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IF you thought the smoke this New Year's Eve was the worst ever, you were right. Official confirmation comes from the state Health Department. How bad was it? Air samples taken during the peak hours of fireworks use contained as much as 10 times as much smoke as was recorded the previous year. The highest level was recorded in Liliha at 2 a.m. Jan. 1 -- 1,509 micrograms of minute particles per cubic meter of air. The normal reading in Liliha is 10 to 15 micrograms, the department said. A spokesman said, "I don't think there's a place in the United States with such high recordings of particulate matter." No doubt the sharply higher reading was due in part to the fact that there was no wind that night. But Hawaii residents can't count on the wind to remove the smoke. The annual fireworks orgy has grown to the point described by Governor Cayetano as "utter madness." The fireworks apologists' argument that this is a valued local tradition might be plausible if the practice had not grown so blatantly out of hand. In its present magnitude, the use of fireworks at New Year's has become an intolerable intrusion on the rights of all people to breathe comfortably, to be free of ear-splitting, virtually continuous explosions and to spend the night without fear that their homes will be burned down by irresponsible people who fling firecrackers around with abandon. It is absurd to defend the chaos of last New Year's Eve as a traditional celebration. The time has come to call a halt.
The Times of India Friday 17 October 1997 As another Diwali, approaches with its firecrackers, the national capital already heavily polluted air is facing more degradation, posing the danger of increasing afflictions of the lungs, eyes and skin. The firecracker industry has grown manifold during the years with Rs 250 crore business during Diwali alone, but no concrete measures have been taken to prevent environmental degradation, according to an environmentalist. In Delhi alone, an additional 4,000 metric tonnes of garbage, comprising burnt paper and chemicals like phosphorous, sulphur and potassium chlorate, are released on that day, according to Iqbal Malik of Vatavaran.Besides, numerous accidents of fire and explosion occur every year. According to rough estimates, nearly 10, 000 people get injured by the crackers and most of the victims are children in the age group of 8-16. ``We have been celebrating Diwali when tens of thousands of children, who make these crackers, don't know what this celebration stands for. They work in the factories from dawn to dusk in hazardous conditions and most dehumanising forms,'' she said. Noise pollution is another health hazard during the period. There is a growing demand for banning crackers causing noise more than a prescribed level. Fireworks contain sulphur, which on burning converts to sulphur dioxide proved to be harmful if the concentration reaches more than the limit of 30.5 parts per billion (24 hour standard for So2). A study conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) last year on the day of Diwali indicated that hourly values, specially during 21.00 hrs to midnight was very high ranging from 65.3 to 110 ppb. The national capital territory of Delhi has already been declared as an air pollution control area within the provisions of section 19(1) of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act on February 20, this year. But steps to control this menace during Diwali is still lacking, according to experts. Another Delhi-based non-governmental organisation ``South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude'' has launched a campaign ``Celebrating Diwali by lighting lamps and not burning precious childhood''. Launching the campaign child rights activist Asmita referred to the numerous accidents of fire and explosions occurring in fireworks manufacturing units spread over the country where hundreds of child and adult workers either get killed or crippled every year. The organisation has been vigorously campaigning for the past three years for the boycott of fireworks as its manufacture is tainted with child labour besides being extremely hazardous. Last year, the NGO covered almost 10,000 schools in various states aiming to mobilise the support of schoolchildren in the campaign. In these schools hundreds of children took oath not to use firecrackers during Diwali or other festivals. According to sources, the salient feature of this years' programmes will be a signature campaign. About one lakh signatures will be collected and same will be submitted to the President along with a memorandum urging him to issue orders to stop use of fireworks during celebrations and arrange for release and rehabilitation of more than 1,50,000 children trapped in this industry. The Child Labour Act enacted in 1986 categorically prohibits child employment in matches and fireworks units classifying it as most hazardous. The Act prescribed imprisonment from three months to two years and fine up to Rs 20,000 for violation of the rule. It is sheer irony that not a single child employer of the industry was awarded imprisonment till date. The highest degree of punishment was a fine below Rs 100, activists regretted. Apart from the traditional centres like Sivakasi, many other cities like Virudunagar, Sattur in Tamil Nadu, Jhansi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Etawa, Varanasi , Jaipur, Bikaner, Udaipur, Bhopal, Indore, Raipur, Rohtak and Bhiwani are fast emerging as areas using child labour especially in fireworks manufacture.(UNI)
Pollution on Diwali worsens asthma
The Times of India Thursday 30 October 1997 By Sameera Khan Ten-year old Hitesh Shetty will not join his friends when they light their anar and phooljadi this Diwali; teacher and seamstress, Banoo Jijina, 56, will not move out of her Parsi Colony apartment for most of the festive season; housewife Harsha Khokhani will avoid the building terrace where her neighbours will burst firecrackers. For them as for the city's million-odd residents who suffer from asthma, Diwali is not so much a season of light and gaiety as much of smoke, coughing and wheezing. Others in the city may stock up sweets and firecrackers but asthma patients hold on to their inhalers which help them breathe easier. ``It is the worse time of the year for asthma sufferers,'' says Pramod Niphadkar, chest physician and honorary secretary of the Asthma and Bronchitis Association of India.``Every Diwali, as more money is spent on crackers and pollution levels rise, the condition of asthma patients worsens.'' Firecrackers contain 75 per cent potassium nitrate, 15 per cent carbon and 10 per cent sulphur. When potassium nitrate, which works as a strong oxidising agent, burns along with carbon and sulphur it releases noxious gases such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide. ``These irritate the delicate linings of the airways that carry oxygen to the lungs and lead to asthma attacks,'' says Dr Niphadkar, who receives 25 per cent more asthmatic patients at his clinic during Diwali. Another five per cent of his chronic asthma patients leave the city. ``I estimate that about 50,000 severe asthmatics have already escaped from the city to hill stations and home towns in an attempt to combat the smoke-filled air,'' he says. Banoo Jijina, who has suffered asthma for the last 15 years usually makes a trip to her brother's house in Karjat. ``Anything to escape this city even for a few days and give my lungs and airways some relief,'' says Ms Jijina, who will stay in the city this year due to an injured leg. It is on the behalf of people like her that the Asthma and Bronchitis Association of India has now appealed to the public to reduce cracker-related pollution by limiting their burning to open spaces. ``Avoid burning them in small lanes and passages. This creates a valley effect and creates big pockets of polluted air which cause difficulty in breathing,'' says Dr Niphadkar, who also warns that crackers like anar, snakes and rockets which burn for a longer time cause more pollution. ``From October to February, we see at least 30 to 40 per cent more cases of asthma, bronchitis and wheezing,'' says family physician Virsen Ruparel who runs a polyclinic at Colaba. Pre-Diwali cleaning that raises dust levels in homes brings the first lot of breathless patients to clinics and OPDs. More come in when the temperature drops and vehicular and industrial pollutants that cannot rise up due to the cold air particles settle down as a blanket of smog and dust, according to the association. ``A lot of old and chronic asthma patients may need to get admitted to hospital during Diwali because routine care becomes difficult to manage,'' says N.T. Awad, associate professor of chest medicine at KEM Hospital, where the twice-a-week chest OPD is currently more than crowded. ``In this season, we see asthma and bronchitis patients of all age and sex groups, irrespective of a family history of asthma or not,'' says Dr Awad. ``It's a difficult season for them to get through.''