Defective fireworks more common that you know

Welcome to the finger detachment holiday, when emergency rooms are full of people (mostly young people) with fireworks injuries. I always figured these were accidents of carelessness, but a recent Consumer Product Safety Commission Report changed my mind; it reported that half of the imported fireworks shipments it checked contained faulty fireworks.

The butcher's bill from 2007 from fireworks mishaps is sobering; 7 deaths, 9,800 injuries. 5,000 of these were treated in emergency rooms during the Fourth of July holidays alone. 62% of the victims were male, 58% under 20. Hand injuries were the most common (1,400 injuries), followed by eyes and legs. Firecrackers were the primary culprit, with 900 injuries, followed by sparklers and bottle rockets.