'Smog mentality'

It is not certain what planet this fellow Celso Cruz (president emeritus of the Philippine Pyrotechnics Manufacturers and Dealers Association) is from, but he certainly is well endowed with “smog mentality”, judging from his scoffing and arrogant statements regarding the proposal to impose a total ban on the use of firecrackers during New Year. Disparaging the proponents as “just new kids on the block,” he brags that not even Ferdinand Marcos was able to impose the ban during Martial Law. He dismisses the 700 or so injured and — a lot of irate people suppose — the four-month old infant and the others who were killed as negligible “statistics,” arguing that there are almost a hundred million Filipinos anyway. No one can argue that every single life is precious and should never be dismissed as insignificant especially if it is lost due to accidents caused by fireworks.

It’s clear as crystal: this kind of people with smog mentality simply cannot comprehend the damage, destruction, injury and deaths that occur year after year as long as they get to ply their deadly trade. It’s no longer just an issue of continuing tradition but rather, it is now a question of saving lives and preserving the environment because firecrackers worsen air pollution and pose fatal health risks to people especially the children and the elderly.

The smoke and dust at the height of the New Year revelry have been likened to an ash fall, compounded by the cold humid weather that caused a thick blanket of smog to cover the whole of Metro Manila. In fact, the haze was so bad that several flights were either canceled or diverted to Clark Airport due to zero visibility. To this day, a lot of people, even those who stayed indoors and refrained from watching the smoke-filled revelry, are still sick and coughing, suffering from runny nose, chest congestion, allergies, asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory ailments. Health officials have warned that lengthy exposure to smog can cause lung cancer. The deafening noise can also cause hearing problems, while the exposure to rapidly flickering bright lights can trigger seizures. In fact, the air quality has become so bad that a businessman just suddenly collapsed while playing golf a couple of days after New Year.

Cruz says the firecracker industry generates P500 million yearly and creates tens of thousands of jobs, but he does not know the staggering healthcare costs (estimated to be in the billions) to hundreds of thousands of people who end up sick, the lost productivity (not to mention lost fingers and other extremities), damage to property and loss of lives. Every year, accidents happen even in so-called legitimate fireworks manufacturers’ compounds, resulting in fires. Many of these manufacturing compounds are no better than sweatshops, their workers exposed to great health hazards due to toxic chemicals used in manufacturing pyrotechnics, not even equipped with masks or any protective covering at all. Worse, many of these workers are children below 10, risking life and limb in exchange for a measly few pesos — a situation described by the International Labor Organization as one of the worst forms of child labor. 

If President Noynoy Aquino can go after the corrupt and the wrongdoers and wants to lead Filipinos towards a straight path - this is one area that he should seriously look into. For one, even those so-called “legal” fireworks have been proven unreliable and dangerous. Supposedly “legitimate” manufacturers produce dangerous fireworks on the sly or import banned firecrackers. Unfortunately, the penalty for violators is a mere slap on the wrist with bail set at P2,000 and a maximum prison term of one year.

According to sources, a lot of manufacturers reportedly use cancer-causing chemicals like hexachlorobenzene that has been banned globally for being an organic pollutant. Even in the US, there is a growing clamor against the use of fireworks in celebrating national events like the Fourth of July because of the chemicals that have been found toxic to humans, animals and the environment. More often than not, fireworks contain radioactive and carcinogenic substances that seep into the water and the ground, thereby potentially contaminating food and agricultural products.

If we cannot control the pollution coming from China, then we should at least try to do something about the dreadful air quality in Metro Manila and other cities by designating common fireworks areas as suggested by DENR Secretary Ramon Paje. If the production of fireworks continues to be unregulated, then government should control when and where fireworks displays can be done, perhaps by designating only one major display per area like in the middle of the sea or in a place where people can watch the explosion of lights from a very safe distance. And if people complain that they can’t hear the noise that goes with firecrackers, they can play the CD containing all sorts of pyrotechnics booms and blasts distributed by the Department of Health. After all, one reason people have continued with the tradition is the belief that evil spirits are driven away by the loud noise. Believe me, playing the DOH CD full blast on a powerful speaker can drive anyone nuts - evil spirits or otherwise.

More than ever, we should totally ban firecrackers during New Year’s Eve. It is no longer just a matter of people being injured by it. Every person who lives in the metropolis is in danger of literally dying of the smog that it causes. What we saw last week was simply mind-boggling. It’s as if no one really cares if we all die of some form of respiratory disease. What a tragedy!

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