Ciruit boards toxic to children?

[scotagne]

My 10 y.o. son and I have been taking apart laptops, routers and other consumer electronics recently. There are parts all over the place. Also, I've built a couple of comps recently and been handling a lot of parts. Should I be concerned about his lead absorbtion? Sorry if this is kind of off-topic, but people here would know best. Heard about Sun's new "green" mobo, and I went "Uh-oh". Thanks in advance.

Scott

 

[a64fxman]

yes the circuit board and solders used on it does contain lead.
If he is not soldering the problem is less severe. Make sure he washes his hand after handling those parts

 

[pm]

As Jayn said, nearly all circuit boards are soldered using at least some small amount of lead. The amount varies with the age of the board (the older boards used more lead... the industry has been gradually phasing it out). The enviromental concern is for groundwater contamination from landfills, not for handling although I agree with jayn that washing hands afterwards is probably a good idea for people of all ages.

The transition to lead-free solder has been slower than expected and there have been several delays. Although some lead-free devices are starting to appear, it looks like it may be a few more years before all electronic devices no longer contain lead - although later is clearly better than never.

 

[NesuD]

Unless he is chewing on the boards i doubt there is much to be concerned about.

 

[Davegod]

Originally posted by: NesuD
Unless he is chewing on the boards i doubt there is much to be concerned about.

yep, or setting fire to them and breathing it in.

The concerns about lead and other toxins in PC parts is with regard to their manufacture and disposal. I gather most manufacturers are already starting to aviod using them (espeically lead) as the European Union has set restrictions which come into force sometime soon (maybe sometime recently). It would be very expensive to have a seperate production for the EU boards so everywhere else will get the benefits too, at least when they are buying products also sold in the EU. I gather there's various things in other countries also encouraging reduced lead.