BISMARCK - A bill that would ban the sale of small bottle rockets in the state won a unanimous "do-pass" recommendation Monday from the House Industry, Business and Labor Committee.

Opponents of small bottle rockets want them banned because of their propensity to cause serious eye injuries.

"They are nasty little devils," said Minot ophthalmologist Darrell Williamsm, who testified on behalf of the bill. "They fly erratically and then explode."

Williams presented lawmakers with pictures detailing some of the eye injuries sustained because of small bottle rockets. He also passed out a bar graph of 1990-1994 data from the United States Eye Injury Registry showing that 58 percent of fireworks-related eye injuries came from small bottle rockets.

Eye injuries for every other category of fireworks amounted to around two or three percent each. Williams also cited another study showing that bottle rockets caused 80 percent of the fireworks eye injuries and that 43 percent of the injuries were sustained by bystanders.

"Children 15 years old or younger account for 50 percent of fireworks eye injuries in the United States," testified Bruce Levi of the North Dakota Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons.

Levi also said U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission data shows that more than 9,000 fireworks related injuries occur every year.

"Of these, nearly half are head-related injuries with nearly 30 percent of these injuries to the eyes," he said. "One fourth of fireworks eye injuries result in permanent vision loss or blindness."

"It's just not right that we allow the sale of something that can injure so easily," said Rep. Louis Pinkerton, R-Minot. Pinkerton explained that larger bottle rockets that have more mass are easier to direct. This bill would only ban bottle rockets with casings that are less than 3 1/2 inches long and 5/8 of an inch or less in diameter.

"We're not anti-fireworks here," Pinkerton said. "We're anti-dangerous fireworks."

Williams said he has been working to ban the sale of small bottle rockets for the past 10 years. He discouraged any amendments to the bill because he said any changes might make the bill difficult to pass.

Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, was prepared to offer an amendment to the bill which would have lengthened the amount of time that fireworks could be sold in the state but decided not to propose the amendment after he heard the testimony.

"You were very compelling," he told the bill's proponents.

"It's unusual when an industry comes before us and asks us to take away a primary source of their income," said Rep. George Keiser, R-Bismarck, who chairs the committee.

No one spoke against the bill. It received a 12-0 "do pass" recommendation.