I don't know how things are in the UK, but in the US and Canada the major pressure to get the lead out of all industrial and commercial processes is being brought by the Environmental Protection Agency. Second only to the EPA is the CSA, who has passed standards limiting the amount of lead in finished products to the parts per million range if the product is accessible to children. Jeffrey A. McGlaughlin Printed Circuit Board Designer Battelle Memorial Institute Columbus Ohio -----Original Message----- From: Eddie Brunker [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > which is forcing the electronic industry to >find an alternative. Who is doing the forcing? Is there a world wide organization putting pressure on assembly companies to remove lead from the assembly process? Who outside the electronics industry (politicians, academics, the man on the street..etc.) is aware or considers that lead is used in the assembly process? What are the facts regarding the hazards of lead in assemblies? Is this pressure coming from organizations in electronics assembly nations such as Malaysia, Taiwan, Ireland, Mexico.....? Do you have an alternative to soldering with lead? If so can you share the process details with us all? Regards Eddie ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ Please visit IPC web site (http://jefry.ipc.org/forum.htm) for additional information. For the technical support contact Dmitriy Sklyar at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.311 ################################################################