In his study of village life in Malta in 1960, anthropologist Jeremy Boissevain described the mixture of the sacred and the profane in the traditional festa. He observed: “I was in the church during a particularly solemn moment in the service of worship. Suddenly, there was a nerve-shattering burst of fireworks from the roof of the church.

“Then, slowly, the sharp smell of burning gunpowder began to drift in through the open doors and mingle with the pungent odour of candles and incense. Incense and gunpowder are ingredients basic to the celebration of a festa.”

Since the 1960s, fireworks are now more popular than they ever were. Besides countless feast days, we also have an annual Fireworks Festival in the Grand Harbour, with people crowding the bastions to watch the spectacle.

Fireworks displays in Malta and Gozo are constantly growing bigger and more elaborate, using different chemicals and techniques to achieve truly grand displays of light and colour.

During their campaign, the hunting lobby tried to frighten voters with the idea that other hobbies, such as fireworks, are likely to be the next target of a referendum. This was, of course, completely false scaremongering.

The use of fireworks is, however, being questioned by science, if not by the public. If anything, the public seems quite complacent about it. It is our scientists who are most concerned, and for valid reasons.

Previous studies had already shown that festa fireworks release pollutants into the air, including possible carcinogens

A team led by Prof. Alfred Vella has just published yet another study on the chemicals being used in pyrotechnics. Previous studies had already shown that festa fireworks release pollutants into the air, including possible carcinogens. The white smoke which fireworks create contains toxic chemicals.

No need to be alarmist, but this is what the studies indicate. Better think again about taking your children to places where they might breathe in too much smoke from fireworks.

This latest study now shows that even our household dust, sampled in 43 towns and villages in Malta and Gozo over a period of three years, contains relatively high levels of perchlorates, which are known to be harmful. For example, they can affect the functioning of the thyroid gland, especially in small children and pregnant women.

The reason why perchlorate is currently imported into Malta is to manufacture fireworks. It has no industrial uses. Various heavy metals and other chemicals are also used in fireworks.

These chemicals are released into the air once fireworks are set off. This starts as airborne dust and when it eventually settles, it ends up in our groundwater and in the food that we eat. Vella has noted that, apart from household dust, some types of crops grown locally are likely to contain perchlorates.

Both Vella and the Church Environment Commission have repeatedly called for quotas to limit the amount of fireworks set off each season, for environmental health reasons. This has been reported in the media many times over the years. It is about time that some action is taken.

You might think that, confronted with these facts, the public would have reacted by now. But trying to convince people through facts alone, without stirring the emotions, does not work. And people’s emotions are invested in creating and enjoying fireworks, not in reading about scientific studies in the newspapers.

This is why the government should step in and take the lead. It is expected to take a more sober view of science than families buying candyfloss at the festa, or Peppi down at the village bar. It should not be blinded by the lovely lights and colours of firework displays.

So far, the government has never shown any tangible signs of responding to this concern.

On the contrary, the new policy for building more fireworks factories in rural areas, backed by parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon, may even encourage the manufacture of yet more fireworks. Enough is never enough. New factories will, of course, also destroy the countryside.

I am obviously not advocating that fireworks factories should be built in urban areas, nor am I saying that fireworks should be banned. I just think that the advice given by Vella, echoed by the Curia’s commission, to limit the amount of toxic chemicals released into the air by introducing a quota, seems sensible. It is about time it is taken on board.

We certainly don’t need to increase the amount of fireworks factories and fireworks. The aim of a quota is simply to apply the precautionary principle and thereby limit the amount of harmful chemicals that are blasted into the air each summer, which we are then all constrained to eat and breathe.

The government’s lack of interest in curbing the risk of excessive chemicals in our air, water and food, verges on irresponsible.

Fireworks are not a holy tradition, nor are they a sacred cow, immune from any form of discussion or criticism. Why don’t our health authorities tell us what they think about these pollutants? Speak out please, we want to hear you.

petracdingli@gmail.com