Chinese Lanterns are Killers : Stop Buying them

yoy

Hi,

I have heard about these killer Chinese lanterns on ' Farming Today '

BBC Radio 4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01d0ky0

Listen after 6 minutes.

Something needs to be done to persuade people not to use these killer lanterns.

Animals are suffering horrendous deaths.

Please refer below

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj8q
12/03/2012

More:programme information (12 minutes)
Available since today with 7 days left.

Saying it with British flowers, and the problems farmers still have with Chinese lanterns.

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http://www.wfu.org.uk/?page_id=219



Campaigns

Currently WFU are running a campaign to have Chinese/Sky lanterns banned in the UK .Ideally these “flying fireballs” should not be allowed to be sold ,distributed or released in the UK. So far our campaign has reached Europe and as other EU States already have bans in place WFU hope the citeria used by these states to achieve a ban can be implemented here.
WFU produced a report for Defra in February 2011 . This was used as a presentation to the General Product safety Committee in Brussels to show the dangers posed by these lanterns after release. This has been updated in November 2011 and a petition http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/5813 is being run to gain support for a ban.
Some member states have “naked flame” legislation in place which forbids a naked flame to be left unattended. If this legislation was in place here the problem would be solved immediately
You can read the WFU Report on Chinese/Sky lanterns at http://www.wfu.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Chinese-Lanterns-2011.pdf
New Years Eve a fire started by a lantern makes it even more urgent that these objects are banned asap.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-1637780

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yoy

Bangkok_Owl

I've had an unpleasant experience with these, too. Over here is S.E. Asia, some of the cheaper ones actually drip burning fluid onto the people / property below.

A friend of mine asked me to send a shipment to the UK, as she wanted them part of her wedding celebration. When she realised the dangers, she changed her mind so I got her a box of phone charms to give the guests. She made the right decision!

The lanterns do look beautiful, but they can indeed be dangerous.

dickydonkin

I would suggest the banning of selling fireworks in retail outlets would be more of a priority as they are arguably more of a risk to the general public.

I have no issues with fireworks at organised displays, but many of us have all seen what happens when fireworks get into the wrong hands.

maninthestreet

'Killer Lanterns' ??? - Do they hunt in packs???

Delivery_Driver

bingo_bango

Smoking kills.....lets ban that too :think:

And cars, alcohol, cancer, red meat, idiots with guns, old age, reading the Daily Mail.......

Anyone know where this list ends?

George_Michael

Smoking kills.....lets ban that too :think:

And cars, alcohol, cancer, red meat, idiots with guns, old age, reading the Daily Mail.......

Anyone know where this list ends?

Smoking kills, but normally only those people who smoke.
It's already banned in public so doesn't affect many non smokers.

Cars kill, but if driven correctly they are fairly safe.

Alcohol and red meat can be taken in reasonable quantities without causing too much harm to anyone.

Idiots with guns are not too much of an issue in the UK.
Most guns are already banned, and not too many idiots have access to them.

Old age can't be banned.

I agree that the Daily mail should be banned.

Chinese lanterns even when used as directed can and do cause harm and death to wildlife and domesticated farm animals

Norma_Desmond

Nature_Baby wrote: »

I've had an unpleasant experience with these, too. Over here is S.E. Asia, some of the cheaper ones actually drip burning fluid onto the people / property below.

A friend of mine asked me to send a shipment to the UK, as she wanted them part of her wedding celebration. When she realised the dangers, she changed her mind so I got her a box of phone charms to give the guests. She made the right decision!

The lanterns do look beautiful, but they can indeed be dangerous.

These lanterns were thought to have caused a fire in a hay barn near here last summer - and the coastguard and lifeboat are always getting calls from folk thinking that they're distress flares out at sea.

heretolearn_2

Some risks are unavoidable. Some risks people choose to take.

Chinese lanterns form an unneccesary risk to others. It isn't all 'big brother' to talk of banning them.

They look lovely, can't deny it, but when you think about what you are actually doing, of course they are dangerous. You are sending a naked flame floating off to god knows where. They have caused serious fires where they have landed. The wire does end up injuring wildlife and farm animals. The coastguard has been called out when they've been mistaken for flares. These are not made up theoretical risks, these are recorded real incidents.

If someone wants to set fire to their own garden (instead of causing a forest or moorland fire), wants to lose a large part of their annual income (such as a farmer does when he loses a haystore), and kill their own pet dog by feeding it wire (and while you might imagine how can an animal eat wire, if it lands in grass that is then turned into hay/hayledge/silage it is very easily eaten by accident, causing injury and has been recorded as cause of death sometimes, and at least causes cut mouths) then they can go ahead.

It's because these lanterns cause this damage to other people's property that there are calls for them to be banned. It's not possible to use them responsibly or irresponsibly - you cannot have any control over what happens. (unlike the example of fireworks).

This isn't about being a killjoy. This is about accepting that having fires landing in random places isn't a good idea.

Bangkok_Owl

Norma_Desmond wrote: »

These lanterns were thought to have caused a fire in a hay barn near here last summer - and the coastguard and lifeboat are always getting calls from folk thinking that they're distress flares out at sea.

I can see how they cause fires and be mistaken for distress flares. In fact I'm surprised they're not already banned in the U.K. I wonder what damage they do to sea life?

dickydonkin

heretolearn wrote: »

Some risks are unavoidable. Some risks people choose to take.

Chinese lanterns form an unneccesary risk to others. It isn't all 'big brother' to talk of banning them.

They look lovely, can't deny it, but when you think about what you are actually doing, of course they are dangerous. You are sending a naked flame floating off to god knows where. They have caused serious fires where they have landed. The wire does end up injuring wildlife and farm animals. The coastguard has been called out when they've been mistaken for flares. These are not made up theoretical risks, these are recorded real incidents.

If someone wants to set fire to their own garden (instead of causing a forest or moorland fire), wants to lose a large part of their annual income (such as a farmer does when he loses a haystore), and kill their own pet dog by feeding it wire (and while you might imagine how can an animal eat wire, if it lands in grass that is then turned into hay/hayledge/silage it is very easily eaten by accident, causing injury and has been recorded as cause of death sometimes, and at least causes cut mouths) then they can go ahead.

It's because these lanterns cause this damage to other people's property that there are calls for them to be banned. It's not possible to use them responsibly or irresponsibly - you cannot have any control over what happens. (unlike the example of fireworks).

This isn't about being a killjoy. This is about accepting that having fires landing in random places isn't a good idea.

All valid points of course, and I don't dispute that lanterns can (and do) cause damage.

My reference to fireworks was alluding to how many people have been harmed by fireworks and property damaged (when used responsibly or otherwise) in comparison to damage and injury caused by lanterns.