Roger, Not being a chemist myself, I can only speculate Roger... but I think the Amalgam in fillings is capable of breaking down over time and the mercury in it is Methyl mercury and is released as a gas which is then inhaled and enters the body through the lungs... or so I am told. I think they have studies on this subject that indicate after removal of the amalgam fillings that the urine and blood tests showed the mercury levels to subside... I'm no expert on this subject but thanks for showing me there are dissenting points of view on the subject... it's good to look at it from all sides before making a personal decision like that. The fish thing came to my attention when I was shopping at the market, they have a warning sign on the freezer door telling you which fish is known to contain the most mercury and on down the list to the least mercury.. I am told that coal fired power plants are part of the problem as well as they spread the methyl version of mercury into the environment and the fish and game get it in their food and water. As this related to RoHS and WEEE it's interesting to note how it's affecting industry and the environment... there are unintended consequences that they have not planned for obviously. More research needs to be done and rational decisions regarding the restrictions made so as not to unnecessarily place restrictions on things that are benign or less of a problem to people's health and more restriction on things that truly are a problem. I hate getting fooled as much as the next guy, but I think there is some real science behind this mercury thing... So many things we used in the past to make pc boards were highly toxic or carcinogens like Triclor which we used in open containers like you would with alcohol and in vapor degreasers and Mercuric Chloride was used in the Ammonium Persulfate etchant we used... the gold plating solution contained cyanide, and back when we were making boards in the early 1970's there were few if any restrictions on the disposing of spent chemicals or even handling them... I was exposed to them all at various times on my open unprotected skin, I breathed the vapors from the Trichlor all day long until I was dizzy... but I was a high school kid and so far I have not developed any cancer...yet. (Keep my fingers crossed that it stays that way). I understand that in Taiwan at one of the major board shops there they have a chemical recovery system that consists of a pipe that opens out into the local rice patty... I wonder who's eating the rice? They say that rice grown in the US contains higher levels of arsenic than any place else in the world... I think Nick is right... maybe smoking is less hazardous than eating... ;) Oh well, we have strayed far a field with this from the RoHS discussion but it is an interesting subject. Thanks for all the comments. Be well, Bill Brooks - KG6VVP PCB Design Engineer, C.I.D.+, C.I.I. Tel: (760)597-1500 Ext 3772 Fax: (760)597-1510 Datron World Communications, Inc. _______________________________________ San Diego Chapter of the IPC Designers Council Communications Officer, Web Manager http://dcchapters.ipc.org/SanDiego/ http://pcbwizards.com -----Original Message----- From: Roger Stoops [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 5:33 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [DC] (OT) Effects of Mercury Poisoning ... FYI Don't start just yet...the dangers of smoking cigarettes and cigars, and of chewing tobacco itself are very well documented. http://my.webmd.com/content/article/98/104695.htm http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/mercury.html The actual dangers of mercury: http://www.calpoison.org/public/mercury.html Some dentists had advised getting all dental amalgam fillings replaced with alternatives; one fellow (I believe in Colorado or thereabouts) lost his license to practice dentistry because of this practice. If we could get a definitive value on "loads" of mercury; the most danger from elemental mercury comes from the vapors themselves due to being inhaled into the lungs. Swallowing small amounts of elemental mercury is not life-threatening, as parents who have had their children break a mercury thermometer in their mouths have found out after the frantic call to the hospital or emergency services. (happened when my daughter was 4 or so...) The problem comes in when fish consume the mercury and it is converted to methyl mercury, which "is" highly toxic to humans. Regards, Roger -----Original Message----- From: DesignerCouncil [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nick Ban (PCBL) Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 5:27 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [DC] Effects of Mercury Poisoning ... FYI Geez - I think I'm gonna start smoking again.... -----Original Message----- From: DesignerCouncil [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brooks,Bill Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 4:23 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [DC] Effects of Mercury Poisoning ... FYI The other thing I forgot to mention is the Dentist... those Amalgam 'silver' fillings in your head... contain loads of mercury... it leaches pout into your system every time you swallow, eat, brush your teeth, etc... http://www.maineenvironment.org/toxics/Mercury_Brochure/dental_fillings. htm Bill Brooks - KG6VVP PCB Design Engineer, C.I.D.+, C.I.I. Tel: (760)597-1500 Ext 3772 Fax: (760)597-1510 Datron World Communications, Inc. _______________________________________ San Diego Chapter of the IPC Designers Council Communications Officer, Web Manager http://dcchapters.ipc.org/SanDiego/ http://pcbwizards.com -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 2:18 PM To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask] Subject: RE: [DC] Effects of Mercury Poisoning ... FYI Now you've done it, the EU is going to do another initiative to get rid of Mercury... Not only are we going to add space for Crossed-out Pb labels, now we're going to have to add space for crossed-out Hg labels, too. And no more tilt switches on circuit boards, what's that going to do to the pinball manufacturers :p -- George Patrick Tektronix, Inc. Central Engineering, PCB Design Group P.O. Box 500, M/S 39-512 Beaverton, OR 97077-0001 Phone: 503-627-5272 Fax: 503-627-5587 http://www.tektronix.com http://www.pcb-designer.com It's my opinion, not Tektronix' -----Original Message----- From: DesignerCouncil [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brooks,Bill Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 14:09 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [DC] Effects of Mercury Poisoning ... FYI Effects of Mercury Poisoning ...It's worth studying about... pass it on. We all have some level of mercury in us thanks to dumping in the oceans and lakes and rivers... I was talking before about the mercury levels in the fish before regarding RoHS and it's focus on lead, and here is some of the data for reference... I received some inquiries asking for more data... I'm still learning about it myself... but I am more than happy to share what I have so far. http://www.nzhealth.net.nz/poisons/mercury2.shtml <http://www.nzhealth.net.nz/poisons/mercury2.shtml> http://www.nzhealth.net.nz/poisons/autism.shtml <http://www.nzhealth.net.nz/poisons/autism.shtml> http://www.nzhealth.net.nz/poisons/mercury.shtml <http://www.nzhealth.net.nz/poisons/mercury.shtml> http://www.cfspages.com/chelation.html <http://www.cfspages.com/chelation.html> http://homemakingcottage.com/health/mercury_detoxification.htm <http://homemakingcottage.com/health/mercury_detoxification.htm> http://www.y2khealthanddetox.com/mercfillings.html <http://www.y2khealthanddetox.com/mercfillings.html> The remedy my wife found with the least risk... N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) It's an herbal remedy that helps your body produce the natural detoxifiers it needs to safely bind with the mercury and remove the mercury from your system... normally Mercury does not leave your body, but accumulates and the symptoms get worse over time... One of the things we were hearing about is childhood immunizations using a Mercury based preservative which studies are indicating may have caused the higher levels of autism and ADD/ADHD in the generations of children who received them as babies... When they stopped using the preservative the levels dropped dramatically... I'm hearing that the legislators are trying to sneak in legislation to protect the pharmaceuticals from litigation regarding this finding... stay tuned to the news about that one... I have started taking this supplement and will let you know if it makes any difference... So far it seems to have made an improvement in alertness and memory retrieval (I never will forget ol' 'whatsisname'...) ;-) I've been taking it about 3 weeks. I hear of no down sides to taking it. Research it first of course for yourself before you decide to take it... if you do. Also... let me know if you start to feel better. Best regards, Bill Brooks ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---- ----- DesignerCouncil 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 DesignerCouncil. To temporarily stop/(restart) delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET DesignerCouncil NOMAIL/(MAIL) Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---- ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---- ----- DesignerCouncil 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 DesignerCouncil. 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