A
pretty flash followed by a bang, my deceptively benign childhood memory
of fireworks, as I suspect it may be for many others. In reality,
fireworks contain rather nasty chemicals, cause fires, deaths and
injuries both during their production and use, create major noise
pollution both for humans and their pets, and are a major public health
hazard provoking acute health crises for people with chronic heart and
lung conditions. Polluting air, water and soil around the factories
where they're made, when lit up, fireworks release particulate matter
(PM), ozone, harmful gases (sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, carbon
monoxide) and trace elements.
Unfortunately
fireworks are usually set off only at specific times of the year, making
it easier to disregard their impact on the environment and on health. A
global phenomenon, New Year's Eve fireworks, France's Bastille Day, Iran's Chaharshanbe Suri, Eid al-Fitr in muslim-dominant countries, Spain's Mascletà and Falles, the UK's Guy Fawkes Night are just a few examples, while probably the two most gluttonous fireworks displays of them all are China and Taiwan's Lantern Festival and India's Diwali (Festival of Lights). Fireworks' pollution is thus also global.
If we restrict ourselves to the US July 4th fireworks alone, we risk
missing their global environmental and health impact, more so since most
US fireworks aren't made locally but rather imported from China.
Fireworks Are A Source Of Perchlorates, A Persistent, Potent Thyroid Disruptor
Recognized as a public health concern since 2011 by the US United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (1), Perchlorate
are inorganic anions used in a variety of explosive materials including
solid rocket propellants, ammunition and fireworks. Readily
water-soluble, perchlorate anions persist stably in the environment for
long periods of time. From water, they then seep into all variety of
biomass (plants and animals) (2). Potent thyroid disruptors,
perchlorates can enter the body through skin, oral and respiratory
routes. Competitively inhibiting uptake of iodide by the thyroid, they
can cause reduction in thyroid hormones. Released into the atmosphere
following fireworks explosions, extent of local perchlorate
contamination depends on fireworks type, amount and duration, wind
direction and velocity, and other local weather conditions at the time.
Perchlorate contamination in surface and ground water has now been
observed the world over from the US to Japan, China, Korea, India.
- One study in Long Island, New York, found local post-July 4th perchlorate levels to be as much as 18X higher than background levels, even at sites several kilometers away from known displays (3).
Obviously,
as with other environmental contaminants, greater the exposure, greater
the risk. Chronic perchlorate exposure is thus likelier for those who make fireworks. The world's largest fireworks manufacturing country, China supplies ~98% of fireworks imported by the US (4), and most fireworks used in the US are indeed imported.
- One study found surface water perchlorate levels as high as 54.4µg/ml near a Chinese fireworks manufacturing area (5), >7700X higher than the human exposure level of 7ng/kg/day the US EPA deems to be of minimal risk (6).
- Blood samples of babies and adults in China's major fireworks manufacturing hub, Nanchang city, contained detectable levels of perchlorate (1 to 2µg/kg/day) (7) much higher than the US EPA's reference dose (7ng/kg/day).
- Soil around Indian fireworks factories has been found heavily polluted with perchlorates (8).
Chemical
contamination around firework factories also affect both microbial
abundance and diversity in the local soil and water (9), meaning long-term environmental cost.
Making & Using Fireworks Causes Deaths & Injuries, An Eminently Avoidable Public Health Problem
Fireworks
production-related deaths and injuries are commonplace, especially in
countries like India where fireworks factories frequently use illegal
child labor since small, nimble fingers speed up the assembly of certain
fireworks (see below from 10, 11, 12).
In the US more fires are reported on July 4th than any other day in the year (13).
However that blunt statistic doesn't reveal the full scale of the cost
of fireworks-related fires. Fire and emergency services are hugely
expensive in the US and have become even more so since the Great
Recession. In its wake, as cities struggled even more than in the past
to provide such services, Wall Street and private equity firms rode to
the rescue, of course only at huge cost to the taxpayer (14). Since fireworks are pure indulgence,
cost of the inevitable fires they leave in their wake are an
unnecessary extremely costly burden on tax-paying communities already
stretched to their limits.
Inevitable
firework-related burns, other injuries and even deaths are another cost,
with young boys disproportionately affected (see below from 15, 16, 17, 18).
Apart From Noise Pollution, Fireworks Are A Source Of Acute Health Hazards, Especially For Those With Heart & Lung Problems
Albeit temporarily, fireworks create tremendous noise pollution that can be quite traumatic for hapless pets (19) as well as wild fauna (20, 21). They also severely reduce ambient air quality (22, 23, 24),
to such an extent that some people can be hospitalized or even die.
India offers compelling examples of such odious, entirely preventable
trends. As it becomes wealthier, bursting firecrackers during Diwali has
become a surrogate marker for disposable wealth, literally changing the
ancient Festival of Light into utter Cacophony. On and around Diwali,
the very air's literally a sulfurous smog in each and every one of
India's teeming cities. Imagine the plight of those with chronic heart
and lung conditions in the aftermath of non-stop fireworks for ~ 24
hours. No surprise studies show fireworks induce acute health crises in
such patients (25, 26, 27).
Globally,
fireworks harm the environment, and the health of humans and animals.
Aren't they also a case of literally burning money? To paraphrase Obelix, 'we humans are crazy'.
Bibliography
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https://www.quora.com/How-much-of-an-impact-do-Fourth-of-July-fireworks-in-the-US-as-a-whole-have-on-pollution-and-or-global-warming/answer/Tirumalai-Kamala
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