"Roy the Rebel" wrote in message
...
The pillocks that came up with this law obviously know nothing about
electronics. I call on all servicemen everywhere to defy this stupid
legislation as it is unworkable. Stock up with with as much leaded solder
as you can and USE it! Screw the rules, I say.


Pillocks indeed. It is an ill-thought-through piece of legislation intended
to protect the environment from a threat which many of us believe did not
exist from lead in its solder form, in the first place. It is a typical bit
of euro-nonsense, but unfortunately, this "save the planet" hysteria, whilst
being laudable in principle, and absolutely fine if applied with common
sense, has now taken on almost the mantle of a religion, with green as its
god, and anyone who goes against it is branded as a worthless heretic.

There are now euro-zealots in just about every local council, who pursue
people through the courts for incorrect recycling or 'fly-tipping' for
putting their garbage bins out on the footpath a day early, or placing stuff
beside a locked bin at their local recycling centre and any number of other
ridiculous things that I read about in the papers just about every day. It
even now has its own name - "eco crime", and the perpetrators are "eco
criminals".

So, whilst I agree with you 100%, I'm not sure that I want to become the
first person to be pursued, persecuted, and ultimately treated to a £5000
fine, possible prison, and a criminal record, for using the 'wrong type' of
solder. Like it or not, I guess that we've got to just follow the rules,
until someone a lot more powerful than us, manages to prove that the whole
thing is a pile of gonads. Otherwise, one of us is going to finish up like
that poor greengrocer guy that stood up for his right to sell loose bananas
to little old ladies, in pounds and ounces, and finished up pursued,
villified, prosecuted and imprisoned, until the poor sod had a heart attack
and died. Just this week, his stand has proved that it can be worth it, as
the euro-crap which was going to force this ban on us totally from 2010, has
now been dropped. But I for one, don't want to test the dubious strength of
my heart, from the stress that would inevitably result from taking on these
people, do you ?

Arfa