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Fireworks on January 1, 2021 in Berlin: Emergency doctors and firefighters also want to celebrate New Year's Eve
Photo: Marius Schwarz / imago images / Marius Schwarz
Before the New Year's Eve celebrations in less than seven weeks, environmentalists, doctors, the police union and animal rights activists again demanded a nationwide ban on fireworks - and also referred to the current tense corona situation.
"This is the only way to prevent doctors, nurses and hospitals from being overloaded in view of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic," said the alliance.
Every year there are emergency medical calls due to accidents with fireworks, said the federal manager of the German Environmental Aid (DUH), Jürgen Resch.
And: "Thousands of emergency doctors and firefighters should have the chance to celebrate with their loved ones."
At the turn of the year 2020/21 there had already been a similar regulation.
New Year's and New Year's Eve coincided with a tough Corona shutdown, nationwide there was a ban on gatherings and fireworks in public places.
The sale of firecrackers and other pyrotechnics was generally prohibited after a heated debate.
Light shows as an alternative?
Ophthalmologist Andreas Reuland and pulmonologist Norbert Mülleneisen are now warning of further health consequences that would result from the gunfire. On New Year's Eve, around 500 people in Germany were injured in their eyes by fireworks, around 100 of them seriously, said Reuland. Mülleneisen reported on asthmatics, some of whom still had seizures a week after the turn of the year. Sarah Ross from the animal welfare organization "Four Paws" said in turn that dogs and cats panicked at the loud bangs. Sometimes the symptoms of anxiety lasted for days.
2000 tons of highly toxic particulate matter were blown up on New Year's Eve, explained Resch.
He referred to a report published on Monday by the EU Environment Agency EEA, according to which tens of thousands of people die prematurely every year in Germany alone due to high levels of particulate matter.
In 2019, this was 54,000 people, said the EEA.
Overall, however, the number of deaths from fine dust has declined in Europe in recent years because the air quality has improved.
For all these reasons, the alliance is calling for a long-term revision of the Explosives Ordinance in addition to a current ban.
DUH boss Resch, for example, advocates light or laser shows instead of fireworks.
The Association of the Pyrotechnic Industry (VPI) and the Federal Association of Pyrotechnics (BVPK), an association of professional and hobby fireworkers, are against a ban.
It's about a popular New Year's Eve tradition and fireworks as a cultural asset.
Most of the patients in the emergency rooms of the hospitals were also there because of alcohol consumption or other injuries, it said.
In addition, serious injuries are "exclusively the result of illegal or improperly burned fireworks".
The fine dust pollution is also only brief, argued the BVPK - the New Year's Eve fireworks only make up 0.7 percent of the fine dust in a year.
apr / AFP / dpa
