LET’S CALL a spade a spade. 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. 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.
The traditional greeting of the New Year in this country is setting off firecrackers even if these are hazardous to human health and the environment. Thus 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.
Although the Department of Health is busy addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, it should not shirk from 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.
One safe and non-toxic way of ushering in 2021 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. No harm trying them.
