"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
The ROHS rationale was to protect the health of folks
doing recycling.

That's only part of it. It's supposedly true that rain (and
other solvents) leech lead from electronic equipment,
and it winds up in drinking water.

Therein lies an example of why we have the RoHS BS.

It's not BS if it's true.

I have never seen conclusive evidence one way or another. From my
perspective, the real issue is the huge piles of electronic trash
generated
every year. If these were properly recycled and/or disposed of, there
probably wouldn't be an issue with lead.

Europe has the WEEE directive to deal with waste electronics equipment - but
the recycling facilities are being overstretched due to the increased volume
of scrap caused by low life expectancy lead free solder.