Toxic effect of incense stick

 

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. It is therefore difficult, if not impossible, to single out the health effects contributed by a certain component in the fumes. For example, there hasn't been any report about the ill effects on human health directly caused by the particles per se in the incense smoke.

Nevertheless, it's still helpful to know the composition of incense smoke in terms of types of pollutants and the corresponding toxicological effects – even though these cited effects were obtained from non-incense studies on air pollutants in general.