WHERE WILL YOU BE ...
...
WHEN
THE NEXT FIREWORKS HAPPEN'
I
will stay indoors with windows and shutters closed, using an air purifier.
Additionally, I will have to wear a filter mask on my face to reduce the
inhalation of fireworks smokes during the heaviest part of the celebration. The
house I live in is not air-tight, the smell of fireworks chemicals is noticed
inside very quickly. I cannot go to bed until the last rocket is fired no matter
how tired I am. The most dangerous situation for me as an asthmatic is that if
the smoke creeps into the house while I am asleep and I therefore suffer an
asthma attack, I cannot react quickly enough.
Even
the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscapes, SAEFL, recommends
to people with respiratory diseases and circulation deficiency to avoid
fireworks (!!!). But how can you avoid fireworks when they are let-off in
residential areas?
It
is well known that many Indian people leave their towns before Diwali in order
to escape the deadly smoke of fireworks. And also that the situation concerning
fireworks in Hawaii is even worse. For this reason the American Lung Association
of Hawaii (ALAH) has developed the project called 'Safe Haven', in order to give people
suffering from asthma, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and emphysema a refuge
from such smokes. The ALAH also offered masks to those who need them.
But
did you know that here in Switzerland more and more people are leaving the
country on August 1, our national day, a day of heavy fireworks and camp-fires?
Some do it because of their health some for their animals. But please realize
that the persons who suffer most from chemical smokes due to fireworks are often
not mobile enough to flee.
We
are trying hard to get fireworks out from our residential areas.
All of you with respiratory diseases, heart or circulation deficiencies: where will you be when the next fireworks happen?
And
all of you men and boys: where will you be? Still letting off fireworks and thus
damaging our health and breath?