With Bonfire night approaching, doctors at Sussex Eye Hospital have issued a warning the dangers of a new type of unregulated agricultural firework which left two people blind and three with a lifelong risk of glaucoma in the Lewes East Sussex on November 5 2011.
The warning came in a letter to the British Medical Journal which said Police enquiries the into the fireworks established that they were a derivative of 'rope bangers' or 'deer scarers,' which have a slow burning, time controlled fuse that ignites multiple explosives along the rope. When cut down, the fuse and explosive can be lit and thrown.
All of the serious injuries on the were said to be consistent with blunt injury to the globe caused by material within the explosive charge - in some instances up to 1cm in diameter. The rate of the injuries on the night was also said to be fair greater than expected, based on British Ophthalmic Surveillance Unit data.
'Numbers of blinding injuries have fallen in countries with legislation that controls the use and distribution of fireworks. The UK has legislation to limit distribution, but deer scarers are exempt because they are not actual fireworks,' warned the doctors in their letter.
Story Source - http://www.opticianonline.net
