Oh, For Heaven's Sake

I guess it wouldn't be the 4th of July without the firework scolds:

From 1990 to 2003, roughly 85,800 U.S. children under age 19 were treated in emergency rooms for burns and other injuries from firecrackers, bottle rockets and even sparklers, according to a study prepared for release Monday in July's issue of the journal Pediatrics. Most injuries occurred around the Fourth of July.

The study is an analysis of data on nonfatal injuries from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which last week released new figures showing an estimated 10,800 children and adults were treated for fireworks injuries last year. That was up from 9,600 in 2004 and part of a steady increase in fireworks-related injuries since 1996, the commission said.

Fireworks-related injuries killed 36 people between 2000 and 2005. Two teens were among the four reported deaths last year, the commission said.

The article duly brings in a rep from the American Pyrotechnics Association (and wouldn't that be a kick-ass lobby to work for?) to say that most fireworks injuries are caused by people doing stupid things with them. But of course, she's nothing but a shill. And you already know where the authors of the latest study are going with it:

[Dr. Gary] Smith argued that his results support an American Academy of Pediatrics policy favoring a ban on backyard fireworks. Only five states have a ban -- Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.

"What I tell parents is, you'd much rather spend the Fourth of July at a public display run by professionals," he said.

What I tell Dr. Gary Smith is to mind your own bloody business.