NEW YORK, June 27, 2007
Play It Safe With Fireworks
They Caused More Than 9,000 Emergency Room Visits Last Year
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Play CBS Video Video Consumer Safety With Fireworks Hannah Storm talks to Julie Vallese from the Consumer Product Safety Commission about fireworks safety, and demonstrates the dangers of illegal and improper fireworks usage.
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The CPSC found that three times as many males were injured as females and between 2000 and 2006, and an average of seven people died a year because of accidents with fireworks. Almost 1/3 of those deaths involved professional fireworks the consumers had obtained illegally.
"They're often referred to as fireworks — truly, they're explosives," Julie Vallese of the CPSC told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm.
Vallese demonstrated how illegal fireworks or fireworks intended for professional use can cause severe injuries.
Demonstration No. 1: M1000 illegal firework in a watermelon
The watermelon was completely blown up.
"We do see … amputations of fingers and even limbs," Vallese said. "There are eye injuries and permanent scarring. So the devastation and the injuries really are permanent to consumers."
Demonstration No. 2: Mannequin and professional fireworks
The mannequin was positioned leaning slightly forward, as if to light the firework, which then exploded in its face.
"Professional-grade fireworks have very long fuses but they burn very quickly," Vallese said. "Oftentimes, consumers just don't have the kind of time they need to get away with a professional-grade firework."
Sparklers
Vallese said that the majority of injuries to children younger than 5 are from sparklers.
CPSC Safety Tips
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- As a follow up to my above posting I just wanted to make readers aware that a recent bill to legalize ground based fireworks (safe and sane) was passed by the New York State Senate 51 to 11. The assembly would probably have passed it as well had it not been from opposition from New York City officials. I understand that they were concerned that fireworks would have been brought into the city from upstate or Long Island. I'm at a loss to comprehend why, if driver's licenses would be checked to see if the would- be purchaser was a city resident and if fireworks would continue to be banned in the city, that this would be an issue. There are people now that just go to Connecticut or Pennsylvania and risk having their cars impounded. As a result of the irrational fear on the part of New York City officials, no one in the state will be able to use legal consumer fireworks. That hardly seems fair. The CPSC has recently issued their 2006 injury statistics, 9200, at a time of all time high fireworks use in the U.S. This is a drop from the year before of 10,800. I've made several attempts to have truthful statistics published in New York City newspapers, but to no avail. Why is the case? Officials and New York City residents should be aware of the truth about fireworks as they now are. A 7 year study by the CPSC concluded that injuries from consumer fireworks are relatively minor.
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- This is typical of authorities to use an M-80 or other large explosive already banned by the federal government SINCE 1966 or a professional grade firework and use that as justification to ban all consumer fireworks. Since 1976, when the federal government established strict safety standards, fireworks use is up 871% while injuries have decreased 90%. An example is the reduction of the powder content in firecrackers from 130mg to 50mg. This is hardly enough to blow off a finger as some would like you to believe but it is the larget device of this type currently legal by federal standards. Death related injuries are higher in states that ban fireworks than in those that don't (0.18 per million as opposed to 0.14 per million). According to the United States Fire Commission, properly operated electrical equipment causes more fires than fireworks. Mortality rates are higher from bicycles, golf, and candles, to name a few, than fireworks. Another example of misleading information is the National Fire Protection Association's use of death rates from people going to and from a fireworks display as a fireworks related death. Todays fireworks are not those that caused our 1940 ban. We are but 1 of 5 states still with a complete ban. Our state is losing a conservative estimate of 10-20 million dollars in sales tax revenue to other states. The congested Washington, DC area has allowed ground based fireworks for decades without much incident. We need to overhaul our antiquated state ban.
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