MMA says leave fireworks to the professionals this summer

June 27, 2019

Once again, the Minnesota Medical Association is urging Minnesotans to leave the lighting of fireworks to the professionals this Fourth of July.

“Every year more and more Minnesotans are ending up in the emergency department when they get hurt setting off fireworks,” said MMA President Doug Wood, MD. “We’d prefer that they leave these often-unpredictable devices to the professionals.”  

According to 2017 data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, on average, 280 people go to the emergency department every day with fireworks-related injuries in the month around the July 4th holiday. Thirty-six percent of the injuries involved children under the age of 14. The most commonly injured body parts included: hands and fingers (31 percent); head, face and ears (22 percent); legs (17 percent) and eyes (14 percent).

“We’d prefer that fireworks weren’t available commercially,” Wood said. “As long as they are, we strongly recommend that Minnesotans leave them to the experts who are trained in handling them.”