Quebec study says fireworks have little effect on air quality

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Nearly a year after wildfire smog led Montreal officials to cancel two major fireworks shows, groups representing pyrotechnics companies released a study concluding that the shows have little effect on the quality of the fireworks. air.

But doctors and an environmental health specialist warn that fireworks can still pose dangers to human health.

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The study published on Wednesday was commissioned by the Regroupement des événements pyrotechniques du Québec and carried out by the company AtkinsRealis. Using 2023 air quality data collected near fireworks launch sites and records from the Quebec Department of the Environment, the consultancy analyzed the prevalence of air pollutants known as PM2.5: fine particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 millionths of a meter.

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In all cases, the analysis found that fireworks contamination shows respect for provincial regulations, AtkinsRealis engineer Jean-Luc Allard said Wednesday. The effects on air quality, he said, are “very localized in area and time.”

The Quebec association and its national counterpart, the Canadian Pyrotechnic Council, celebrated the results.

“The study confirms that the impact on air quality is much more limited than we might have thought,” said Sophie Emond, spokesperson for the Quebec association and president of La Ronde, in a statement.

Last year, La Ronde canceled the first night of an international fireworks contest after Montreal’s public health agency recommended postponing events that could worsen already poor air quality due to devastating wildfires in northern Quebec. . Organizers of the city’s Canada Day fireworks also canceled that display.

The public health agency said Thursday that it would take time to review the study before commenting on its findings. An association of doctors who defend the environment, however, questions the study’s use of what they consider to be the province’s outdated air quality standards.

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“We have a big objection to it,” Eve Riopel, a member of the Association québécoise des médecins pour l’environnement and a doctoral student in public health at Johns Hopkins University, said in an interview.

He said the study “would have been more complete and convincing” if it had used the standards of the World Health Organization, whose recommended maximum daily average of PM2.5 (15 micrograms per cubic meter) is half that of Quebec.

But the study recorded only one case in which estimated daily average levels of PM2.5 after fireworks shows exceeded the WHO recommendation.

In response, Riopel says any level of air pollution can affect human health.

“It doesn’t matter if it stays within the standards,” he said. “There is no safe level of air pollution for health, and even below the standards, the population is exposed to pollutants and this still leads to the development of health problems.”

Short-lived increases in the presence of air pollutants have been associated with increased hospital visits for asthma and respiratory conditions, according to Paul Villeneuve, an epidemiologist and professor at Carleton University who studies air pollution.

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The study released Wednesday did not examine other potential dangers of fireworks, such as their loud sound. But noise can also affect the human cardiovascular system and disturb wildlife, Villeneuve explained.

“When someone tries to do a health assessment of fireworks… they’re not giving a complete picture when they ignore other environmental exposures like noise,” he said.

Emond said Wednesday that Quebec’s industry association plans to “look at the full picture of the environmental impact” of fireworks and that more analysis will be done.

Meanwhile, the association indicated in a statement that several events are working to reduce particle emissions by limiting the amount of pyrotechnics, shortening the duration of displays and limiting the use of more polluting products.

Villeneuve said some jurisdictions are turning to substitutes for fireworks that don’t produce air pollution, such as drone displays. “There are other alternatives that don’t have the same environmental impacts in terms of air quality and noise as these fireworks,” he said.

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