MANY people think embracing religion will improve their afterlife, but now it seems that regular churchgoing might also send them there sooner. According to a study in two Dutch churches, the chemical assault on parishioners鈥� lungs from ecclesiastical candles and incense can be 20 times as bad as standing next to a busy main road.
To test the air quality at two Maastricht churches 鈥� a small chapel and a large basilica 鈥� Theo de Kok and his colleagues at Maastricht University measured the concentrations of PM10 particles, those less than 10 micrometres in diameter. PM10s, which include soot, metals and other toxins, can penetrate deep into the lungs and cause a variety of heart and lung conditions, including cancer.
De Kok鈥檚 team found that even before a church service started, levels of PM10s were around 3 to 5 times as high as typical levels beside a busy main road. And after 9 hours of continuous candle-burning and a few puffs of incense, typical for a Sunday, PM10 levels shot up to 13 to 20 times the roadside level (European Respiratory Journal, vol 24, p 1069).
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At its peak, the PM10 level in the chapel was more than 1 milligram per cubic metre of air. That鈥檚 more than 20 times the limit recommended by the European Union as a 24-hour average for outdoor air. De Kok describes this as 鈥渆xceptionally high鈥�. 鈥淭his discovery is very worrying,鈥� he says. But de Kok stresses that no one has directly studied the effects on the health of parishioners.
Earlier research at a temple in Taiwan showed that incense burning there created high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are highly carcinogenic (New Scientist, 4 August 2001, p 5). De Kok鈥檚 team also found elevated levels of PAHs in the two churches in Maastricht, as well as high levels of carcinogenic free radicals.
