SUPPORT BUILDS FOR SALE OF CONSUMER FIREWORKS IN OHIO AS INJURY RATES DECREASE

Support builds for sale of consumer fireworks in Ohio as injury rates decrease
EDITOR:
The imperative to reform the Ohio fireworks laws and permit the full range of consumer fireworks to be sold and used is greater this year than ever before. The excuses and rationalizations used by the anti-fireworks lobby to maintain such a strict ban on the use of the full line of consumer fireworks simply do not hold water anymore.
Phantom Fireworks is proud to report that the fireworks-related injury rate in the U.S. hit an all-time low in 2003, according to data released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). This is reflective of the efforts undertaken by the members of the fireworks industry and the partnerships with CPSC and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & amp; Firearms to improve the quality of the products and to educate the public on the safe use of the products.
Sure, the products must burn to function, and, consequently, must be respected by the user. If the consumers follow the safety rules that Phantom Fireworks publishes and recommends to its customers, you will have a good, wholesome and enjoyable family experience watching the colorful and entertaining fireworks together.
Fireworks are Americana and family is the backbone of the American experience. There are not many things on which all generations of American families can agree, but sit three generations of a family in front of a good fireworks display and the oohs and aahs of delight expressed by all makes a great statement.
Add to the family entertainment value the fact that the consumer fireworks are safer today than they have ever been before, and you have a great story that Phantom Fireworks wants to share with everyone.
The CPSC reported an estimated 9,300 fireworks-related injuries nationally for 2003, representing a reduction in the raw number of estimated fireworks-related injuries of more than 25 percent since 1992, when the estimated fireworks-related injuries were 12,500.
During the same period, American's use of fireworks has increased from 87.1 million pounds 1992 to 220.8 million pounds in 2003, more that 21/2 times.
Putting the reduction in injuries together with the increased use, you have an amazing 70 percent reduction in the estimated fireworks-related injuries based on injuries per 100,000 pounds of fireworks used. That is something of which Phantom Fireworks and the entire fireworks industry can be very proud.
In addition to the partnerships Phantom Fireworks and the fireworks industry have forged with CPSC and ATF, the industry, through its individual members, the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory and the National Council on Fireworks Safety, Inc., has undertaken a super effort to test the products before they are distributed in America and to further educate the public regarding the safe use of consumer fireworks.
Based on the outstanding progress in the reduction of fireworks related injuries and the dramatic increase in their use, the reasons behind the prohibitions in Ohio on the use of consumer fireworks no longer make much sense.
WILLIAM A. WEIMER, vice president
Phantom Fireworks
Youngstown
The supreme compliment
EDITOR:
Gilbert Keith Chesterton once wrote a book that led a young atheist named C.L. Lewis to become a Christian and a novel that inspired Michael Collins to lead a movement for Irish independence. One of his essays in the Illustrated London News inspired Mohandas Gandhi to lead a movement to end British colonial rule in India.
Chesterton, who was a convert to Catholicism, also once stated that the world pays the supreme compliment to the Catholic Church when the world will not tolerate even the appearance of evil in the Catholic Church while the same world tolerates it everywhere else.
The Rev. EDWARD J. NERODA
St. Stanislaus Church
Youngstown