The brother of a man who died after contracting anthrax called yesterday for tighter controls on importing potentially contaminated drum skins.
The brother of a man who died after contracting anthrax called yesterday for tighter controls on importing potentially contaminated drum skins.
Michael Norris, 49, was speaking at the start of a fatal accident inquiry into the death of his brother, Christopher "Pascal" Norris.
Mr Norris, 50, an artist and woodworker from Stobs, near Hawick in the Borders, died on July 8, 2006.
A report from NHS Borders, published in December 2007, said he was likely to have contracted the illness after playing or handling anthrax-contaminated West African drums at a drumming workshop.
His was the first death from anthrax in the UK in more than 30 years.
His brother Michael questioned the point of the inquiry, which opened at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, before Sheriff Principal Edward Bowen, QC.
He said: "It seems a bit rich that all this money is being spent on legal processes and no money is being spent on telling drummers to watch out. How did the ones Pascal was playing get into the country?
"The importation and provenance in general of drum skins needs to be addressed to stop people from dying."
He told the inquiry that his brother - who was in remission from leukaemia - had been in good health when he last spoke to him a few weeks before his death, although he complained of a sore finger.
He said his brother, a Buddhist and vegan, lived a healthy lifestyle and had plenty of energy.
Mr Norris described his brother as "thoroughly unjudgmental and thoroughly likeable". He told the inquiry: "After his death I was very shaken and very sad.
"I had more of a drinking career when I was younger.
"If it had not been for having my daughters, Daisy and Ruby, I would have been feeling it should have been me."
His elder brother studied art in Edinburgh, then lived in London for around a decade where he worked as a gravedigger, studied acupuncture and did tai chi, Mr Norris said.
He returned to the family home in Stobs around 18 years ago and worked as a woodworker and craftsman.
Felicity Burrows, 42, told the inquiry that she attended a drumming workshop in Kelso with Pascal Norris on Sunday July 2, and a djembe drumming class in Smailholm on the Tuesday.
The pair became friends through the classes and used to drive to them together.
She said Mr Norris had a drum he had made himself out of badger skin, which looked like a djembe drum but was slightly smaller.
Djembe drums are single- skin African instruments which are designed to be played with the hand.
An investigation into Mr Norris's death took more than eight months. Investigators traced 167 people who might be at risk of having contracted anthrax, and 73 of them were advised to take precautionary antibiotics.
Anthrax normally infects humans when they inhale or ingest anthrax spores, but cannot be passed from person to person. It is most commonly found in parts of Africa, Asia and South America and is extremely rare in the UK.
