ADPD has noted with satisfaction that the new Culture Minister is determined to seek a solution to the problems of the fireworks industry and has called for an in-depth consideration on its impacts on agriculture and food safety. 

Carmel Cacopardo, ADPD-The Green Party Deputy Chairperson, stated: “While the Minister’s commitment is laudable, it should be emphasised that the fireworks used in our locality celebrations should not be considered in isolation. The considerable impacts being shouldered by agriculture as a result of the operation of the fireworks industry should be the starting point of the national debate. The consequences of the Magħtab June disaster are still imprinted in our minds, too recent to be forgotten.”

He said that “the negative impacts of the fireworks industry on agriculture are not factored into the regulatory process. If this is not addressed, we will keep facing more incidents, one after the other. Both low impact incidents as well as far-reaching ones. We will be faced with never-ending consequences.”

 Carmel Cacopardo emphasised that the Magħtab incident was not an isolated one: it is one of a number of incidents.

He said that there is substantial more damage which is not visible to the naked eye. It is a continuous one resulting from the chemicals used in the manufacture of fireworks. “The fireworks fallout which is spread over arable fields are part of the unaddressed problem. It is an ignored contamination about which various reports and studies have been carried out,” he said.

He said that similarly, farmhouses and the animals which they house are completely ignored by the regulatory process something which was clearly evident in the Magħtab June incident as was evidenced by the resultant large-scale damages, including dead animals.

He noted that the incidents during the last weekend at il-Brolli and surrounding areas in Birżebbuġa, which resulted in a warrant of prohibitory injunction issued by the Law Courts have led to a step forward.

“They signify that the rural community is done with being silent and with being ignored and is now determined to speak up,” he said.

 Cacopardo concluded that this leads to the consideration that the time for protecting agriculture and the rural community from the negative impacts of the fireworks industry is long overdue. We cannot keep honouring this duty in the breach. It is only after factoring in agriculture and the rural community that we can start to seriously consider the fireworks industry.