For hundreds of years, fireworks have been used for celebration and entertainment, especially in eastern Asia and Japan. The desire for fireworks spread to the United States, and they now are common on New Year's Day, the Fourth of July, and other special celebrations.
In this country, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms has classified fireworks into two general categories: 1.4g fireworks, or consumer fireworks, and 1.3g fireworks, or display fireworks. Novelty devices, such as toy caps, are not in either category.
The CPSC recorded more than 9,300 firework-related injuries in 2003, down from a high of more than 12,500 in 1994. When compared to injury percentages from other common causes, such as falls or motor vehicle accidents, the numbers seem small. When they occur, however, they attract significant media attention, as well as significant insurance claims, due to the severe nature of burns to eyes and hands and severe traumatic injury. In 2003, six deaths were associated with aerial fireworks. One must not forget, however, the more than 100 deaths from the nightclub fire in Warwick, R.I., which was caused by fireworks not classified as consumer fireworks.
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