Sky lanterns have been fun, but the fun may soon be over if a certain Union gets it’s own way in the world. The National Farmers’ Union has joined the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to show it has reservations about the continued sale of these sky lanterns powered by small candle flames. In the past few years, they have become popular for weddings and festivals, often being let off in their hundreds at any one time, off to the sounds of oooh and aaaah.

The problem is, that what goes up does also come down. Therefore they pose a risk to farm animals if they land in fields. Whatsmore, they could land on dry crops and catch fire, costing some farmers hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Mike Thomas of the NFU said that they could be ingested by livestock and puncture internal organs on the sharp edges of wire or bamboo.

Sometimes, coastguards can mistake these lanterns to be emergency flares and cause wastage of time and money sending out rescue crews.

The lanterns should not be used in areas where wind is more than 5mph or reigons to prevent damage to nearby properties, or within1 mile of the sea or close to an airport.

Sky Lanterns are new to the United Kingdom but they are not new in the world. In fact, in Asia they have been around for over 1000 years. They have been popular in China for being launched into the sky as a celebration of Hope, Prosperity and Luck.

The lanterns, also known as Kongming Paper Lanterns, have been flown since the 3rd century AD in China and Thailand. They are named Kongming Sky Lanterns because they resemble the hat that Zhuge Liang used to wear.

They are manufactured of all natural materials. Very thin cotton is used to create the ballooning part of the sky lantern, whilst bamboo is used to reinforce the rim of the lanterns. These are natural materials that are both strong, easily renewed and importantly, lightweight.