Los Angeles: Incense sticks may make you feel soothing and calm but beware of using them as they could come with a health risk.

According to a new research, burning these sticks generate indoor air pollutants which have several health hazards that includes inflammation in human lung cells.

A new study, carried out by researchers in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the US, says burning incense releases air pollutants, including poisonous gas‘carbon monoxide’.

 

The report of the findings, titled “Hazard assessment of United Arab Emirates (UAE) incense smoke” was published in the August 2013 issue of Science of the Total Environment.

The study holds special importance in the light of WHO estimates that says more than one million people a year die from chronic obstructive respiratory disease (COPD). The prime reasons behind these diseases were slated to be exposure to pollutants from stoves and open hearths. Incense sticks releases similar pollutants while burning.