Dangerous bravado

Just what would it take to scare people away from dangerous firecrackers every New Year? Authorities have tried persuasion and blunt warning alike, but  they haven’t had much impact on a populace so in thrall to the supposed lucky properties of exploding, injurious pyrotechnics at the start of the new year—the bigger the bang, the better.

Figures from last year’s holiday revelry, for instance, were supposed to herald an encouraging trend: the 1,022 cases of fireworks injuries covering the period Dec. 21, 2010 to Jan. 5, 2011 were lower by 1.4 percent than 2009’s 1,036 injuries. But that tiny 1.4 percent improvement might turn out to be a mirage soon. The Department of Health has just announced that, this year, the number of injuries related to New Year revelries has surpassed the five-year average of 170. “The 173 total as of 6 a.m. Dec. 29 is three cases higher than the five year-average of 170 during the years 2006-2010,” said Assistant Health Secretary Enrique A. Tayag.

“We are not even near the New Year’s Eve when we expect additional cases. By the end of our surveillance period from Dec. 21, 2011 to Jan. 5, 2012, we may surpass last year’s total of 972 cases of fireworks-related injuries, 39 cases of stray bullets-injuries, and 11 cases of fireworks ingestion, one of which led to death,” Tayag added.

Media outlets, abandoning their traditional reticence for using graphic images in their news stories in what they see as a clear and urgent public-service issue, have taken to highlighting the deadly effects of firecracker use, with pictures and TV footage of mutilated limbs and disfigured torsos, especially among children. Anecdotal evidence says the tactic can chasten people—many vow not to touch firecrackers again once they’ve seen the bloody pictures or viewed the fearsome medical instruments used to treat gaping wounds—but that fear also tends to vanish once the airwaves have moved on to other news.

Kids remain the most vulnerable group; of the 972 fireworks injuries last year, 330 cases were in the 1 to 10-year-old group, many ending up with burns, eye injuries, even outright amputation. The top culprits are illegal fireworks such as piccolo, kwitis, 5-star and pla-pla. They happen to be among the firecrackers the law explicitly regulates for their harmful properties, along with bawang, trianggulo, pull-string poppers, paper caps, El Diablo, Judas Belt and “watusi,” which when ingested, can kill especially small children.

The public should know that the only pyrotechnics allowed for sale are sparklers, fountain types, Roman candle, trompillo, Airwolf, whistle devices, butterfly and pailaw (all kinds of lighting devices). Again, even as they are considered safe enough to be sold legally, their use still requires care and guidance by knowledgeable adults. Luces, a kind of sparkler, has caused burns on children left to play fire on their own.

If it’s noise that people want to greet the New Year with, there are safer, not to mention less expensive, alternatives. The DOH has come up with an ingenious solution in the form of a compact disc that contains the sound effects of a host of popular, mostly banned, firecrackers. “Goodbye Paputok,” as the CD is called, can be played by revelers at top volume, and the only possible harmful effect would be noise pollution—only temporary and, hands down, preferable to a bloody, gory trip to the hospital right on New Year’s Day.