On New Year’s Day 2021 Berlin offered an unusual picture for residents who have been living in the capital for some time. In many neighborhoods – with the exception of problem areas – the streets were as clean as they were leaky. The tons of fireworks and firecrackers rubbish that the city cleaning department usually has to leave behind – and which often lie around in remains for many weeks – were simply not there. The ban on the sale of fireworks and firecrackers, which the federal government had issued for Corona reasons, ensured the garbage-free image – not only in Berlin, but in many cities. The arsenal of bunkered or imported explosives was apparently used up comparatively quickly.

Hmm, fresh air on New Years Eve! What was also good, was the air. Usually on New Year’s Eve the air in the cities is extremely thick. According to the Federal Environment Agency, around 2050 tons of fine dust of the particle size PM 10 are blown into the air. In some places, air pollution is higher than on any other day of the year. That was spared us 2020 / 2021 – it would have been crazy too, after all, COVID – 19 is a respiratory disease.

There was still additional advantages. In many regions the fire brigade had significantly less to do than usual. On a normal New Year’s Eve, it is a major battle day. Countless fires in apartments, balconies and roof trusses triggered by rockets and firecrackers have to be extinguished, cars burn down, and sometimes trees in parks are hit. The risk of injury is enormous.

“On no other day of the year do so many people injure their hands as on New Year’s Eve”, according to the German Society for Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery (DGOU) and the German Society for Hand surgery. Severed fingers, burns and fractures are typical. In addition, injuries to the face and eyes are common, according to DGOU General Secretary Dietmar Pennig of the German Press Agency. There are also eye injuries, tears in the eardrum, injuries to the lungs and face, as well as hearing damage. Cities like Berlin feel like at war on New Year’s Eve.

No organic firecrackers, but carcinogenic What is hardly discussed at all is what is in the rockets and firecrackers. When igniting, you inhale chemicals that are definitely harmful to health and remain in the environment for a long time. In any case, no one has come up with the idea of ​​creating an “organic firecracker” that would be biologically clean.

In the past, mercury, red phosphorus or lead were used, but now it’s more – Problematic for the thyroid gland – chlorine compounds, barium or strontium nitrate and salts of copper. According to Thomas Klapötke from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, PCBs, PCDDs and PCDFs are also created when burning. “These are highly toxic and carcinogenic,” said the researcher on the Tagesspiegel .

What we do here in Germany on New Year’s Eve is simply unknown in many other regions. That people are allowed to fire flammable rockets and deafening firecrackers themselves simply doesn’t exist in other countries. In New York there is confetti and maybe a centrally controlled fireworks display. The same system in Paris. Even China, the country that invented fireworks, lets the big cities pop in a coordinated manner, the danger from individual fireworks would simply be too great.

We also continue to smoke Of course, a continued ban on firecrackers would be an interference with the rights of freedom – and many people simply enjoy the bang. As long as you do not harm (or harm others), it is also a lot of fun. It is tradition, creates cohesion, you can share real joy with each other.

And of course an industry depends on the bang that is currently fighting for survival. New Year’s Eve 2019 there were sales of around 130 Million Euros. That’s a lot of jobs. On the other hand, local producers are the exception, the vast majority is imported from China.

And it wouldn’t be the only potentially harmful activity (if fireworks are nice to look at) that people are still allowed to do. So almost die year after year in Germany 130. 000 people suffer from the effects of smoking, worldwide there are 8 million. We just let it happen, we don’t even care about the garbage that pollutes the groundwater in the butts that are thrown on the ground everywhere. And you can smoke freely on the street, so that other people can get the clouds off – yes, it spreads. It is therefore quite possible that everything will simply stay the same when the corona fog has cleared. (bsc)