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Really RS Components, I am not allowed to order solder anymore??
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Monkeh:

--- Quote from: tooki on February 11, 2021, 06:28:54 pm ---
--- Quote from: woody on February 11, 2021, 04:13:02 pm ---
--- Quote from: S. Petrukhin on February 11, 2021, 03:36:38 pm ---The human body is a fairly stable and protected system, capable of recovery within certain limits. Therefore, playing at home with a solder coil can be completely safe, but a nearby factory that regularly exudes pollution for a long time is a problem.

--- End quote ---

If i am not mistaken the whole anti-lead-solder policy is not meant to protect the people using it; it is primarily meant to prevent lead entering the environment when the devices in which it is used are scrapped and / or burned. But I could be wrong  :)

--- End quote ---
Two regulations are at work:
RoHS (which required lead solder to be eliminated from new products) is about environmental protection.
REACH (which restricts the sale of lead solder to consumers) is about consumer safety.

--- End quote ---

And realistically we're the unfortunate collateral in the latter. Realistically most 'consumers' using lead solder are not in any serious danger, however we're also a piddly minority. Industry has switched away from leaded solder and the world hasn't ended, so why should there be an exception to the rules for a few stubborn users?
tooki:
Well, the big, legitimate exception is for repairs: since a) alloys with only trace amounts of lead (as happens when residual lead solder mixes into a lead-free joint) are brittle, and b) components and PCBs designed for lead solder may not withstand the higher temperatures of lead-free soldering, it is highly inadvisable to use lead-free solder to repair devices originally assembled with lead solder. That’s why RoHS expressly permits lead solder to be used for repairs, and for lead solder to be sold. (It only bans its use in new products.)

REACH, having entirely different ambitions, makes no such distinction. Stupid IMHO.
S. Petrukhin:

--- Quote from: tooki on February 11, 2021, 07:45:03 pm ---REACH, having entirely different ambitions, makes no such distinction. Stupid IMHO.

--- End quote ---

It is not stupid, it fits into modern politics: you do not need to repair, buy new things, otherwise the economy will be sated and collapse, and the money bags will not be able to get their next billion.  :)
CatalinaWOW:
Lead is harmful.  In sufficient quantities.  But even when lead was used freely everywhere most people saw no detectable problems with lead poisoning.  But those who lived near heavily travelled roads did suffer from the tetraethyl lead used in gasoline.  Some, but not all people who had lead pipe plumbing had problems. Depended on both the water chemistry and their usage pattern (water dwell time in the pipes).   And children who ate dirt around lead painted houses and chewed on the walls of such houses.

By quantity lead in gasoline was by far the most usage.  Orders of magnitude greater than others.  Paint and plumbing next.  Lead in ammunition was down the list.  Electronics some where down in the decimal places.  We have long since eliminated all of the real problems with lead exposure.  These residual attacks on any lead use at all are a combination of theater and lack of understanding.
magic:
It's neither theater nor lack of understanding - it's bureaucracy. Once you create it, it gets a life of its own.
In this case, they made some rules, they follow the rules.  That's all it takes, nobody cares about lead.
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