Custom or barbarism?
How sensible firecracker bans are on New Year's Eve
Created: 12/27/2022 7:18 am
By: Max Mueller
Clinics at the limit, high levels of fine dust pollution, cruelty to animals: there are many arguments against firecrackers on New Year's Eve.
Meanwhile, the fireworks faction is already looking forward to the triple delivery.
Cologne – Markus Strasser has always been enthusiastic about fire.
"My mother once told me," he says on the phone, "that I threw my pacifier down the fireplace when I was a child." Seen in this way, Strasser turned his hobby into a career.
He is a trained pyrotechnician.
Today, Strasser works as the head of marketing for an online shop for fireworks.
He is part of an industry that is pilloried every year.
The fine dust!
The scared animals!
The broken fingers!
And anyway: The Knallerei is completely out of time, say some.
"Fireworks are synonymous with feelings of happiness," says Strasser.
Not everyone sees it that way.
The police union and the German Medical Association are calling for a ban.
Many cities designate areas where fireworks are prohibited.
However, the Federal Ministry of the Interior has rejected a general ban as in the last two years.
In a recently published online survey by the Brandenburg consumer advice center, 53 percent spoke out in favor of a ban on private fireworks.
The highest fine dust pollution is measured in many places on the first day of the new year.
© Boris Roessler/dpa
New Year's fireworks: More fine dust than on any other day of the year
The Federal Environment Agency calculates how bad the New Year's fireworks are for the environment.
On average, 2,050 tons of fine dust are generated.
This corresponds to about one percent of the amount of fine dust released in Germany in a whole year.
This means that on the first day of the new year, air pollution is higher in many places than on any other day of the year.
These figures are based on the export and import volumes to Germany.
What sounds methodical has very practical implications: "Homemade" firecrackers and illegally imported fireworks are not included.
Markus Strasser is happy: After a two-year break, the fire can be lit again.
© Markus Strasser
Nevertheless, the fine dust value decreases.
The Federal Environment Agency has modified its calculation method under pressure from the pyrotechnics lobby and can thus better capture a trend: Classic firecrackers are in less and less demand.
Fireworks batteries are more popular.
They produce less particulate matter.
But even the tiniest particles can irritate the airways and disrupt lung function in the long term - this is particularly dangerous for asthmatics.
Trauma surgeon: "You can't usually sew on a finger that has been blown off"
In the short term, however, other medical emergencies prevail.
Dietmar Pennig is someone who knows what it's like in an emergency room on New Year's Eve.
Until 2021 he was chief physician for trauma surgery and orthopedics at a Cologne clinic.
"The staffing situation in the emergency services is already sewn to the brim because of the high upfront costs," says Pennig.
"In addition, there are at least 50 to 60 other treatments in a clinic on New Year's Eve." Typically, these are hand injuries, eye injuries and blast trauma.
“They are often irreparable.
You can usually no longer sew on a finger that has been blown off,” says Pennig.
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For Penning, however, the truth is that anyone who calls for a ban on fireworks should also work to abolish folk festivals.
“The stress is similarly high at carnival, only it is spread over the whole day.
On New Year's Eve, the critical phase only lasts a few hours, but at night," says Pennig.
Firecrackers and rockets: "Our dog is completely crazy, he's really shaking"
Fireworks are not only dangerous for people.
Animals suffer the most.
Many people don't realize that noise and light can cause wild animals to panic - you can't overlook it when you have your own dog.
How badly he suffers depends on the character of the dog, says Jörg Bartscherer.
He is the managing director of the German Kennel Club (VDH).
"We have a dog, a firecracker can explode right next to him, he doesn't care at all.
Our second dog, on the other hand, goes completely nuts, he's really shaking," says Bartscherer.
Bartscherer does not know how to solve the dilemma.
bans?
"Yeah," he says.
“I have a hard time with the rampant culture of prohibition.
One should simply ask oneself: does that have to be the case?” Bartscherer has not been able to attend a New Year's Eve party with his family for years.
Your dog needs far too close supervision for that.
A fate shared by pyrotechnician Strasser, although he doesn't have a dog.
Professional reasons prevent him.
"December 31st is the most important sales day of the year, it's pure stress," he says.
Strasser's online shop started out as a forum: exchanges on the latest products, appointments for fireworks trips together.
Later, hobby igniters could also take out insurance through the club.
"If something happens, it can be expensive," says Strasser.
Debate about the ban on firecrackers: "Now even traumatized refugees are being harnessed"
The narrowing of the debate to firecrackers bothers him.
Fireworks are much more than dull bangs.
The aim of his frustration is the German Environmental Aid (DUH), which according to its own statement "finally wants to put an end to firecrackers and senseless banging on New Year's Eve." Their argumentation is dubious, says Strasser.
"Now she's even using refugees for her purposes," says Strasser.
"People from Syria have been coming to Germany since 2015, just a few years ago nobody was talking about recurring trauma."
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Strasser doesn't believe in bans.
In particular, the last two turn of the year, when the sale and lighting of fireworks was forbidden, would have shown that the undeterred cannot be stopped anyway.
If necessary, they drive across the borders and shop in the Czech Republic or Poland.
It is precisely such imported goods that lead to serious injuries, says Strasser.
"You sometimes need extra training for these fireworks." The second major danger is self-made bangers.
Without bans, only personal responsibility remains
Whether harmful fine dust, overburdened hospitals or frightened dogs: None of these are arguments for Strasser.
He is basically: "The Verbobts faction should think about what their hobbies have for negative side effects," he says.
"Anyone who likes to go on vacation also damages the environment."
Without bans, it remains with appeals.
Inevitably, this argument ends with a word that has recently been overused: personal responsibility.
Whether and how this will look like on the night of January 1, 2023 remains exciting.
In 2018, the Germans shot firecrackers, rockets and the like into the air with a goods value of around 120 million euros.
It may well be that some things will be made up for this year.
"Many customers have ordered from us in the last two years despite the ban and we have stored the goods," says Strasser.
In plain language, this means: They now get triple the amount.