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FIREWORKS:
GOOD OR EVIL?
Consumer fireworks have always been a target of negative attention during the time of late June and early July, when parts of the U.S. media begin their annual war against fireworks. The media warps and twists the image of fireworks in an effort to make them seem like one of the most dangerous consumer products on the market; something that regular people should have no right to use. TV news stations attempt to "prove" how dangerous fireworks are by showing a cop blowing up a watermelon or doll with M-80s or other COMPLETELY ILLEGAL explosives, then proceed to saying fireworks should only be used by professionals. Letters also start pouring into the "Dear Abby" column, where readers tell horror stories of how their 5-year old son burnt his hand with a sparkler or blew it off with an M-80. Before people actually believe any of this at surface value, they need to look at the real facts.
In nearly all of these cases, the injuries resulted from the WRONG use of fireworks. Don't get me wrong - I'm not unsympathetic about these accidents, I'm just saying that it's not right for fireworks to be blamed when there was a complete lack of safety precautions in these situations.
First of all, young children SHOULD NOT be
allowed to use fireworks. Let me say that again for emphasis: SHOULD
NOT. A great many fireworks related injuries happen to children, and the TV and newspapers
are quick to jump on the case and claim how fireworks should be banned for the good of the
children. If people would take the time to read the fireworks caution label,
they'd clearly see that it says something to the effect that it is NOT a toy and should not be used by children.
Even if that wasn't the case, parental common sense should come into the picture when dealing
with children and fireworks. Sparkler burn cases to young kids bug me the most.
WHY THE HELL WOULD SOMEONE HAND THEIR TODDLER A
2000º ROD OF BURNING METAL IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Think about it.... Would you let your kid play with a stove? A clothes iron? A blowtorch?
Of course not. As with any other consumer product, if someone use it THE WRONG WAY, they'll get
hurt. If I were to get into a bathtub of water, then plug in a hair dryer and drop it in and
electrocute myself, would that be a very good reason to ban hair dryers? NO.
One weapon of the anti-fireworks community are seemingly high injury statistics for fireworks.
They try to scare people with the fact that thousands are injured each year by
fireworks. Something they always fail to ever mention, however, is that fireworks injuries have been declining
significantly in the past years. According to the Consumer
Product Safety Commission,
fireworks injuries dropped by about 30%
in just a five year period, from an estimated 12,800
injuries in 1994 to 8,500
in 1999. Compare this with bicycles, which account for nearly
400,000
injuries and
300 DEATHS
each year. An average person is about 50
times more likely to be hurt
or killed by a bike than by fireworks.
Most people aren't aware of the different classifications of fireworks, such as legal and
illegal, and simply lump all types of fireworks together in their minds. Injuries from M-80s,
cherry bombs, and such are always included in fireworks statistics, despite the fact that these
devices ARE NOT considered fireworks. M-80s are military gunfire simulation explosives, and were banned in
the U.S. in 1966 as part of the Child Protection Act. At least 1/3 of "fireworks" injuries are
those caused by the use of such illegal explosives. That means out of approximately
8,500
fireworks injuries each year, 2550
of those are caused by M-80s. At least half of the 6,000 remaining
injuries can be attributed to the deliberate misuse of fireworks or the ignoring of proper safety precautions, such
as people lighting fireworks in their hands, or throwing/aiming fireworks at other people.
That leaves us with only about 3,000
injuries per year caused by faulty fireworks products.
As you can see, fireworks are not a dangerous product; certainly a lot less dangerous than many products out there. If used correctly and safely, they can provide great joy, happiness, and entertainment to lots of people, with far less risk of injury than other recreational products.