You couldn’t make this up…

You’d be hard pushed to find someone in the UK who isn’t sceptical about one facet of European Union legisltion or another, but I read with incredulity an article in the New York Times today. Apparently pipe organs in churches, of which there are estimated to be 20,000 in the UK, powered by electronic means rather than manual bellows will fall foul of new regulations concerning safe amounts of lead in public places. Hopefully the writer had his tongue in his cheek when reassuring the public that “existing organs will not be affected“! I have to admit it wasn’t the first subject that sprang to mind when considering what aspect of a pipe organ could be a health hazard.

NY Times: “Europe declares pipe organs health hazard”