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Background A massive fraud has been perpetrated upon our civilization by a very few folks, going back some decades to the municipal incinerators used in Europe to incinerate their waste; Americans, having much more land, land-filled theirs. When E-waste began to be incinerated, lead oxide was of course found in the soot. For the Europeans, banning lead was the ill-advised solution. Driven by ill-informed folks calling themselves "Environmentalists" and a lack of
effective push-back by scientists, engineers or any informed legislators, the unreasoning prejudice
against lead spread worldwide and in America bypassed any legally required Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The
continuing "lead-is-awful" superstition does not give any better foundation for the original unwise decision
made by folks who did not want to hear about consequences and had another agenda.
It is time the world woke up to the fact that lead itself in our civilization today is
no longer the enemy, but rather that "fear-of-lead" is a tool used by folks who profit
from making others afraid of "The Dangerous Environment". There actually ARE such folks.
A falsehood repeated enough times gains the apparency of truth; this is a basic propaganda
tool, and here we have a classic example. Is lead a biohazard? Many studies have shown that it takes unusual circumstances for lead to become a
biohazard. The real sources of lead in humans were from leaded gasoline and paint
containing lead pigment. Those were eliminated decades ago and the blood levels in
humans have continued to decrease since that time as reported by the Center for Disease
Control (CDC). The actual hazards of lead in today's civilization have been greatly
exaggerated to serve the baseless agenda that lead is awful and must be banned. The consequences of
removing lead from electronics The University of Stuttgart did an overall environmental impact assessment of
tin/lead and various commonly used lead-free replacements, evaluating multiple
factors on a cradle-to-grave basis. Tin/lead was far and away the best for the
environment. Lead-free tin solders and platings have caused the sudden unintended acceleration
incidents that occurred in many popular makes of cars and killed many people; these
have been well-publicized but their names won't be mentioned here because they all
have lawyers. There are a number of other verified instances where the lead-free
material has resulted in widespread electronic failures ranging from heart pacemakers
to runaway nuclear reactors to satellites to missile systems. The legal status
of lead-free electronics The use of lead-free solders and lead-free electronic component finishes in America
is illegal and has been since its inception. This is and remains a violation of federal
law, specifically www.nepa.gov/. Conclusion In a nutshell: The hazards of lead have been greatly overblown; tin/lead is far-and-away
the best for the environment; the unnecessary shift to lead-free platings and solders has
been demonstrably worse for users of electronics and for the environment. That is the inconvenient truth. The Case For Lead (Tin Whisker Group discussion copy) may be downloaded here: Download The Case For Lead (Tin Whisker Group discussion copy).pdf Copyright
© 2009-2021 Steve Smith all rights reserved
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