Dear All:
Gordon has been performing exceptionally valuable work digging into the research and
identifying the scientific fallacies of the trumped-up environmentalists. Isn't it time we
rallied together and declared "Gordon (and the handful of others who have pushed for the truth
over the past year or so) is right. We're mad as heck and we're not going to let self-styled
angels steamroll our industry"? If we can find the energy to post several dozen questionably
mirthful ripostes about how to dispose of dead bodies, surely we can find as much ambition to
declare the lead hazard an urban myth.
Here's a suggestion. Let's all write to President Bush (who hasn't put environmental issues --
even plausibly significant matters -- anywhere on his agenda) and tell him how the lead-free
movement will damage our industry and global competitiveness. Include our credentials (Gordon
has a Ph.D. and more than a quarter century of experience in the relevant field, for Pete's
sake) and suggest the President's office compare our credentials with the environmentalists'.
That's how real lobbying is done.
Thanks for reading.
Jim Smith
Managing Director
Cambridge Management Sciences, Inc.
4285 45th St. S.
St. Petersburg, FL 33711-4431
Tel: (727)866-6502 ext. 21
Fax: (727)867-7890
eMail: [log in to unmask]
"Davy, Gordon" wrote:
> It has become routine for some people who write articles and offer
> presentations about lead-free soldering to repeat the same myths about the
> hazards associated with lead-bearing solder, usually in the first paragraph
> or slide and with no documentation. (Possibly, some of those people are
> subscribed to this forum.) For the most part, we pass right over these
> assertions and go on to see what the author or speaker has to say. Now we
> have some easily accessible documentation.
> The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently
> announced a "national emphasis program", issued as an Instruction, aimed at
> reducing occupational exposure to lead by 15% by the end of 2002. The
> program is intended to help focus inspection efforts on work sites involved
> in lead-related activities. (It does not impose new standards for
> occupational exposure to lead.) The Instruction lists in an appendix the
> types of industry (standard industrial classification codes) for which high
> blood lead levels have been documented.
> When I learned about this Instruction (available at
> http://www.osha-slc.gov/OshDoc/Directive_data/CPL_2-0_130.html), I was
> interested to see whether OSHA had identified PWB fabrication or electronic
> assembly manufacturing as an activity for which workers had been found to
> have elevated blood lead levels. (I have a report issued years ago showing
> that solderers' blood lead levels are no higher than secretaries' at the
> same company, but I wanted to see what OSHA has found, and to see what kinds
> of activity do result in an elevated blood lead level.)
> With the publication of this list, we now know that, based on reported cases
> of elevated blood lead levels, OSHA does not perceive that lead in
> electronic products poses a threat to those who deal with solder every day.
> How much less, then, for the disposal of these products. If the
> irresponsible environmental activists were really serious, instead of
> talking about lead in the environment, they'd focus on lead in people and
> how it gets there. They'd go after these activities and leave the
> electronics industry alone. They'd stop talking as if recycling electronic
> products were a noble thing to do.
> And maybe the rest of us can start challenging irresponsible repetition of
> urban legends. Example: "You stated in your first slide that lead in
> electronics is a threat to the environment. Yet OSHA has not found that
> electronic manufacturing, including soldering, results in elevated blood
> lead levels for workers. Can you explain why you made this assertion?"
> For the record, here's the list of activities that OSHA has found does have
> workers with elevated blood lead levels (the Appendix reports the number of
> cases for each):
> Code Activity
> 1522/21 General Contractors - Residential other than single family.
> 1611 Highway and Street Construction.
> 1623 Water, Sewer, Pipe Construction and Communication.
> 2821 Plastic Materials, Synthetic Resins and Nonvulcanizable Elastomers.
> 2873 Nitrogenous Fertilizers.
> 3211 Flat Glass.
> 3229 Pressed and Blown Glass and Glassware, Not Elsewhere Classified
> (NEC).
> 3321 Gray and Ductile Iron Foundries.
> 3341 Secondary Smelting and Refining of Nonferrous Metals.
> 3492 Fluid Power Valves and Hose Fittings.
> 3714 Motor Vehicle Parts and Accessories.
> 3728 Aircraft Parts and Auxiliary Equipment, NEC.
> 3731 Ship Building and Repair.
> 3949 Sporting and Athletic Goods, NEC (fishing tackle?).
> 5051 Metals Service Centers and Offices.
> 5531 Automotive and Home Supply Stores.
> 7539 Automotive Repair Shops (Radiator Repair).
> 7997, 9 Membership Sport and Recreation Clubs. Amusement and
> Recreations Services, NEC (shooting ranges?).
>
> Gordon Davy
> Baltimore, MD
> [log in to unmask]
> 410-993-7399
>
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Leadfee Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Leadfree
To temporarily stop delivery of Leadree for vacation breaks send: SET Leadfree NOMAIL
Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives
Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional
information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315
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