The proposal sounds innocuous enough — loosen the ban on consumer fireworks, adding canister fountains to join limited firecrackers as permitted items for New Year’s Eve and Independence Day celebrations.

But there’s that slippery slope. Opening the door to this item almost certainly will complicate inspections for contraband pyrotechnics imports. And this move is likely to elicit more requests to bring back more items stricken from the list since the ban passed in 2010.

Reversing course, as the Honolulu City Council seems poised to do, is the wrong move for an ever-more densely populated Oahu.

The revival measure, Bill 5, has languished at Honolulu Hale since its introduction in January 2014. When an earlier form emerged over the summer it had proposed allowing both fountains and sparklers as exemptions from the ban.

But testimony from various opponents pointed out that sparklers were among the items implicated most often in burn injuries, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

So the bill that garnered an 8-1 vote of support from the Council’s Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee this week eliminated sparklers for consideration.

What it would allow, under the same $25 city permit issued for firecrackers, is the purchase and use of up to 60 non-aerial cylindrical or cone fountains. These would contain no more than 100 grams of explosive material.

While that doesn’t sound like much of a disturbance, opponents speaking out at hearings have protested that smoke from the fountains cause great discomfort to those with respiratory problems.

Collectively, that produces an impact that unfairly impedes the enjoyment of a holiday for a significant number of people.

Just to cite one: According to the Centers for Disease Control, Hawaii residents suffer from asthma at a higher rate than the country as a whole.

The differential is especially high among young adults, ages 18-24. At 15.1 percent, the prevalence of asthma for that group in Hawaii is highest in the nation. And among children ages 5-9, prevalence stands at 17.1 percent, about a third higher than in most other states.

Even for those without such illnesses, the clouds of smoke that hover into the early hours of New Year’s Day contain toxic chemicals that can’t be healthy to breathe.

But it is injury and property damage that are the greatest worries for city fire officials, who have seen a sharp decline in both since the ban was enacted. It will be easier for illicit pyrotechnics, the kind that causes more damage and injury, to slip through within shipments of permitted cargo.

Fire Chief Manuel Neves told the Council in July that since the ban, the annual tally averaged 17 injuries and an average of $125 in property damage. This compares to 2007-2010 annual averages: 67 injuries and damage topping $29,000.

Ignoring all these facts amounts to bad public policy, plain and simple.

“We made great strides in controlling fireworks,” Kapolei residents Dennis and Edith Tingey said in their written testimony. “Let’s not go backwards.”

That’s exactly right. Elected leaders should hear the concerns raised by what is surely the silent majority on Oahu, and keep the ban where it is.