"Didi" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:
....
Basically, there isn't a lead-free alternative that works the same, or
even
close, but you're missing the point(s). Firstly, there isn't *quite* such
a
huge amount or disposal problem as they would have you believe. Second,
the
lead in solder is pretty firmly 'locked into' the alloy, such that it
doesn't readily come out of the solder into water. Yes, I know that acid
rain can have some effect on that equation, but that's nothing like as
bad
as it once was. Finally, all electronic equipment in Europe at least, is
now
subject to the WEEE directive, which dictates the way it is treated at
end
of life, covering recycling and disposal of the remains that can't be
recycled. There is no reason at all that leaded solder could not be
recovered and recycled, in the same way as lead free solder. 80% of the
world's metallic lead production goes to automotive battery manufacture.
Lead recovery and reuse from that product at end of life, has been
mandated
and successfully carried out, for years.
...

All this being obviously true, it is inconceivable that the ROHS thing
has been done out of sheer stupidity - noone is that stupid, even
though
those in high offices routinely want to look that in order to be left
alone.
I can think of no plausible explanation for this ROHS madness
other than a well planned and executed sabotage action agaist the
countries which have (and rely on) an electronics industry. At a
scale that large, even the most expensive to bribe officials cost
peanuts.

Dimiter


I don't think that I would say that it has been done out of "sheer
stupidity" - more out of misinformed madness. My feeling is that once lead
had been determined to be a potential health hazard, as it probably was when
lead compounds were added to petrol as anti-knock agents, then all uses of
the material became automatically 'demonised', irrespective of whether any
threat from them was real, or imagined. The eco******** that I have referred
to elsewhere in this thread, has reached the point of unjustified hysteria
amongst both the politicos and, worryingly, the scientific establishment,
who should know better.

Governments rely heavily on so-called scientific advisors, but it seems to
me that many of these are receiving commercial grants from government, and
will tell them whatever they want to hear. Much of the current ecohysteria
that is reported in the press, is based on very dubious science, that in my
day, would have been thrown out of school for poor methodology. I, and most
others in the electronic service industry, simply do not believe that lead
in solder represents any threat to health, or the environment at all, and I
personally have seen no persuasive evidence from any quarter to convince me
otherwise.

I think that lead based solder is just an unfortunate victim of someone's
over-enthusiastic approach to anything containing lead, and the whole RoHS
thing has just swept it along with itself, without those who caused it in
the first place, understanding the full implications of just what they've
done. Apart from anything else, just consider how much extra power is being
used every day world wide, to run all of the production solder baths and
hand soldering tools, 30 or 40 degrees hotter than was needed for lead-based
solder ... Eco-friendly, or what ...?

Arfa