The Health Inspectorate wants to ban the sale of large fireworks to the public and says that they should only be used for large, licensed public displays, RUV reports.
A draft regulation published by the Minister of Justice on the government’s consultation portal proposes that the sales period for fireworks be shortened and that the public be allowed to use fireworks for just three days.
The Inspectorate, however, says in a statement that it will be difficult to enforce these regulations, and that experience has shown that the use of fireworks takes place immediately outside the permitted window of use. The authority, therefore, believes that the best action to take is to ban the private use of fireworks altogether.
The statement continues to say that it is unacceptable that such unhealthy conditions are created in urban areas, with no restrictions and that, in the worst cases, the conditions created by fireworks is equivalent to that of natural disasters. The Authority also wants to place restrictions on who can buy large numbers of fireworks, and control the amount that are imported into the country.
The statement was presented at a meeting of the city’s environment and health council this week. The majority of the council were in support of the idea, agreeing that short term entertainment did not justify endangering environmental and human health.
Representatives of the Independence and Centre parties, however, did not consider it the role of the city to make decisions on which, or how many, fireworks should be sold.
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