Danger of Candles

Monica Sudds, a parrot breeder and the president of Beakers Parrot Society in Iowa, got a call from a customer, Judy, telling her that three birds had died in Judy's house within two days. The first one to die was a lutino female lovebird on eggs, the second was another peachfaced lovebird, the third was a Quaker, the last bird Judy had added to her collection about a year and a half ago.

Monica immediately assumed a viral problem, but she knew that Judy only bought birds from her, and she had no other problems with any birds becoming sick from merchandise from the store. So, they began examining what could be different in the household, (i.e. Teflon overheating, new perfumes, hairsprays, anything with fumes being emitted). Within minutes of asking the right questions, they had the answer.

Judy and her husband Kenny, otherwise responsible pet owners, had recently purchased several scented candles and burned them frequently for 2 days before the first lovebird died. The second lovebird died later that evening. The Quaker was acting strange on the third day and by that afternoon was also dead. The time between the first sign of shakiness and death was a matter of a couple to a few hours.

Judy and Kenny did a carbon monoxide check all over their house and the monitor showed nothing until they lit a candle and set it next to it for a few minutes. The indicator went into the lethal range. The birds had all been in separate rooms when they succumbed, but there was a candle burning at different times in all of the rooms. Since they have ruled out every other possibility, Monica believes the cause of death to be the heavy fragrance fumes. The Glade candles that were involved in the 3-day period were vanilla, peach, potpourri, cinnamon and one Walmart brand scented candle - spiced apple.

Monica spoke with Lee Langsly in the medical issues department of SC Johnson Wax, the maker of Glade Air Products. He was quite helpful and showed concern. He also cautioned that there were warning labels about pets on some of their products.

If you have questions about some of the products that you already have in your homes, you may want to check with Glade about the toxicity of their products. Numbers to note are the Medical Department 1-800-228-5635, Chemical Division 1-800-725-6737, or Customer Service 1-800-558-5252.

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