Pipe organs and the EC

[VML]

Anybody know of anyone who has been poisoned by ingestion of lead from the organ pipes?

Brussels, or is it Strasburg, has dictated that the lead content in organ pipes is a risk to health and must be reduced to almost nothing after, I think, this June, in new organs, replacements in rebuilds etc. Barmy, or sensible for the health of organ builders (if not for the organists and listeners)?: You decide...

[docmattc]

Diocesan reps had an email from Paul Inwood via John Ainslie about this over the weekend.
I don't see why it shouldn't be seen (and acted on) by all here:

Just in case you have not already heard about this, it has just been
realised that new EU directives due to come into force on 1 July will
effectively mean the end of metal pipemaking in the European Union. The
problem which the legislation is intended to address is the use of lead in
circuitboards in computers, mobile phones, etc, and the accumulation of
lead in landfill sites; but pipe organ metal, which uses a lead alloy,
will also be caught in the net. Not only new instruments but replacement
and repaired pipes will be subject to the new legislation if it goes
through unchanged.

This new website Defending the Pipe Organ
http://www.pipes4organs.org/
gives further information and also helps you locate your local MP