Fireworks injuries on the rise, study says

CHICAGO – Backyard use of fireworks and related injuries are increasing nationwide, according to industry and government data, and researchers say thousands of children each year are among the victims.

From 1990 to 2003, roughly 85,800 U.S. children under age 19 were treated in emergency rooms for burns and other injuries from firecrackers, bottle rockets and even sparklers, according to a study prepared for release today in July’s issue of the journal Pediatrics. Most injuries occurred around the Fourth of July.

The study is an analysis of data on nonfatal injuries from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which last week released new figures showing an estimated 10,800 children and adults were treated for fireworks injuries last year. That was up from 9,600 in 2004 and part of a steady increase in fireworks-related injuries since 1996, the commission said.

Fireworks-related injuries killed 36 people between 2000 and 2005. Two teens were among the four reported deaths last year, the commission said.

Injuries to those under age 20 accounted for 55 percent of last year’s figures.

While firecrackers cause the most injuries, sparklers accounted for almost half of last year’s injuries to children younger than 5. Aerial devices, including bottle rockets, caused about 17 percent of the injuries last year and in the Pediatrics study.

About 22 percent of children injured in the study were bystanders not directly handling fireworks; 60 percent of injuries were burns; and eyes, faces and hands were the most commonly injured body parts.

Julie Heckman of the American Pyrotechnics Association, a fireworks industry trade group, said backyard fireworks are safe when handled appropriately and with proper parental supervision. Most injuries occur when fireworks are misused, including when parents let young children handle sparklers, which she said was “totally inappropriate.”