Too Much Fun? Fireworks Displays Quickly Harm Air Quality

• August 6, 2024
• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

Fireworks displays can cause worse air quality than wildfire smoke, a new study reveals.

About 60,000 firework shells exploded over Manhattan’s East River as part of Macy’s Fourth of July show in 2023, researchers said.

The colorful bursts caused air pollution in New York City to spike dramatically, with levels many times higher in the hours after the display than was caused by smoke from a Canadian wildfire that had blanketed the region a month before.

Particle pollution levels peaked at 3,000 micrograms per cubic meter of air at a sampling site near the display, and 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter at two other nearby sites, results show.

For comparison, New York City’s average daily particle pollution levels are 15 micrograms per cubic meter, researchers said.

Those levels reached just 460 micrograms per cubic meter when wildfire smoke choked and reddened the Manhattan skies in June 2023.

In addition to air pollution, water samples collected from the East River contained more than double the usual level of metals sometimes used to make fireworks explode in brilliant colors. These include nickel, lead and antimony.

“Our findings suggest that major firework displays can create a temporary spike in air pollution that may pose a health risk to both humans and the environment,” said lead researcher Terry Gordon, a professor with the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Fireworks pollution can also linger. It took several hours for the air to return to normal at most sampling sites, while those closest to the display took as long as 12 hours.

EPA monitoring sites in Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. also showed elevated pollution levels that lasted three to 12 hours, researchers added.

An earlier 2020 study by the same team found that levels of toxic metals in the air at sites across the United States are higher around Independence Day and New Year’s Eve than any other time of the year.

Other studies have connected this sort of air pollution to asthma, pneumonia and COPD, researchers noted.

“While these findings may seem alarming, firework shows can still be enjoyed,” senior author Antonio Saporito, a doctoral student at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said in a school news release. “Wearing an N-95 or KN95 mask is a good way to avoid inhaling smoke when standing near a display, especially for children and for those with preexisting heart and lung problems.”

The researchers plan to conduct a follow-up study using data gathered during this year’s fireworks display in New York City, which occurred over the Hudson River on Manhattan’s West Side.

They also plan to examine the potential health effects tied to such events.

The new study was published Aug. 6 in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology.

More information

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has more about particle pollution.

SOURCE: NYU Grossman School of Medicine, news release, Aug. 6, 2024

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