Worldwide Solutions - February 2008 - (Page 20) GERSTEL Solutions Worldwide Application A message to partygoers on New Year‘s eve Smoke signals by Kaj Petersen Fireworks weave beautiful patterns in the night skies and fleetingly place brightly colored stars in the canopy above us. Closer to the ground we are awed by fountains of shooting stars, beautiful suns and loud firecrackers. While these visual and acoustic impressions never cease to excite and please onlookers, our respiratory system Kaj Petersen, begs to differ. The air quality plummets towards levels last seen in Marketing Manager GERSTEL areas with heavy industry and coal heating in days of yore. Every rocket fired on New Year’s Eve releases significant amounts of fine particulate matter according to the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA). Incidentally, just because particulate matter is labeled “fine” that doesn’t mean it is good or healthy. Rather, the “fine” particles are small enough to penetrate to the inner reaches of our lungs, from where they can no longer be exhaled. They then proceed onward through the blood vessels or the lymphatic system to the entire body, potentially carrying a load of toxic chemicals with them. Scientists from Korea have now shown that Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) are also released in significant amounts by fireworks.
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.