Lethal firecrackers

A piccolo used to be a musical instrument, a variant of the flute. Nowadays, especially at this time of year, mention the word and it connotes something else.

The name has been appropriated by a firecracker, and not just an ordinary firecracker, but a particularly deadly one. According to the Department of Health, so far this year 67 percent, or some 94 out of 140 cases of firecracker injuries recorded as of Dec. 29, were caused by the illegal firecracker piccolo.

How deadly is it? “Piccolo is very poisonous because it contains the substance yellow phosphorus,” warned the DOH. “The estimated human lethal dose (of yellow phosphorus) is 50-100 milligrams.”

Burns and vomiting are the immediate symptoms in a person affected by piccolo contamination. The effect is life-threatening enough that immediate medical attention is recommended for anyone coming into contact with it. Simple first-aid steps would not do. If piccolo were swallowed, said the DOH advisory, children should not be made to vomit but should instead be given six to eight raw egg whites, while adults may be given eight to 12 raw egg whites, before being brought immediately to the hospital.

Piccolo can also damage eyes and skin, not to mention any extremities reached by its blast. It is likewise dangerous when inhaled.

Why, then, does this lethal firecracker continue to be available in the market despite its illegal status and the ample warnings from health officials? Worse, why is it allowed to be packaged in a manner that targets children? “It comes in attractive packaging with a cartoon character,” noted the DOH, “and due to its size and packaging, children could easily mistake it for candy.”

The answer is simple: Because there remains a demand for it. Because a sizable portion of the populace remains stubborn enough—let’s not mince words here, dumbheaded enough—to continue to light up firecrackers of the deadly, injurious variety despite the gruesome images of severed fingers and bloody stumps of burned, shattered flesh that swamp the newscasts at this time of year.

At least 140 people have already sustained firecracker injuries as of Monday; expect that number to rise as the New Year revelry gets underway and more people—aided in many cases by intoxication—throw caution to the wind by lighting up another one that promises to be bigger and badder than the laughable piffle the snooty next-door neighbor had detonated.

And so it goes. The tragedy, of course, is that many more children are injured than adults, since playing with fire, in ordinary times, is the kind of behavior responsible adults have already learned to shun and be careful about. Of the total number of injuries recorded by the health department, 51 cases were children below 10 years old. One kid had died from ingesting a firecracker. The youngest injured was three years old.

What is to stop this insane need to make the most noise in the New Year? There are ways to make merry other than lighting up firecrackers—or for drunken cops, indiscriminately firing their guns, the other bane of the Jan. 1 celebration. Honk your car. Bang pots and pans. Play your death-metal records at full volume. Shout yourself hoarse. Have the kids toot their cardboard horns until they drop from exhaustion. If you need sparklers, there are harmless variants out there that can brighten up the night merriment as much.

Just don’t be an irresponsible example by reaching for a piccolo, or for other illegal firecrackers such as the Pop Pop, Yolanda, Pla-pla, Giant Kuwitis, the highly poisonous Watusi or the outrageously named Crying Bading. Just. Don’t.