One Last Ban Against Vuvuzelas For The Road

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↵With the World Cup Final on Sunday, only a few precious days remain for the sporting world to be transfixed by the buzzing menace that is the vuvuzela. While many eventually adapted to its presence at the World Cup, there stands little chance it will survive outside of African soccer venues as anything other than an annoying novelty. Unless of course Knicks fans want to continue making use of the chintzy ones bearing LeBron’s face that they bought last night.
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↵Of course, another thing that might limit their use in some parts of the world is the latest fatwa ruling from UAE’s General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment, which states that above 100 decibles, the vuvuzela is damaging to hearing, and thus to be considered haram.
↵↵⇥“However,” the ruling declares, “importers and traders ... must ensure ↵⇥that its power is not over 100 decibels so as to avoid damaging people’s↵⇥hearing.”
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↵⇥The authority based its decision on a study that found↵⇥human hearing could be damaged if exposed to more than 100 decibels.
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↵⇥In↵⇥some cases, it said, the horn could cause permanent damage. “The ↵⇥vuvuzelas in the markets now could produce sounds reaching 127 ↵⇥decibels,” the statement decreed.↵↵While this doesn’t exactly fully imperil the future of the vuvuzela, it will at least damage their spread into the Islamic world. At the beginning of the World Cup, an Abu Dhabi-based Palestinian businessman had arranged to import 10,000 of the horns into the UAE. Now he finds that the vuvuzelas are being knocked for not only their cacophony producing prowess, but their ability to spread germs.
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↵So, sorry fans of the vuvuzela. The horn had its moment in the spotlight during last year’s Confederations Cup and the World Cup this year. Those who recall the 2010 tournament will hard a hard time not invoking the vuvuzela, but it looks like the horn is about to return to obscurity soon.↵