WITH THE MAJORITY of cities banning or limiting where fireworks can be set off during Spring Festival, some people wanting the traditional quick-fire, flashbang celebrations of firecrackers have turned to electronic substitutes. Beijing News comments:

Firecrackers are noisy, pollute the air, and often pose safety risks, all of which have prompted the majority of cities to ban or strictly limit their use.

But there are those who insist firecrackers are an indispensable part of the Spring Festival celebrations. So to cater to them, some companies are producing electronic firecrackers, which make a similar noise. They claim that by using electronic firecrackers, people can celebrate Spring Festival in the customary noisy manner while avoiding the palls of pollution and safety problems.

However, the safety of these electronic firecrackers is also being questioned. Shanghai made a survey of the electronic firecrackers on sale in the market before Spring Festival last year, and found that 95 percent had safety risks such as easily catching fire.

Worse, the current national safety standards on firecrackers do not involve electronic firecrackers. In other words, there is no way to judge whether an electronic firecracker product is safe or not.

Therefore, while electronic firecrackers might involve less pollution than traditional firecrackers, there is no national standard to ensure their safety or quality. As a result, electronic firecrackers might be just as dangerous as traditional ones.

In order to solve that problem, it is necessary for experts and legislators to update the national safety standards so that they cover electronic firecrackers. Before the new national standards come into effect, it is better for safety supervising agencies nationwide to keep a closer eye on electronic firecrackers to prevent any possible accidents from happening.