Despite the sales ban, private individuals are allowed to fire rockets in many federal states. Not only the health sector would benefit from a ban on fireworks.
The firing of fireworks rockets remains in in private households Almost all federal states are allowed, with the exception of Hamburg, where it is punished with fines. Normally, you can fire missiles left over from the previous year in front of your own door. That is probably one of the reasons why people who live on the French border stock up on pyrotechnics in the neighboring country – even with fireworks that are not allowed in Germany. Only in Augsburg is suing a lawyer against the ban on fireworks issued by the city on private property.
The pyrotechnic industry, which claims to generate 95 percent of its annual turnover in December, will probably make significantly less turnover this year. In case of doubt, the insolvency of an entire branch of the economy threatens complains Thomas Schreiber, Chairman of the Board of the Association of the Pyrotechnic Industry (VPI). He calls for government aid to secure the 3,000 individual livelihoods in the industry.
The ban does not really come as a surprise after all the previous lockdown decisions. Numerous other companies have suffered losses. Why should an industry that manufactures fireworks of all things be spared from losses? If something is not systemically relevant, it is rockets that are shot into the night sky for sheer pleasure. At least hospitals, trauma surgeons, hand and ophthalmologists should be happy if they don’t have to treat additional seriously injured people by the end of the year.
Those who have always waged against the fireworks can look forward to it – such as Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH). For the first time the crazy custom of the federal government to give explosives into the hands of drunkards at the turn of the year will be stopped, explains Jürgen Resch. The DUH managing director sees this as an opportunity to develop new New Year’s Eve customs that harm neither humans, animals nor the environment.
Millions of euros are shot into the air every year on New Year’s Eve. The next day the streets are completely littered. After Information from the DUH In Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt / Main alone, around 200 tons of waste from fireworks are generated on New Year’s Eve. The environmental organization calls on the municipalitiesto set up large prohibited areas. No illegally procured or stored fireworks may be used.
What to do with the explosives from China?
Also in the Netherlands, where 70 million euros are shot up every year, the sale of fireworks was banned that year. Now the Dutch traders are left with their supplies. Jasper Groeneveld from the province of Gelderland, for example, can fill 68 bunkers with 50 tons of fireworks. All are now full to the brim. He still expects 80 containers of rockets from China that were ordered before the fireworks ban came into effect.
Like him, other importers are doing now: Nobody knows what to do with the tons of Chinese fireworks. The government announced compensation of 40 million euros for the industry. But this also includes storage costs.
The Dutch don’t want to be left sitting on a powder keg with the highly explosive material. For many it is too good Enschede disaster Remembered 20 years ago when a fireworks factory blew up and destroyed half the city.
Feverish is now after wanted safe storage facilities. Because the Bundeswehr bunkers no longer offer any storage capacity either, explosives experts see only one solution: simply torch the blasters and rockets under the supervision of experts. However, that would be the dirtiest of all solutions, since the air would be filled with poisonous clouds of smoke for days.
Animals suffer the most from bangs
Pets on New Years Eve Providing a sheltered home is not that easy. Not only the enormous noise level, but also the pungent smell of fireworks triggers an instinct to flee in many animals.
While cows and horses run through fences in the pasture, cats and dogs hide under the sofa. Sometimes the animals have to be immobilized because they are panicked by the noise of the rockets and the bright lightning. And where they can, they run away. According to Tasso eV, on New Year’s Eve 2018 and New Year’s Day 2019 more than 630 animals missing. On the last two days before the turn of the year, 416 dogs were separated from their families.
Street cats in particular are exposed to stress and noise without protection because they do not have a safe home. It is similar to wild animals, which are constantly struggling to survive in nature. On New Year’s Eve, they are not only torn from their winter rest. By fleeing in panic, they consume a lot of energy, with life-threatening consequences. The animals have to be careful with their limited energy and food reserves, especially in winter.
Wild animals that live near cities and rural communities flee the noise and often walk blindly across the road. According to the German Hunting Association, 2018/2019 hit more than 233,000 wild animals.
Especially for Wild birds turns the sky into an inferno on New Year’s Eve. Blinded by bright flares and billows of smoke, they sometimes fly up to 1,000 meters high in shock and high energy expenditure. In the vicinity of an explosion, they suffer an explosion or bang trauma. If the eardrum or inner ear is injured, this leads to inability to fly or even to death.
In the Netherlands, on New Year’s Eve 2008 and 2010, scientists used weather radar to observe the flight of startled birds, whose sleep came to an abrupt end at midnight. Within a few minutes, thousands of birds flew up to unusual heights: 666 geese, 2000 ducks and more than 9000 small birds were counted up to 500 meters high. Only after three quarters of an hour did the animals calm down. Not only did they use too much energy at the unusual altitude, they also lacked sleep and time to rest and eat. Her overall condition had deteriorated.
Fires are also caused time and again on New Year’s Eve. The monkey house in Krefeld is fondly remembered on New Year’s Eve 2019/2020 was set on fire by sky lanterns.
Increased risk of illness from fine dust
Do you believe that? Calculations by the Federal Environment Agency 2,050 tons of particulate matter are produced annually by the burning of fireworks. Around 75 percent of this is caused at the turn of the year.
This creates sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide as well as toxic and irritating substances for the respiratory tract. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a daily mean limit value of up to 50 µg PM10 / m3 on no more than three days a year and an annual limit value of 20 µg / m3. The exposure on New Year’s Day is particularly serious, with hourly values of over 1000 µg / m in many places3 lies.
particulate matter has massive effects on human health. On the one hand, the size of the fine dust particles increases at the turn of the year. On the other hand, the air is particularly dry in winter, which leads to increased irritation, asthma attacks and respiratory infections. People with respiratory diseases are particularly affected, but also pregnant women and children.
Geoscientists at the University of Halle recently found the connection between nitrogen oxide pollution and rising death rates from Covid-19 in certain regions in Italy, Spain, France and Germany examined. After evaluating the satellite data, they compared the environmental factors with the number of deaths. Result: There were particularly many Covid 19 deaths where the nitrogen oxide levels were increased.
Also in a published in October 2020 Studie des Max-Planck-Institutes a clear connection between fine dust in the air and an increased risk of death in the event of a Covid-19 infection is demonstrated. “When people inhale polluted air, the very small fine dust particles migrate from the lungs into the blood and into the blood vessels,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas Münzel from the Mainz University Hospital.
There they cause inflammation and oxidative stress, which upsets the balance between free radicals and oxidants that normally repair cell damage. This in turn damages the inner layer of the arteries, narrowing and stiffening the arteries. The corona virus, which enters the body through the lungs, causes similar damage to blood vessels.
If air pollution and Covid-19 infection come together, the negative effects add up, especially on the heart and blood vessels. This leads to a greater vulnerability to Covid-19. Air pollution and infections combined with the virus can trigger heart attacks, heart failure and strokes. If the lungs are previously damaged by air pollution, the virus can enter them more easily.
Lower emissions – tighten limit values
Scientists estimate that 15 percent of global deaths from Covid-19 could be partly caused by air pollution. In Germany alone, this proportion is said to be 26 percent. But you cannot be vaccinated against poor air quality. The only thing that helps here is to reduce emissions.
The federal, state and local governments are therefore called upon to use renewable energies to improve air quality and promote public health. Against this background demands the DUH‚For 2021 stricter limit values for fine dust, stricter particle number measurements in the exhaust gas test of cars with internal combustion engines as well as emission reductions in industrial plants and in energy generation.
The necessary technology has long been available, believes DUH managing director Jürgen Resch. So far, there has simply been no political will to implement it in practice.
(Susanne Aigner)
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