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Ears, Nose, Throat and Health

Injuries, fireworks

What Parents Should Know About Fireworks

By Dr. W. Gifford Jones

May 15, 1994

  How can a festive occasion turn quickly into tragedy? In a couple of words, very easily. And just as sure as night follows day it will happen again during the next few weeks. It occurs year after year. People around the world love to celebrate their national days with fireworks. Hopefully this column will help save some North Americans from needless injuries.

  I've never forgotten one incident that happened 25 years ago. I was sitting on the lawn with my wife and children while adults at a local club put on a fireworks display about 50 feet away. Suddenly one of the rockets took off horizontally heading directly towards us striking the ground a foot or two away. Luckily no one was injured.

  Others are not that fortunate. Jennifer,a 15 year old says, "I thought since I was 20 feet away from where my friends were shooting off bottle rockets, I was safe." But one rocket went off course, struck her in the eye and caused blindness.

  Dominic, another 15 year old was "playing war" with some friends when he was struck by a bottle rocket. The rocket exploded disfiguring his face and destroying his left eye.

  An Arkansas boy, age 9, was struck in the right eye by a bottle rocket fired from a neighbour's yard. He suffered a torn retina, the inner surface of the eye which receives visual images.

  Dr C. Douglas Witherspoon of the United States Eye Injury Registry says, "Kids think it's fun to shoot these rockets at each other, but the rockets are actually dangerous weapons."

  The U.S. Consumer Safety Commission reports that over 10,000 Americans are injured annually by fireworks. Amateur fireworks are responsible for 2,000 eye injuries. And in a seven year study of serious fireworks eye injuries 44 per cent resulted in blindness.

  Ophthalmologists note that the number of fireworks injuries treated in emergency rooms has soared over the last 15 years.

  Bottle rockets cause 85 per cent of all fireworks injuries and nearly 100 per cent of all eye losses. A bottle rocket is a firecracker about two inches long attached to a thin stick about six inches long. When ignited it can be launched like a rocket.

This holiday season parents should rid themselves and their children of dangerous misconceptions about fireworks. Surveys show most people believe that very few are seriously injured by fireworks. But of the 10,000 fireworks injuries 1,600 involve the eye with 40 per cent causing permanent eye damage.

  The majority of people think the average fuse burning time is 15 seconds. According to figures from the Consumer Product Safety Commission performance standards, retail fireworks must have fuses which burn for 3 to 6 seconds.

  An amazing number of people believe it's safe to make their own fireworks if they know what they're doing. Or decide to buy an advertised fireworks construction kit.

  But mixing and loading chemical powders is dangerous and can result in explosions which blind or maim users. Pipe bombs made with match heads can exceed the explosive force of a stick of dynamite.

  Another misconception is that bystanders are rarely injured. In one study 40 per cent of those suffering eye injuries were spectators. And most of the injured were 23 feet away.

  We've all seen young children running with sparklers. Surely they must be safe, you say. Unfortunately, no. Sparklers burn at 1,800 degrees, almost hot enough to melt gold. And flying pieces striking the eye have caused total blindness. Here's another bit of trivia that's not good reading. In 1985, 11 people died from fireworks injuries, according to a news report from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. And fireworks sparked about 51,600 fires that same year!

  Dr. Fabrizio Camesasca, of Birmingham, Alabama reported on 53 serious eye injuries caused by fireworks during a six year period. 56.6 per cent of cases required surgery. 82 per cent involved injury to the iris, 73 per cent damaged the retina, 58 per cent the lens and 34 per cent the cornea.

  Staged surgery was usually required. Initially the laceration was closed. Then secondary surgery to repair various structural defects was done from four days to seven months later.

  Dr. Camesasca writes that in 16 cases the fireworks did not penetrate the eye. But due to the impact surgery was needed for traumatic cataracts, vitreous hemorrhage or retinal detachment.

  Remember this fact the next time you decide to purchase fireworks for children. The American Academy of Ophthalmology says the typical victim is a male 13 to 15 years of age who is injured at home between June 29 to July 5 from a bottle rocket. Adults are not present, severe eye injury occurs resulting in multiple surgeries and frequently permanent visual loss. Need I say more?


W. Gifford-Jones M.D is the pen name of Dr. Ken Walker graduate of Harvard. Dr. Walker's website is: Docgiff.com

My book, �90 + How I Got There� can be obtained by sending $19.95 to:

Giff Holdings, 525 Balliol St, Unit # 6,Toronto, Ontario, M4S 1E1

Pre-2008 articles by Gifford Jones
Canada Free Press, CFP Editor Judi McLeod