No Smoking

Will thurifers be exiled to the outside sidewalk?

The anti-smoking campaign in Ireland has been extended to incense:

An Irish Government minister has warned that burning incense in churches could be harmful to the altar boys and girls who help Roman Catholic priests celebrate mass.

Jim McDade, who is a former family doctor, said the children were at risk because they inhaled the carcinogenic smoke produced when incense is burnt close by.

"Here you have quite a thick billowing type of smoke. Sometimes you see the children with this instrument which is down normally around their ankles, and the smoke just keeps coming up," Dr McDade said.

"And sometimes I cringe when I see them literally inhaling this, because sometimes there is an aroma of it and all I was trying to do was making people aware."

File under: Fresh Eire. Northern Ireland blogger Slugger O'Toole comments.

Meantime, these images of angels offering incense are from the days before holy beings were aware of the health risks.