New Delhi, Oct 26: With numerous cases of burns and irritation reported every year during Diwali, health experts on Wednesday cautioned people to avoid fire crackers as their smoke can cause damage to the respiratory tract, especially among children suffering from asthma. Health experts here said people having a healthy respiratory system can suffer from lung-related problems after getting exposed to the smoke of crackers, which mostly includes aluminium powder, sulphur and barium nitrate. “During Diwali, children prefer crackers prepared from aluminium powder, sulphur and barium nitrate. When they are burnt, they release pollutants like sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, manganese and even cadmium, which damage the respiratory tract,” said Pankaj Aggarwal, a senior homeopathy physician at the city-based Agrawal Homoeo Clinic.
He said a certain particulate matter in the air, called PM10 (particulate matter with a mass median aerodymic diameter less than 10 microns) is potentially very damaging. (IANS)