EDITORIAL - Be merry, be safe

Aksyon: Paputok Injury Reduction  that’s what APIR stands for. It’s this year’s program to bring down the number of injuries resulting from firecrackers and pyrotechnics. Every year there is such a program, starting weeks ahead of the New Year revelry, promoting safe merrymaking and warning people to be careful in handling firecrackers. Yet every first day of the year there are reports of hundreds of people suffering from burns, serious wounds and other injuries caused by fireworks. Occasionally, deaths are reported. Every year, a few days after New Year’s Eve, there are also reports of people suffering from tetanus arising from firecracker-related injuries.

Obviously, there’s no stopping Filipinos from greeting the New Year with the loudest bang and the most brilliant fireworks they can afford. The best that the government can do is to tighten the enforcement of product safety rules imposed on the fireworks industry. Imported fireworks have not been blamed for deaths, burns, mutilated fingers and other serious injuries. There’s no reason why Philippine products cannot be just as safe to handle.

Enforcement of safety standards in the local fireworks industry, however, leaves much to be desired. Several small firecrackers were banned years ago because of the high likelihood of ingestion by children and the high risk of causing wounds that might lead to tetanus. Those firecrackers continue to be manufactured and sold openly. Bigger firecrackers such as “pla-pla” were also banned many years ago but continue to be sold. Last year “Goodbye, Philippines” eclipsed “Super Lolo” in explosive power and was supposed to have been banned. Yet only recently a man lost his leg in a “Goodbye, Philippines” explosion.

The failure to enforce prohibitions on the manufacture and sale of powerful firecrackers not only poses a danger to life and limb but also puts a burden on taxpayers. The Department of Health reported that from P2,000 to P25,000 is spent on every person brought to government hospitals for treatment of firecracker injuries. The treatments range from cleaning of minor wounds to amputation of mangled limbs. It can’t be emphasized enough that welcoming the New Year can be loud, dazzling, fun, and still safe.