Hi Steve,

>The one thing that
>concerns me, is that this all started out with the noble purpose of saving
the
>planet from the toxics of lead, but there are studies, one of them published
>in the Expo's proceedings by Edwin B. Smith and L. Kristine Swanger of K*Tec
>Electronics, that the alternatives are JUST as toxic as lead to the
>environment...not to mention all the technical issues as mentioned in all the
>communications in this very thread.

I share this concern and would be VERY interested to see this paper (Can
someone let me have a copy?). I have so far failed to find any technical
evaluation of the environmental pro's and con's of lead free in the literature
(any other leads would be most welcome).

>So I have to ask myself why? Why are we pushing to change to a process that's
>just as toxic, full of technical issues, unproven, and more expensive (at
>least in energy usage)?
>
>If it were any other issue other than lead I would suspect that when faced
>with those points most would consider it foolish to pursue such a path.

"Lead is a nasty poison so we should stop using it if at all possible." is
just as easy to say as "Only using glass bottles once and then sending them
for landfill is a waste of energy so we should send all of them back to be
re-used." Will the lead free argument prove to be equally true? I think most
people, and especially politicians, just don't have the time or skills to dig
deep enough or understand the issues fully and unless someone does the
studies and shoves the data in front of them they might end up doing more
harm than good. This whole thing reminds me of the story about the politition
who, on being told the alarming news that the PH of a local watercourse had
risen from 6.5 to nearly 7, announced that he would take steps to ensure that
the PH was reduced by 50% as soon as possible!

>I said it once before and I'll say it again, I feel that somebody stands to
>make a lot of money from all of us eliminating our usage of lead, what else
>can it be?

I would hesitate to suggest anyone in our industry would deliberately
influence
environmental legislation purely for profit, but I do suspect that some
responses
to the WEEE proposals have been distorted by the scent of opportunity and the
desire not to be branded as environmental villains.

David Whalley
Senior Lecturer
Manufacturing Engineering Department
Loughborough University
Loughborough
Leics LE11 3TU
UK

Tel. +44(0)1509 222930
Fax. +44(0)1509 267725

[log in to unmask]
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/en/research/mp/david_whalley/index.html

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