To support a ban on Chinese Lanterns

[Myleetlepony]

www.nfuonline.com/Regions/East-Anglia/News/Fight-continues-against-lantern-menace/
They have got to be one of the most stupid ideas around at the moment. I've written to two popular local wedding venues that allows them to be set off, highlighting the NFU campaign and asking them to consider banning them. Waiting for replies. However, I think they need to be banned from sale completely.
If this wire got around an animal's leg it wouldn't break, it would sever skin, flesh and tendon. So it was terrifying to find one in my ponies' field last weekend. Not to mention the impact if parts of the lantern were eaten. Or if they get into hay or feed. Or if they landed while still alight... Or imagine a cat or dog getting tangled in the debris...
So, could the Bridezillas on here bear this in mind when they make plans for their happy day please?

People were setting them off on a beach near the campsite I was using in the summer fgs, they were floating right over the top of the tents with peoples kids sleeping inside them. I hate them they need to go.

OK I concur, I am wrong.

Why does everything that is fun have to be banned? :(

We went to the beach a while ago to watch some fireworks, and some loon let one off when it was too windy. It blew straight down the beach into my DS. He is now petrified of them and was lucky he didn't get seriously burnt.

Would hate it happening to someone else. Ban them.

I have never seen these before.

oh :(

I bought some as a wedding present for someone last year, they are so pretty.

Are the non wire ones dangerous too?

Now with that sentiment cupcake I can sympathise :(

They're still set on fire insomnicat,and released on the wind, whatever they are made of.

It is such a shame, isn't it cupcakes? I thought they were gorgeous too, when I saw them.

Sadly the non-wire ones are not good either. They don't always go out when they fall to the ground, so they can be very dangerous. I've also heard that some of the non-wire ones have bamboo, which if an animal tries to eat it can splinter in their mouths.

Oh what a shame I've often thought of getting some as they do look beautiful but I won't do it now I've read this.

well the fire risk is as bad in the non-wire ones Insomnicat.
And the ones that have bamboo in are bad.
But the wire ones are the worst.

I think, in response to Cupcakes 'Why does everything that is fun have to be banned?' it's because we live in a society where there are a lot of people and we have fashions for things.
If 1 in 1000 of these caused an accident but only 50 were let off every year there wouldn't be many accidents. They have been around a long time but people made their own - anyone remember in Danny The Champion of the World his dad makes a fire balloon? It's only since they got mass-produced that there have started to be so many accidents.
Also if everyone used them sensibly the risk would be much less but people seem to like doing it when they're drunk, eg at weddings & parties and campsites....

YABU.

People just need to be careful using them and put them in the trash.

Banning them completely is like using a sledge hammer to crack a nut. Should we ban cars because they kill people? Or alcohol? Or...high heel shoes?

My husband strung them around our balcony as a surprise for me on our anniversary. They were so pretty and since we don't have much money and can't afford a babysitter they were the perfect way to make the evening special.

I've never heard of these either

But they look like a fucking stupid idea.

You can imagine the marketing meeting: 'I know, let's get something made of paper, set fire to it and let it fly around at night when everyone is not expecting a house fire'

I think I may stand corrected. Why are they floating around places? The ones I am thinking of you string from trees etc and they don't float anywhere...

LOL, chaya! You light them and they float off into the air. Don't worry, your balcony lights are safe!

YANBU, they are a complete hazard, set off by morons who don't think.

LOL Chaya! You would not be unreasonable if that was what what meant.
here

Now, floating lanterns, which that site also sells, would be a nice idea in the right place - on a nice self-contained pond without boats that is, not a canal full of houseboats, which is what would actually happen if they became popular.

Ooh, thanks seth, that's reminded me of two other lovely things that wouldn't be dangerous!

It is so annoying when one thing becomes a trend, because dim people like me forget all the other nice stuff out there. I think lighting lanterns and floating them on a pond would be just as lovely, wouldn't it?

www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/coastguard-left-counting-cost-of-lanterns-craze-1.1001424

animal endangerment
spontaneous fires
RNLI alerts
They are very beautiful, but not tame in any sense. Once released you have no control of them at all.

I am in the US and have never heard of doing this. People actually set fire to something and then let it float away???? As a celebration???? Seriously?

couldn't someone design one that had a built-in very thin candle that burned itself out after 2 minutes, or something?

I dont understand why people do chinese lantern anyway. YANBU

YANBU.

I hope you're also supporting the movement for a ban on the manufacture, sale and use of snares too, as this maim and even kill wild and domestic animals in the same way.

Now, I bought one of these sky lantern, and then worried that for some reason it may be dangerous, and therefore have never released it.

It's true that everything that is fun is also bad. Everything, I tell ya!.