Guy Fawkes says fireworks damage the environment

Guy Fawkes says fireworks should be banned.

Mr Fawkes, who teaches science in north London, says that mass use of fireworks adds to global warming, partly because of transportation costs from Asia where most of them are manufactured.

His comments today follow the Stern Report on climate change presented on Monday by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Mr Fawkes, who lives in Harrow, said today:" I know I sound like a damp squib but I have to object on environmental grounds.

"Lightweight things like fireworks should not be carried from country to country as the transportation damages the environment."

Speaking ahead of a Royal Society of Chemistry campaign on energy and global warming Mr Fawkes of Harrow, who teaches at Sudbury Primary School, added:" I know that given my distant relationship to Guy Fawkes it might be predictable that I would not promote Bonfire Night but fireworks en masse are not good for the planet. On the continent they get through millions of Euros' worth in minutes."

He added:" The transportation issue is just as serious. Can you imagine how much carbon dioxide is emitted carrying the hundreds of millions of fireworks from Asia? That is the way we have to think today.

"This global warming threat is the real burning issue."