Overview
- Roughly 100 days before New Year’s Eve, the Ärztekammer Niedersachsen reiterated its call to prohibit private fireworks at the turn of the year.
- As a policy model, the chamber highlights the Netherlands, where private fireworks will be banned from 2026 with centralized, municipal events planned.
- Chamber president Martina Wenker said the Dutch approach reduces air and noise emissions and curbs violent misuse of fireworks.
- The chamber reported that fireworks-typical injuries, including amputated fingers and eye damage, occur about four times more often at New Year than during the rest of the year.
- It proposed municipal fireworks or drone shows as alternatives and noted surveys indicating majority support in Germany for a private-fireworks ban.