Your cosy home comforts could make you seriously ill: As Britons snuggle down in front of the fire for Christmas, experts have an ominous warning - and even scented candles aren't safe

Amid winter’s freezing grip, it’s the season for cosy home comforts, in the shape of crackling wood fires, flickering scented candles to perfume our snugly draught-proofed homes – and the tempting aroma of a hot meal bubbling on the cooker. Dr Suril Mehta, an epidemiologist at the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, who co-authored the study, said: ‘Even occasional indoor wood-burning can contribute to lung cancer in populations where indoor wood burning is not the home’s predominant fuel source.’ This pollution may also threaten our cardiovascular health. Professor Chris Whitty, former chief medical officer for England, warned in 2022 that more eco-friendly stoves still produce 450 times more toxic air pollution than gas central heating Air-quality researchers at King’s College London report that more than two-thirds of households that burn wood still use open fires. ‘People should simply avoid using wood-burning stoves and open fires,’ says Amy McCarron, a scientific outreach officer at the University of Stirling, who last year published a study on people’s behaviour around indoor pollution. Professor Pfrang led research on different types of pot plants in laboratory chambers, and found ‘they have a measurable effect in reducing indoor pollution in the form of emissions from gas hobs and wood-burning stoves’, it was reported in the journal Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health in 2022.