MMA Urges Caution When Celebrating Independence Day

The Minnesota Medical Association urges Minnesotans to leave the lighting of fireworks to the professionals when celebrating America’s independence this summer.

“Eye injuries. Hand wounds.  We hear about these unfortunate and preventable injuries every year,” said MMA President David Agerter, MD. “If only Minnesotans would let the experts take care of the fireworks, we’d all be safer. Every summer, we hear awful stories about children and adults getting injured when fireworks go off unexpectedly.”

According data from 2015 from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, an estimated 11,900 injuries were treated in emergency departments for fireworks-related injuries. An estimated 67 percent of these injuries occurred during the weeks before and after the Fourth of July (June 19 – July 19). Twenty-six percent of the injuries involved children under the age of 15. The most commonly injured body parts included: hands and fingers (32 percent); head, face and ears (25 percent); and eyes (16 percent).

“The MMA would prefer that fireworks weren’t commercially available but as long as they are, we strongly recommend that people leave them to the experts who are trained in how to handle them,” Agerter said.