The use of fireworks must be restricted to limit the damage to public health and the environment, according to the Church’s environmental commission.
In a report yesterday, the commission referred to studies that demonstrated correlation between atmospheric pollutant levels and the summer firework season.
A 2009 study found that potassium perchlorate levels in the air were almost 15 times higher in August – the height of the fireworks season – than they were in December.
Another study identified high levels of particulate matter in the air during the fireworks season, with adverse health effects.
The commission noted that fireworks manufacturers were caught in a quandary, as many stopped using unstable – but environmentally cleaner – potassium chlorate to the safer but more polluting perchlorate.
If all manufacturers were to use potassium perchlorate, air pollutant levels would be five times higher than now, the report noted.
The report acknowledged the important role fireworks played in Malta’s social and cultural life but suggested it was time for their use to be limited.
It called for fireworks manufacturers to focus on the quality rather than quantity of the fireworks they made.
Fortifying its call for limitations on fireworks use, the report noted the disproportionate number of fireworks-related accidents compared to other European states.
Most accidents occurred in July, when the bulk of manufacturing was meant to have been completed, indicating a certain carelessness in the production process.
“The price being paid for this national passion is too high... there is need for serious reform in this sector,” the report stated.
In reaction, the Maltese Pyrotechnic Association linked the commission report to other recent ecclesiastical statements on fireworks. It said the report was being published at a “wholly inappropriate” time, adding that feasts were being subjected to “a direct and indirect concentrated attack”.
The Church has locked horns with feast organisers and band clubs over a number of issues concerning village feasts.
An independent report last December called for some of the highly volatile chemical compounds used in fireworks production, such as those including potassium chlorate, to be banned.
It had warned the government that, unless changes were made with immediate effect, Malta was likely to experience a large-scale firework tragedy this year or the next.