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Ni Ime Sornito
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CHRISTMAS may be over but not the celebrations. There’s still the traditional greeting of the New Year that, in this country, means setting off firecrackers even if these are hazardous to human health and the environment. This year, we are again campaigning for safe and non-toxic ways of heralding the New Year sans dangerous and polluting firecrackers.
All firecrackers are totally unfit for humans because they are extremely dangerous. Firecrackers are not regular toys that you can safely play with. In fact, firecracker accidents are common resulting to physical injuries and even deaths. From 2000 to 2014, the Department of Health had recorded over 10,000 cases of firecracker-related injuries from damaged eyesight to severed fingers, as well as some fatalities.
It is good that the Department of Health is leading the campaign to raise public awareness on the risks and hazards posed by firecrackers to life, limb and property, as well as to the ecosystems. Let us welcome the New Year in a clean and safe manner that will not cause injury to ourselves, our fellow beings and to Mother Earth. One safe and non-toxic way of ushering in 2017 is by having a lively noise barrage. Using alternative noisemakers fashioned out of household items and recyclable junks, we can create a mixture of sounds to everyone’s delight.
Among the substitute noisemakers that we – and especially the children – can play with gusto are used can maracas mounted on a wooden handle; tambourine consisting of bottle caps; shakers made out of plastic bottles; pots and pot lids; and torotot (trumpet) crafted from recycled materials. These are just some ways of ushering in the New Year without creating toxic pollution.
Firecrackers and fireworks are toxic. They are made by combining different chemicals such as potassium nitrate, sulfur, carbon, barium, copper and lead, to name a few, to produce heat and color. The firecracker blast yields toxic fumes, including carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is bad for human health and the climate.
Aside from the toxic smoke and smog, firecracker explosion generates lots of hazardous wastes that cannot be reused nor recycled, adding to the mountains of post-New Year revelry trash that have to be disposed of.
Instead of spending for dangerous, toxic and dirty firecrackers, hard-earned money should be wisely spent to buy food for the noche buena and other necessities, as well as for helping poor and needy people in our midst.
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