Finally, Federal regulators at the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted 2-1 on Tuesday, 2-13-2001 to ban candles that have lead in their wicks because of the risk that consumers, especially young children might inhale poisonous fumes or touch toxic lead dust on furniture. The ban will go into effect later this year.

I have been covering this story for nearly three years, centering around Cathi Flanders and her battle to have these candles banned. It was from Cathi's own ordeal of her and her family of being poisoned from lead in the wick in candles that she began her battle to protect others. It has been largely Cathi's efforts that brought this to national attention and consumers owe her a huge "thank you". Her efforts will now protect millions, especially children from permanent health damage from this.

Candles with lead were showing up on store shelves and being burned in homes across the country despite a voluntary 1974 ban by U.S.-based candle companies, the commission said. Most of the candles with lead were imported from overseas. American candle manufacturers produced about 700 million pounds of candles in 1999. 445 million pounds were imported, a third of which came from China. China has no policy on lead in candles.

Testing found that some of these candleds released up to five times the amount of lead considered hazardous for children younger than 6.

Many candle companies use metal, usually zinc or tin, to give wicks a support as they burn. My suggestions to consumers is to throw away all candles with metal cores. Consumers can tell if a candle wick has a metal core by looking at the top of the wick or splitting it apart. Children are particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can cause a variety of ailments, ranging from lower intelligence and learning disabilities to seizures and death.

Most candles with lead were and are sold by foreign companies, which are doing better business than ever because of a boom in the candle industry.

A recent study by the consumer group Public Citizen found about 3 percent of the candles purchased from retail stores in the Washington area contain lead.

The Public Citizen & Health Research Group has filed a petition to issue a legally mandatory ban and recall on the use of lead in candle wicks. I'm hoping to enlist your help by counting on your comments in writing in support of enacting a legally mandated ban of lead in any and all candles made or sold in the U.S. This is an action that is immediately necessary and attainable - but the deadline on June 12th is quickly approaching. If you are active in other environmental & public health advocacy groups or keep in contact with people that would support this. Tt would be so appreciated if you could circulate this with some of the groups you associate with. We need all the support we can bring together. This is truly a case of every letter counts or they will and fully intend to sweep this again right under the rug with another unenforceable, voluntary and basically meaningless, ban. Clearly this is not in the best interests of the safety and welfare of consumers, their families & especially their children by not setting a ban on wicks that contain lead in candles.

An EPA study performed in 1974 determined that, "Burning only two candles three hours each day on a regular basis in the home could increase exposure to airborne lead by a factor of 5 or more. This exposure to lead from candles could equal or exceed the exposure to airborne lead associated with the busiest freeways in America." [keep in mind this was a time when leaded gasoline was still fairly commonplace]. "Inhabitants of homes in which lead wick candles are burned could be exposed to substantial incremental quantities of lead which, if continued on a regular basis would pose a significantly high risk to health especially among children." Mr. Train, the EPA Administrator at the time stated, "In my opinion candles represent an unnecessary incremental source of lead that can readily be controlled. It is my strong recommendation that the Consumer Product Safety Commission do all in it's power to prevent exposure to the substantial and unnecessary source of lead in candles."

And yet, the CPSC still has not issued a ban after over 25 years. We will have to wait another 25 years before they do? Not if you will write in, fax or email your agreement that an immediate ban should be put in place. Please do this today, time is running out, June 12th, 2000 is the deadline. The CPSC did not give much time.

Please send your letters to:
Office of the Secretary
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Washington, DC 20207
telephone (301) 504-0800

OR delivered to:
Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission
room 502, 4330 East-West Highway
Bethesda, Maryland 20814.

Comments may also be filed by
Fax (301) 504-0127 or
email to: cpsc-os@cpsc.gov

Here is the website where you can view the petition at the CPSC:
Petition HP 00-3
Requesting a Ban of Candle Wicks Containing
Lead and of Candles Containing Such Wicks
Comments accepted until 6/12/00
http://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/frnotices/fr00/wicks.html

Do it today! You will be insuring that no one, especially children who can die from lead poisoning will never be exposed to candles that have wicks containing lead

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A significant number of dangerous candles are on the market that have wicks containing lead, which, when burned for three hours, can lead to average air lead concentrations ranging from nine to 33 times higher than recommended by federal guidelines, a Public Citizen study shows.

The study, conducted by Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, examined candles purchased in the Washington/Baltimore area from stores, many of which are part of national chains. If the prevalence of candles with lead wicks found in the study is representative of the percentage of lead-wicked candles available nationwide, people are purchasing millions of candles a year that can cause lead poisoning in thousands of children and possibly adults. The dangers of these very high levels of lead in the air are compounded by the presence of lead dust from the candles, which can accumulate and be ingested by children.

High air lead levels can easily elevate children’s blood lead levels above the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s and the Consumer Products Safety Commission’s (CPSC) recommended ceiling. There is evidence from a large number of published studies that children with high blood lead levels can suffer significant damage to their central nervous systems, resulting in permanent deficits in intelligence (decreased IQ), abnormal development and abnormal behavior. There is also some evidence that even lower blood lead levels in children can be dangerous.

As a result of the findings, Public Citizen is petitioning the CPSC to immediately ban and recall all candles with lead-containing wicks, candles in metal containers that contain lead, and wicks sold for candle-making that contain lead because they represent an imminent public health hazard. Continued sales of these items violates provisions of the Federal Hazardous Substances Act and the Consumer Product Safety Act, Public Citizen contends.

