Incense may pose cancer risk

Taiwan - Scientists have discovered that incense poses a cancer risk, it emerged yesterday

Taiwan - Scientists have discovered that incense poses a cancer risk, it emerged yesterday. Researchers found that burning incense in temples and churches can expose worshippers to dangerous levels of cancer-causing chemicals.

Levels of one chemical believed to cause lung cancer were 40 times higher in a badly ventilated temple in Taiwan than in houses where people smoked tobacco.

Mr Ta Chang Lin, from the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, who led the study, said "there is a potential cancer risk. We just cannot say how serious it is."