NOBODY likes waking up the day after a festive celebration with a congested nose or scratchy throat.
It leaves you questioning if you should have drank more water or kept up your vitamin C intake.
Now, what do these big festivals have in common? Delicious food, visiting loved ones... and fireworks.
Assuming that it wasn't the food or the company, can smoke from fireworks make you feel sick?
VERDICT:
TRUE
Fireworks are typically used to ring in joyous occasions, a form of cultural expression and commonly used to celebrate festivals with a bang.
However, fireworks can be laced with danger.
According to the National Poisons Centre, the inappropriate use of firecrackers can result in fires, serious injury or even loss of life.
The potential impact of fireworks on respiratory health was published in a paper by Gouder and Montefort in 2014.
The study illustrated that harmful contaminants spread through the air when fireworks are ignited.
Exposure to these particles may aggravate the conditions of those with respiratory illnesses such as asthma or sinusitis.
This was also the subject of study for other researchers including the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology in 2010 and the Department of Environmental Medicine at NYU Langone Health in 2020.
It was also highlighted back in 1975 when Bach et al documented a statistically significant 113% surge in treated respiratory illness during a fireworks event, alongside an 8% reduction in pulmonary function.
Numerous studies conducted globally, predominantly in Europe, India, Canada and China, have detected a significant rise in concentrations of various fireworks components in the atmosphere after fireworks exhibitions.
This has, in turn, led to significant variations in air quality.
An experiment was conducted by Ullatumpoyil and Brahmaiah, on the subject of the impact of fireworks on ambient air quality in India during the Deepavali festival, which is also observed in Malaysia.
This study revealed that atmospheric pollution surpasses normal levels, manifesting annually in October and November during the festival.
The ambient air quality in Vadodara city in Gujarat, India, was assessed during Deepavali for the years 2009, 2010 and 2011.
On the day of the festival, the average concentration of PM10 contaminants showed a 35-fold increase compared to the day before Deepavali.
The average air quality index over a 24-hour period during the 2009 festival at two stations surpassed a value of 125, indicating severe air pollution in Vadodara city.
According to the South Coast Air Quality Management District as published by Fox Weather, symptoms of breathing in polluted air ranges from difficulty breathing, coughing, sore throat, asthma attacks, decreased lung function – and in extreme cases, heart attacks and even death.
With this in mind, do take necessary precautions when attending fireworks displays or lighting them up yourself.
Wearing a facial mask or simply keeping your distance could just save you spending the day in bed, especially if you have respiratory conditions.
REFERENCES
https://prn.usm.my/index.php?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/
https://myhealth.ucsd.edu/
https://www.foxweather.com/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