Public Citizen in 1973 petitioned the CPSC to remove candles with lead-containing wicks from the market. However, in 1974, in lieu of a ban, the candle industry and the CPSC arrived at a voluntary agreement to immediately stop making candles with lead-containing wicks. Public Citizen’s Health Research Group conducted the survey, however, because of reports that these candles were once again being sold.

"Unless the Consumer Product Safety Commission immediately bans and recalls these candles, it will repeat the reckless and dangerous mistake made 26 years ago in trusting the industry to take care of the matter on a voluntary basis," said Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group. "How many more children will suffer lead poisoning before the CPSC fulfills its legal mandate to rid the country of this completely unnecessary source of lead poisoning? If the CPSC does not immediately ban and recall these dangerous products, we will seriously consider bringing legal action against the agency."

In the study, Public Citizen examined 285 candles in 12 area stores. Of those, 86 had metallic wicks. Surveyors purchased one of each type of candle with metallic wicks and had them analyzed by a certified laboratory to determine lead content. Nine candles -- three percent of all candles and 10.5 percent of candles with metal wicks -- had wicks with high amounts of lead, ranging from 33 percent to 85 percent by weight.

Similar studies conducted in Michigan and Florida in the past two years also found that candles with lead wicks are readily available on the market.

One country, Australia, recently tackled this problem. In September 1999, Joe Hockey, Australian minister of financial services and regulation, ordered a ban of all candles with wicks containing lead. He recognized that "Public health experts have confirmed that lead emissions from any source pose an unacceptable public health risk and can result in increased blood lead levels in unborn babies, babies and young children. . . . Public health experts have confirmed that the candles pose a risk to public health if burned in a confined space."

In 1974, Russell Train, then administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, stated that "Inhabitants of homes in which lead-wicked candles are burned could be exposed to substantial incremental quantities of lead which, if continued on a regular basis, would pose a significant risk to health, especially among children with already elevated lead body burdens. In my opinion, candles [with lead wicks] represent an unnecessary incremental source of lead that can be readily controlled." He is still correct, Wolfe said.

Wolfe strongly urges all people who have candles with metal wicks -- obvious by looking at the tip of the wick and seeing a metal core -- to return them to the stores where they were purchased for a refund. Because more than one out of 10 of the 86 candles with metallic wicks that we purchased and analyzed contained significant amounts of lead, it is risky to burn any candle with a metal wick unless one is certain it does not contain lead, Wolfe advised.

Howard Sobel, M.D., M.P.H., a resident in preventive medicine at Johns Hopkins, is working with Public Citizen’s Health Research Group and was the coordinator and principal author of the study and the petition to ban these products.

I have been covering this story about the dangers of lead in candles for sometime, following Cathy Flander's battle from the start so that other consumers would not be exposed to dangers of lead in candles. Recently, the major news media has jumped on the bandwagon, including the American Lung Association. I have also been following the postings in the various newsgroups. Recently, because of all this media attention, much abuse has been directed towards Cathy Flander's in newsgroup postings. It is apparent that those posting these attacks against Cathy are store owners that are upset because they are stuck with candles they don't know if they will be able to sell during the holiday season. I can understand their concern. Some ofJuly these posts also are evidently from those in the candle manufacturing business attempting to make Cathy look like a nut. I can assure you, she is not a nut, and there is a real danger.

What I find so ironic about all this is that there is a very, very simple solution. Here are my thoughts. All that store owners that have a supply of candles need to do is simply contact the manufacturer of the candle. Demand an affidavit from the manufacturer stating that the candles are lead free. This affidavit could then displayed next to the candles and this should resolve the concern. If the manufacturer will not provide the business owner selling the candles such an affidavit, then if it were me, I would pack those suckers up fast, return them to the manufactuer and demand a full refund including shipping charges back to them. As far as major discount stores selling candles, if they cannot provide such an affidavit that the candles they are selling are lead free, I certainly would not take the risk in puchasing them. I am sure there are a some candle manufacturers in the United States that do manufacturer lead free candles and there should not be a problem with these candles. It will be interesting though to see how many candle manufacturers will provide such an affidavit. As a matter of fact, if any candle manfacturer will provide such an affidavit to me, I will verify it and post it on my website for consumers to view.

My question during all this has been this all along. Where was the Consumer Protection Agency and EPA been in all this. It appears most of the candles and wicks concerning this issue came from or were manufactured in China and Mexico. There is an argument that some U.S. manufacturers of candles were sold wicks that contained lead without them knowing it. However, if this is the case, they should have known by testing the wicks themselves. We are talking about a very serious health risk here. The thing is, the ball was dropped. Cathy Flander's picked it up, threw it back into the laps of the candle manufacturers, the EPA, the Consumer Protection Agency. The simple truth despite what anyone wants to argue is the aforementioned got caught and they don't like being exposed. The manufacturers or suppliers of candles got caught selling candles they should not have been selling. The EPA and the Consumer Protection Agency got caught because they should have caught this before it reached the consumer and caused harm. So before anyone startes pointing a finger towards Cathy Flander's, I strongly suggest that you place the responsibility where it truly belongs in the first place. Very simply, candle suppliers and manufacturers should not have a problem in releasing an affidavit stating their candles are lead free. If they won't, that would be the question...why not? Isn't this the most logical way and just way to approach this controversy instead of attacking Cathy Flanders. The problem is possible lead in candles and lead wicks in candles. The question that simply needs to be addressed by manufacturers is, are their candles lead free and are they willing to issue an affidavit attesting to this?