"ian field" wrote in message
...

snip


I agree that efforts to control poisons and hormones and all the other
nasty stuff that gets into our lives, are laudable, but it's a matter of
degree. Some pollutants can never be practically removed, nor do they
need to be on dubious eco-grounds. It is a fact of life that we will
always have to endure some, if we want to carry on living the sorts of
consumer-based lives that we do. You can't protect everybody against
everything, and I think that lead in solder ( and CRTs ) is just one such
example where the eco-warriors have gotten their teeth into something
that sounds bad, with apparent tangible negative effects, and run with it
to the point of introducing needless legislation that costs billions to
implement worldwide, has negative effects on reliability, has already
been taken care of with ( acceptable ) recycling legislation, and results
in a worldwide increase in energy budget - with all that's known of the
genuine negative eco effects from that - to implement use of lead-free
solder.

If lead in the environment is really still going up, even though it has
now been removed from petrol, the most pressing question should be "
where is it really coming from ? " I'm willing to bet that they would
have a hard time proving it was from either solder or CRTs ...

Arfa


Maybe do a search on lead procurement in general - find out where its
going now, it may be possible to queer the eco-warriors pitch by extending
the campaign to even more ridiculous extremes.

It could be there's some use for lead that the legislators who pass this
crap can't do without!

I've just been having a look to see where it all goes, and the bulk still
seems to be to the auto battery manufacturers. Other major uses are paint,
although now only used for specials such as are used to paint bridges, lead
crystal glass, and roofing materials ( how long I wonder before lead
flashing on roofs gets banned, in favour of some other useles material that
doesn't seal as well, and needs to be replaced every 5 years ? ). Some of
the stuff relating to lead and its poisonous qualities, makes interesting
reading. For instance, it was chosen for making pipes for carrying water,
because of its extreme resistance to corrosion, by water. For "corrosion",
read chemical decomposition and release into the water ?? I also found
statements that once lead had found its way into the ground, from
particulate settlement of leaded gasoline exhaust fumes etc, it would remain
there forever. Hmmm. So how then, in that case, does it get transformed into
any kind of pollutant, that can get into us, and cause problems. Same goes
for lead locked up in solder, in landfills.

Also, looking at material on the dangers of lead ingestion, it seems to be a
predominantly child based issue, and the word " chronic " seems to keep
cropping up in all of the different articles. In this context, " chronic "
seems to indicate extremely high levels of lead ingestion, and even then, it
says that this only *may* lead to reduced IQ. It also says that symptoms of
lead poisoning are non specific and non unique, whatever that may mean.

Again, I accept that lead poisoning is very possibly an issue with certain
groups of children, but it surely must be asked where they are getting these
high concentrations of lead in their bloodstreams from ? I'm sure that it's
not from lead in solder, or solder that's found its way into landfill.

Arfa