Achoura Celebration Raises Concerns Over Children’s Firecracker Safety

There is not a day when we do not hear deafening explosions, firecrackers and fireworks that children and teenagers buy and have fun launching, laments Challenge, noting that the dangers these products pose to themselves and their environment are totally ignored by these children.

According to the media, a risk analysis carried out by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPCS) showed that 144,240 emergency hospital interventions treated toy-related injuries in 2002, of which 92.5% were of mechanical origin, 1% chemical and less than 1% electrical. In addition, according to this conclusion, 6.4% of fires are undetermined.

The same source adds that the research has confirmed that 64% of hospitalized people were children under five, 22% were 5 to 9 years old, 8% were 10 to 14 years old and 24% were 15 years old and over.

The resurgence of the phenomenon is all the more worrying since for about fifteen years, the public authorities have undertaken to crack down on the import and sale of these explosive materials on Moroccan territory.

However, notes the same source, the existence of loopholes in border control centers makes it difficult to fight these firecrackers that are "generally imported from China and distributed largely in Derb Omar in Casablanca".

However, there is a legal measure in this area, namely "Law No. 22.16 on explosive substances for civilian use, artificial meteors and leisure equipment containing pyrotechnic materials". It provides "a prison sentence of 2 to 5 years, in addition to a fine ranging from 50,000 DH to 500,000 DH, against any person in illegal possession of explosive materials".

However, this penalty, which should apply to both illegal importers and manufacturers of these pyrotechnic materials, is not being enforced.