoke also has been associated with neoplasm. However, several conflicting reports have also been documented. The effect of incense smoke on health and the mechanism behind it needs to be further studied in an animal model.
To obtain further conclusive results, more epidemiological studies with better controls and a longer time period are needed. Meanwhile, it is a good practice to keep the room well ventilated when burning incense.
It will effectively dilute the indoor air pollutants and hence reduce the risk of exposure. T—CL, GK and DSC have all been involved in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content and have given final approval of the version to be published.
We would like to thank Dr. Jim Kelley and Mr. Kenton Hall for their critique and proofreading of the manuscript. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Clin Mol Allergy v. Clin Mol Allergy. Published online Apr Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Corresponding author.
Ta-Chang Lin: wt. Received Jan 3; Accepted Apr This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract In Asian countries where the Buddhism and Taoism are mainstream religions, incense burning is a daily practice. Introduction Encyclopedia Britannica states that incense was employed to counteract disagreeable odors, drive away demons, manifest the presence of gods, and to gratify gods. Open in a separate window. Figure 1.
Figure 2. Major types of air pollutants in incense smoke and their toxicological effects People who are exposed to incense fumes always inhale the whole complex mixture that contains particulate matter, gas products and many organic compounds. Particulate matter PM From practical considerations of the health effects, air particulates are usually categorized according to how deep they can penetrate into the human respiratory system.
Gaseous emissions 2. Carbon monoxide CO Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, yet poisonous gas generally formed during incomplete combustion of organic substances, such as hydrocarbons, wood, incense, cigarette, and fossil fuels.
Sulfur dioxide SO 2 and nitrogen dioxide NO 2 Health effects of exposures to sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide can include reduced work capacity, aggravation of existing cardiovascular diseases, effects on pulmonary function, respiratory illnesses, lung irritation, and alterations in the lung's defense system [ 34 ]. Volatile organic compounds Volatile organic compounds VOCs are chemicals that have low boiling points and therefore evaporate easily at room temperature.
Aldehydes Most materials produce aldehydes and ketones during combustion. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons The smoke emitted by incense burning has been found to contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs [ 7 , 8 , 14 , 47 - 52 ]. Diethylphthalate DEP In India, diethylphthalate is used extensively in the incense stick industry as a binder of perfumes. Effects of incense smoke on airway disease and health Like second hand smoke, pollutants emitted from incense burning in a close environment are harmful to human health.
Airway dysfunction Most obviously, when incense smoke pollutants are inhaled, they will cause respiratory dysfunction. Allergy and Dermatological Effects Lin et al. Neoplasm Extracts of particulate matter from incense smoke are found to be mutagenic in the Ames Salmonella test with TA98 and activation.
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