THE BODILY injuries inflicted by firecrackers and fireworks, especially on young victims are saddening and dismaying. One injury is one too many and our society has to do more to discontinue the bloody and polluting tradition of ringing in the New Year with firecrackers and fireworks, legal or not.
There is no such thing as non-dangerous and non-toxic firecrackers and fireworks, thus our society has to make difficult decisions in order to protect public health and even the environment, including phasing out the production of firecrackers and fireworks and finding alternative livelihoods for the affected sector.
The dangerous tradition of blasting firecrackers and fireworks expels harmful chemicals that pollute the atmosphere and put human health at risk. It generates microscopic pollutants that affect the quality of the air we breathe and thus pose serious health risks, particularly among children, the elderly, and persons with cardiovascular, neurological and respiratory conditions. Coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, as well as asthma and heart attacks, are some of the negative effects of inhaling these pollutants. Among these harmful airborne pollutants from firecracker explosions and fireworks displays are suspended particulate matter (SPM), including PM 2.5 that can travel deep into the respiratory tract and the lungs, carbon monoxide and other greenhouse gases, heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium and lead, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
But aside from the toxic smog, the blasting of firecrackers and fireworks also scatter hazardous litter on streets as well as on water bodies. Spent firecrackers and fireworks are not your typical discards as these contain traces of dangerous chemicals that may contaminate the environment or cause harm to wildlife. Lamentably, in spite of their hazardous makeup, discards from firecrackers and fireworks used during the New Year’s Eve revelry are disposed of as general waste and buried in dumps and landfills.
In addition to chemical and waste pollution, it must also be said that extreme noise pollution caused by firecrackers and fireworks that can very well exceed the standard noise level of 50 to 60 decibels for the ambient environment, which may cause temporary or permanent hearing loss, high blood pressure, restlessness and sleep disturbance.
To achieve zero injury and zero pollution during the New Year revelry, we need to seriously look at banning firecrackers and fireworks altogether.
