Firecrackers are symbolic of celebration, of extravagance, and good luck. While India is notoriously known for its adoration for firecrackers each year during the October-November festival cycle, these strings of paper and chemicals are unnervingly bad for your health, more so now than ever before.
On Tuesday, November 3, Delhi witnessed its most polluted day of the year - on track with the yearly trajectory. For weeks to come, pollution levels in Delhi air will continue to spike until a yearly record is broken. While this is due to a combination of factors including stubble burning and climate change, the outburst of firecrackers on Diwali night is no saving grace.
Regardless, firecrackers are most definitely harmful for your health - be it on Diwali, Christmas, Eid, or even your birthday bash.
For starters, your firecrackers are responsible for two kinds of pollution - air and noise pollution. Each time a colourful "rocket" goes up in the air, the concentration of dust and pollutants also increase. With each firecracker, chemicals like copper, lead, magnesium, sodium, etc. are released too, which settle on surfaces. Complemented by pollutants like sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide, the miniscule particles affect our health without us feeling any direct effects.
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With so much pollution already hazing our cities, our respiratory tracts are already weaker than an average person. Combined with the thick smoke generated from firecrackers, we're essentially infecting our respiratory tract with pollutants, especially children.
Feeling a constant congestion in your throat and chest? While it may be due to many reasons, firecrackers definitely contribute to the problem. Besides this, your eyes and nose will also remain irritated when confronted with firecracker smoke.
It's no secret that air pollution contributes to heart and respiratory issues. Smoking cigarettes is bad for you, we all know that, right? Just one string of 1,000 crackers or a "ladi" as it is affectionately known is as dangerous as smoking 270 cigarettes in one go. An IndiaSpend analysis also claims that the black coloured pellet, commonly known as the snake firecracker is equivalent to inhaling smoke from 464 cigarettes.
Every time a firecracker or a cigarette is lit, particulate matter of PM 2.5 concentration is produced. Such matter is considered a health hazard by all scientists alike.
A study undertaken by the Chest Research Foundation (CRF) in 2017 assessed the exposure to PM 2.5 matter caused by burning of six common firecrackers in India - the fuljhadi, chakri, string-shapred sparklers (pulpuls), pellets (snakes), and flower pots.
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Out of these, snake pellets generated the most smoke (64,500 mcg per cubic metre of PM 2.5 particles) over just three minutes. Following in its footsteps was "ladi" - a garland of 1,000 crackers (38,540 mcg) over six minutes. As opposed to this, a cigarette produces dangerous smoke of up to 139 mcg per cubic metre, according to a Tumori Journal study.
India's Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) maintains that the average PM 2.5 particle concentration over 24 hours shouldn't cross 60 mcg per cubic metre. The World Health Organization's suggestion is more radical at 25 mcg per cubic metre.
As mesmerising your rockets look in the sky, they're doing very little to benefit. In fact, firecrackers are also notorious for causing trauma to animals. If you have a pet at home, you know already know that.
We suggest switching to candles or diyas for visual gratification, or better yet - a string of electronic lights to adorn the walls of your home that will cause no harm to your lungs and heart in the age of health complications accentuated by climate change.
According to Greenpeace, air pollution killed 120,000 people in India in just 2020. A scary number, isn't it?
What do you think, should firecrackers be banned on a year-round basis in India? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.??
Citation
Ruprecht, A. A., de Marco, C., Pozzi, P., Munarini, E., Mazza, R., Angellotti, G., Turla, F., & Boffi, R. (2014). Comparison between Particulate Matter and Ultrafine Particle Emission by Electronic and Normal Cigarettes in Real-life Conditions. Tumori Journal, 100(1), e24¨Ce27.?
Poovanna, S. (2021, February 18). Over 120K died due to air pollution in India in 2020: Greenpeace. Hindustan Times.?
IndiaSpend (2016).?Smoke From Firecracker Snake = 464 Cigarettes (And Other Diwali Stories). IndiaSpend.
MoneyControl (2017, October 18). DATA STORY: A dummy¡¯s guide to how many cigarettes you ¡°unwittingly¡± smoke during Diwali. Moneycontrol.?