Manila: The Philippine health department, as well as various non-government organisations have intensified their campaign against the use of firecrackers as the yuletide and New Year festivities draw near.
Dr Eric Tayag, Department of Health Spokesperson, said the government is continuing its promotion of a safe celebration of the holidays through the use of cheap and readily available noisemakers instead of the customary firecrackers and pyrotechnics.
Environmental and health advocates led by actor Roy Alvarez of the Ecowaste Coalition, joined Tayag in kicking off the drive with a launching event at the Pinyahan Elementary School in suburban Quezon City recently.
Dubbed "Iwas PapuToxic" (Avoid Firecrackers and Toxic Substances) the event has "Action for Paputok Pollution and Injury Reduction" (APPIR) as its central theme. Every year, thousands of hundreds of Filipinos are injured or killed due to the reckless handling of firecrackers and pyrotechnics.
"Are a few minutes of noxious entertainment really worth losing your fingers and eyesight, while defiling the surroundings and wasting your parents' hard-earned income?" Alvarez posed this question before an attentive crowd of some 1,300 pupils.
In response, the Grade 1 to Grade VI pupils, along with their parents and teachers, gleefully shouted "no" in unison to blasting firecrackers to ring in the New Year.
The young participants excitedly showed off their eco-friendly noisemakers made from materials commonly found in many households such pot lids, tin cans and plastic bottles, which instantly filled the air with energetic sounds.
"These safety-conscious kids have shown that we can greet the New Year with sounds from recycled noisemakers instead of the customary firecrackers and fireworks," said Aileen Lucero, Iwas PapuToxic Campaigner of the EcoWaste Coalition.
"By opting for emission-free and injury-proof New Year's revelry, we save lives and limbs and prevent poisonous chemicals from causing air, water and land pollution," she added.
Firecrackers had been an inextricable part of Filipinos' celebration of the New Year and Yuletide Season. Alvarez said that while it would be difficult of do away with the custom of using firecrackers and pyrotechnics, the best that authorities could do is designate safe areas to use these expensive and dangerous noisemakers.
"Assigning common areas for blasting firecrackers and fireworks will not trim down the huge amounts of toxic fumes, metallic elements and particulate matters associated with the dirty and violent rites," observed Alvarez.
"In lieu of designating common pollution spots, local authorities should identify and enforce ‘paputok-free zone,' (firecracker free zone) particularly in fire-prone neighbourhoods and in areas near hospitals, schools, playgrounds, zoos and churches," he said.
During the "Iwas-PapuToxic" launch, environmentalists called attention to the pressing need to stop extensive pollution from firecrackers and fireworks amid the unfolding climate crisis.
Air pollution, they said, is exacerbated by the dispersal of toxic pollutants into the atmosphere triggering allergies, heart disturbances, asthma attack and respiratory ailments.
Also, massive noise pollution is created by the loud bangs and tremors that can disturb, upset and scare humans as well as animals, and even damage the sense of hearing, they pointed out.
