Move Away from Lead is Sure to Raise Costs

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Lead paint, lead pipes, leaded gasoline -- all banned, and for good reason. But this metal has hardly disappeared from daily life. Cell phones, stereos and even medical equipment still rely on lead. The phone you buy a year from now, however, won't have a trace.

Lead paint, lead pipes, leaded gasoline -- all banned, and for good reason. But this metal has hardly disappeared from daily life. Cell phones, stereos and even medical equipment still rely on lead. The phone you buy a year from now, however, won't have a trace.


The conversion to lead-free electronic circuits will hit your pocketbook, but don't bother writing Congress or the Environmental Protection Agency. They had nothing to do with it. And though it seems counterintuitive, some argue that keeping lead in phones, computer chips and stereos is the best thing for the earth.


"This is a big deal," said Tony Hilvers, a vice president at the circuit-board trade group IPC. "From the cheapest toy to the most expensive piece of electronic equipment," prices could rise by 10 percent, he said. "This is not an esoteric, technical kind of discussion. It affects the entire electronics industry."


The issue is lead solder, the shiny gray splotches that connect components on circuit boards. A new European Union law compels firms in St. Louis and around the world to find alternatives to it. Known as the Restriction on Hazardous Substances directive, or RoHS, the law is intended to slow the buildup of lead and other hazardous substances in landfills. It doesn't take effect until July 1 next year, but manufacturers have prepared for years already.


No U.S. firm is legally bound to use lead-free solder. Only California has any restrictions on lead, and no federal laws are pending. But not conforming to European standards means giving up a lucrative market, and potentially that of China and Japan. China is expected to announce a restriction policy soon.


Laws or no, in other words, phones sold here have to adapt to Europe's rules. Companies "are driven by the market as opposed to legislation. (Lead-free) becomes the default," said Matt O'Keefe of the materials science department at the University of Missouri at Rolla.


The disposability of electronics ensures that lead will continue to accumulate in dumps, which raises environmental concerns. Lead can corrode internal organs, induce seizures and lower IQs in children.


But not all lead is the same. Lead in paint and gasoline is easily absorbed into human cells. Lead in metallic forms such as solder is not.


In addition, evidence indicates that soldered lead, once inside landfills, does not leach out into drinking water, said Laura Turbini, a materials science faculty member at the University of Toronto.


Turbini has studied and tried to help diminish the impact of industry on the environment since the days of CFCs in refrigerators. Her presentations declare "humanity is off course" environmentally. She also strongly advocates recycling electronics. But she does not support lead-free.


"From cradle to grave," Turbini said, "lead-free soldering is not better for the environment." Replacements for lead solder cost more to mine and require more energy to use and produce.


Fern Abrams, director of environmental policy at IPC, praised European efforts in many environmental areas, but she raised similar points about lead-free solder. "It's an alleged environmental switch that doesn't have many environmental benefits," she said. In its overall impact on acid rain, strip mining and other concerns, Abrams claimed that lead-free solder gets worse grades in every area.


IPC's official position statement says: "All available scientific evidence and U.S. government reports indicate that the lead used in U.S. printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing and electronic assembly produces no significant environmental or health hazards."


Many would dispute this, especially in Europe. High population density there means waste cannot be secreted away. And the idea of lead, even in landfills, troubles many in a place that proclaims its environmental conscience.


But few dispute that prices of electronics will rise, especially in the short term. Bruce Fichter, director of engineering at St. Louis-based Viasystems, estimated that the cost of its circuits -- which supply the telecommunications, medical and automotive industries -- will jump 3 percent to 10 percent.


IPC's Abrams said that companies were being asked to absorb higher costs within the supply line so consumer prices won't rise. But economics often does not work that way.


"I can't imagine that's going to continue indefinitely," she said. "In the end, the customer ends up paying."


The reasons for the cost increases are myriad. First, the likely replacement solder is composed mostly of tin, a metal up to 10 times more expensive than lead in the world market, and it also includes silver.


Second, current circuit boards are made of plastics and epoxies designed to withstand the temperatures of lead-based solder. Lead-free solders require more heat to melt and unfortunately the plastics and epoxies start to melt, too. This could produce more landfill waste.


"We have to determine which materials will survive these higher temperatures," Fichter said, and those tests cost money.


Other costs include "data management," ensuring all suppliers eliminate all lead. Parts for one television or stereo might be built at dozens of sites, and if lead contaminates any piece, the whole lot would violate the Restriction on Hazardous Substances directive. Fichter refers to this up-and-down coordination as "cleaning out the pipeline."


RoHS contains exemptions that allow the military and the aerospace industry, among others, to keep using lead solder. But most U.S. military planes will switch nevertheless.


The aerospace industry consumes only 1 percent of all electronics in the world, said Boeing design director Richard Pinckert. Suppliers "prefer to transfer to lead-free. We will be swept along with the electronics community."


The Doe Run Co. in Herculaneum, the only lead smelter in the United States, said RoHS will not affect its business.


Ironically, though the EU initiated these worldwide changes, it lags behind other parts of the world in switching over. "Research within the EU has thus far remained fragmented and uncoordinated," says the EU's Web portal. "Japan, by contrast, is well advanced in its search for viable alternative technologies, and the USA is also making rapid progress."


Many European firms, said IPC's Hilvers, either don't understand the new regulations or are convinced they will get waivers.


Nevertheless, most firms have already compiled volumes of information and spent time and money making the switch. Boeing formed a lead-free steering committee 2 1/2 years ago, though tests on lead-free parts began in 2000. Explained William Procarione, an environmental assurance manager for Boeing in St. Louis, "Nothing gets changed very quickly in the aerospace industry because of the investment in . . . our equipment."


Materials scientist O'Keefe investigated the reliability of the new solder joints. According to his research, they are nearly as good as lead-based joints. They conduct electricity just as well and withstand stress almost as well, he said. Boeing and Viasystems said they have seen no reason for concern with their products.


Still, no one knows the long-term reliability of lead-free solders. For consumers, this is less of an issue. A cell phone breaks, it gets thrown away. But joints in industry need to hold for decades.


O'Keefe said: "We have roughly 50 years of knowledge about lead-tin solder, so we know how it behaves. How will lead-free components hold up? That's the question everyone wants to answer."


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Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News