Boxes Don’t Bear Pollution Labels, No Quality Checks For Crackers: Experts New Delhi: Two days to Diwali and Sadar Bazar’s market for fireworks is teeming with people. Bright colourful boxes of crackers blazoned with wide smiles are flying off the shelves. In the crush of people, there’s hardly enough time to scan the price and try a quick haggle. Nobody has time for the fine print — it’s another thing that few boxes have any fine print at all. No allergy advice, no word on harmful chemicals or noise levels, although these are required to be declared under the law. Experts say most crackers contain toxic heavy metals that can have a severe effect on health. Chinese fire crackers, especially, are infamous for high sulphur dioxide emissions but are aplenty despite the restriction on their sale in India. “We have crackers that are extremely loud. The ‘Nazi bomb’, for instance. The demand for colourful crackers and sparklers is also high. People want crackers that are noisy but cheap,” a trader told TOI on condition of anonymity. “People want China-made crackers although these are more polluting,” said another seller. Most crackers contain heavy metals to produce colourful sparks. “Heavy metals like lead and cadmium are extremely harmful,” said Ravi Agarwal of the NGO Toxics Link, adding, “They also contain fine particles that drastically raise the PM 10 and PM 2.5 pollutant levels in the air”. Vivek Chattopadhyay, senior researcher, Centre for Science and Environment, said, “There appears to be no monitoring of the quality of crackers flooding the market. Most of the crackers do not bear pollution labels which were made mandatory by the Supreme Court. Every year, emissions peak on Diwali, which is proof that fire crackers are not of good quality.” Last year, on Diwali, the PM 2.5 value at RK Puram, which is usually around 141 microgram per cubic metre, shot up to 220. At Mandir Marg, the nitrogen oxide (NO2) level rose from 45 to 75. There are restrictions on noise emissions also. The Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization’s (PESO) notification to fire cracker manufacturers prohibits crackers with noise level exceeding 125dB (AI) or 145dB (C) at 4 metres from the point of bursting. The Supreme Court has also directed PESO to set chemical formulae for each type or category of cracker. “It’s doubtful whether these rules are being followed,” said Vivek.