Bagpipes ‘n yer health

An alarming report:

American lung disease expert [Robert Sataloff] has sounded a warning over bagpipes. … The glycerine and honey products used to cure the instrument’s skin … make for a better sound, but they also act as culture mediums for bacteria and fungi.

[But] “there are different kinds of products on the market now and there are many pipers who don’t use skin bags and use man-made products instead,” said Mr Macleod [director of piping at the Piping Centre in Glasgow]. As far as he was aware, most of his piper friends were in good health and he said the past-time was known to be good for the cardiovascular system. “I had a check-up at the doctors recently and he said I had the lungs of a man who was 6ft 6ins – and I am only 5ft 10ins.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/900016.stm

And foreigners do have their agendas:

An Englishman who has made his home in Scotland’s capital Edinburgh is launching a campaign to ban bagpipes and kilts. Clive Hibberts faces the wrath of the country’s traditionalists when he and his friends begin picketing … The 22-year-old, who is president of the newly formed Campaign Against Bagpipes and the Campaign Against Kilts, hopes to convince Scots that bagpipes are a noisy nuisance and kilts are a symbol of a troubled past.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/regions/scotland/413915.stm

Some people have no appreciation for the arts:

Robert Wallace [of the College of Piping] said the dangers of playing the pipes were no greater than those faced by other musicians. … He was speaking after the publication of the results of a survey by Piper and Drummer magazine. Half of those who took part reported hearing loss and repetitive strain injuries (RSI). One in 10 said that their passion for the pipes had led to marital breakdowns, while 84% claimed to know pipe band members who had become alcoholics. … Bagpiper James Bousquet, who is also an acoustics expert, has found that noise levels from a single chanter can reach 122 decibels.

“Some have suffered the odd hearing problem after a lifetime of playing pipes – possibly to do with the proximity of drums in the band, which are far louder than pipes. [...] These people who run these surveys do the national instrument of Scotland no favours at all. It is a load of bunk.”

“You cannot play the bagpipes drunk,” he stressed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3178979.stm