Ahh, my innocent engineers - believing that boric acid is nearly harmless.  You are not following the REACh news -from our great friends in the EU.  I quote from Wikipedia:

According to boric acid IUCLID Dataset published by the European Commission, boric acid in high doses shows significant developmental toxicity and teratogenicity in rabbit, rat, and mouse fetuses as well as cardiovascular defects, skeletal variations, mild kidney lesions.[6] As a consequence, in August 2008, in the 30th ATP to EU directive 67/548/EEC, the EC decided to amend its classification as reprotoxic category 2 and to apply the risk phrases R60 (may impair fertility) and R61 (may cause harm to the unborn child).[7][8][9][10][11]
At a recent European Diagnostics Manufacturing Association (EDMA) Meeting several new additions to the Substance of Very High Concern (SVHC) candidate list in relation to the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals Regulations 2007 (REACH) were discussed. The registration and review completed as part of REACH has meant the current classification of Boric Acid CAS 10043-35-3 / 11113-50-1 as of 1 December 2010 will be listed as H360FD (May damage fertility. May damage the unborn child.) [12] [13]

Sooooo, be sure that all the boric acid is well reacted in making the borosilicate glass (we call it E-glass) in those nice woven layers in your printed circuit boards. We wouldn't want to leave out the glass, at the same time we are restricted from using the bis-phenol A in the epoxy, the tetrabromo-bisphenol A flame retardant, or this week's special - the cobalt added to harden the gold on those gold fingers on the board.  Ahhhh, life is so complicated. 

Denny Fritz






-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Bavaro <[log in to unmask]>
To: TechNet <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed, Aug 31, 2011 5:35 pm
Subject: Re: [TN] NTC Friday Element Quiz - the Question


Pat's right!  Boric acid is the best cockroach insecticide yet it was
afe enough to use around my house rabbits.
-----Original Message-----
rom: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Goodyear, Patrick
ent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 2:29 PM
o: [log in to unmask]
ubject: Re: [TN] NTC Friday Element Quiz - the Question
Boron 
-----Original Message-----
rom: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David D. Hillman
ent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 2:24 PM
o: [log in to unmask]
ubject: [TN] NTC Friday Element Quiz - the Question
Hi folks - Here is the Friday Element Quiz Question a day early (I am
aking vacation on Friday to whitewater kayak):
The Question:
References of this element can be traced back to documentation from
ncient Babylon, Egypt and Rome. This element is used to make cosmetics
ave a silky feel and yet is the basis for many industry abrasives. 
ompounds of this element are being investigated as a treatment for
rain tumors. This element is essential for plants and is added to
ertilizers. 
his element is the basis for an insecticide for ants and cockroaches. 
his element has two naturally occurring isotopes with neither being
adioactive. What element is being described?

he winner of the weekly quiz will get the services of Clumpy and
loumpios for the week.
So far Clumpy and Kloumpios have:
Week 1 Lamar Young, SCS Coatings
 accomplished nothing (drank lots of coffee)
Week 2 Bev Christian, RIM
 conducted REACH material testing
Week 3 Drew Meyer, Benchmark Electronics Inc.
 Solderability testing and mowed the lawn
Week 4 Ian Fox, Goodrich
 had an epic journey of travel
Week 4 Gary Ferrari, Garrick Global
 unknown
Week 5 Fredrick Miller, Astrolab
 unknown
Week 6 David Nelson, Raytheon
 Were tackling dummys for Dallas Cowboys
Week 7 Graham Collins, L3 Communications
 Cleaned gutters and painted window trim
Week 8 Bill Noel, ITT Geospatial Systems Division
 unknown
Week 9 Steve Gregory of RD Circuits
 unknown
Week 10 David Bealer of Watchfire Signs
 descaled the in-line wash machine! Ouch!
Week 11 Dick Krug of Sparton Corporation
 assisted with AS9100 quality management systems requirements audit
Week 12 Steve Creswick of Balanced Enterprise Solutions
 Acted as Steve's "go fer" due to a broken leg!
Week 13 Gebhard Neifer, Delphi
 conducted a plasma pre treatment Taguchi DOE for a sealing process
Week 14 Bev Christian, RIM
 assisted with a tin pest investigation/test
Week 15 Bev Christian, RIM
- assisted Bev shoveling snow
Week 16 David Bealer of Watchfire Signs
- assisted with reflow profiling
Week 17 Brian Ellis, rumored to be retired
- assisted with rewiring the house, had a tractor accident and found
is cousin Kloumpios
Week 18 Denny Fritz, SAIC
- assisted with tin whisker inspection/examinations
Week 19 Graham Collins, L3 Communications
 assisted with scraping barnacles, boat paint and boat engine
aintenance
Week 20 Mark Woolley, PTRL Laboratory Avaya
 assisted with weather observations (70F to snow) and resolving
lectrochemical migration failures
Week 20 Tom Carroll, Boeing Defense, Space and Security
 assisted with commercial aircraft galley inspection
Week 21 Brian Ellis, supposedly retired, and Tom Carroll, Boeing
efense, Space and Security
 assisted with root cause corrective action tasks
 assisted with nothing but catching up with the family
Week 22 Drew Meyer, Benchmark Electronics Inc.
 assisted with metallographic cross-sections and Dye & Pry testing
Week 23 Bev Christian, RIM
 assisted with a creep corrosion project and the setting up of an
xygen bomb
Week 24 Steve Gregory, RD Circuits
 unknown
Week 25 Ahne Oosterhof, A-Laser
 assisted with stencil aperture data analysis and split/stacked
irewood
Week 26 Scott Post, Delphi
 assisted/participated in the Kokomo Airshow Race Event
Week 27 Brian Ellis, supposedly retired
 assisted with tedious website work and family home cooking
Week 28 Nigel Burtt
 abandoned Nigel and were rumored to be involved in UK News Corps/News
nternational cellphone/journalism/politics scandal
Week 29 Richard Stadem,GD-AIS
 unknown
Week 30 Robert Wolfe, Kimchuk Inc and Graham Naisbitt, Gen3
 assisted with a hot tub refurbishment for post work day de-stressing
 assisted with SIR and Cleanliness testing
Week 31 Bev Christian, RIM Inc, and Denny Fritz, SAIC
 assisted with lab testing
 assisted with tin whisker investigations
Week 32 Steve Mikell, supposedly retired
 attempted to provide both US Congress and EU lawmakers "engineered"
olutions
Week 33 Mark Woolley, PTRL Laboratory Avaya
 unknown
Week 34 Leland Woodall, CSTech Inc.
 assisted with new model qualifications,updating supporting
ocumentation, strain gaging, performing cross sections, verifying a new
elective soldering process, and finally assisted with the development
f a plant-wide countermeasure effectiveness auditing program (Wow, they
ad to work hard this week!)
Week 35 Joe Russeau, Precision Analytical Laboratories
 assisted with new equipment preparations
Week 36 ????, ????
 assisted with ????

ave Hillman
ockwell Collins
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