Burning 1 Mosquito Coil as Harmful as Smoking 100 Cigarettes!

Mosquito coils were a huge part of my growing up, I have known them since as far back as I can remember. Different brands, different scents, each with a promise of being more effective, longer lasting or being less hazadous than the rest.

From Motein to Peacock to Tiger to Raid and other brands whose names I can't remember now, we used them all, or at least a lot of them.

Though we stopped using mosquito coils long time ago, when we started using hand-held insecticulotor (swatter), the practice of burning mosquito coils indoors to effectively control mosquitoes in homes are still as common as they used to be during my childhood days.

However, the subject of this post is not to analyze the numbers of mosquito coil brands there are, it's to review the result of a recent study documenting the dangerous effects mosquito coils are having on our health and the fact that most people are completely unaware of these health risks.

The study which was conducted in Malaysia concluded that, "Smoke emitted from one mosquito repellent coil is equivalent to those of 100 cigarettes, thus harming a large number of people. Not many people know about it, but the damage done to your health, especially lungs by one mosquito coil is equivalent to the damage done by 100 cigarettes".

The study, which tested this smoke, found significant amounts of volatile organic compounds in it, including carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals).

Burning one mosquito coil released the same amount of particulate matter as burning 75 to 135 cigarettes would emit.

The amount of formaldehyde (an irritating carcinogen that affects many processes inside the body) emitted from one mosquito coil is as high as that emitted when 51 cigarettes were burnt.

Now that you know that the smoke from mosquito coil poses both acute and chronic health risks, you should avoid using them, starting from TODAY.

Instead, prevent mosquitoes from getting into or breeding around your home, and use natural and safe mosquito eradication methods whenever necessary.

Safer alternatives include the use of indoor residual insecticide spraying and/or insecticide treated nets, clearing of bushes and drainage of stagnant bodies water in your surroundings.