DES MOINES – An eastern Iowa business, charged with violating a federal ban on the sale of hazardous chemicals used to make powerful fireworks, has closed operations, an attorney for the corporation said.

Iowa Pyro Supply Inc., of Stanwood, was ordered Wednesday by a federal judge to pay a $10,000 fine, serve one year probation and stop selling the chemicals.

A guilty plea on behalf of the company was entered in December in U.S. District Court to one count of introducing into intrastate commerce banned hazardous substances.

Iowa Pyro Supply, owned by Mark and Geraldine Mead, sold powdered aluminum, potassium perchlorate, sulfur, about 100 M-80 and 200 M-100 tubes and precut fuses to a customer in Illinois, according to court documents.

The sale took place around May and June 2003, according to the documents.

The chemicals are used to make powerful fireworks that are banned under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, said Consumer Product Safety Commission spokesman Scott Wolfson.

“What they were doing was selling the components, the chemical elements to put together an explosive that is in violation of federal law,” Wolfson said. “The impact of these explosions is just tremendous. We fear any child or adult getting their hands on the chemicals or finished product.”

He said the chemicals could have resulted in fireworks capable of creating serious injuries.

A telephone message left at the Meads home on Wednesday was not immediately returned. Their attorney, Matt Piersall, said working with fireworks was a hobby for the Meads and they decided to shut the company down after the charges were filed.

“When investigation started they just figured it was easier to close it down,” Piersall said.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, known more for its product safety recalls, has aggressively pursued enforcement of federal laws banning dangerous fireworks, Wolfson said.

He said the agency has seen significant criminal fireworks activity in Midwestern states including Kansas, Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin since 1999.

Federal law makes it illegal to sell fireworks that stay on the ground with more than 50 milligrams of flash powder. Aerial fireworks are illegal if they contain more than 130 milligrams of flash powder, Wolfson said.

The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control said 9,300 people were treated in emergency departments for fireworks-related injuries in 2003, the latest year for which statistics were available.