My Business Card Runs Linux

Re:My Business Card Runs Linux by caseymarquis on Tuesday December 24, 2019 @01:50PM (#21874076)

Industry wide, it's about sanitizing a highly toxic substance from the supply chain. I've met a child whose father worked with lead, and would hug him after coming home. The child ended up with permanent brain damage from ingesting traces of leaded dust on the father's clothing. In this case, it's more likely about keeping lead out of something likely to get crunched up in a parent's wallet and then shown to their child.

Lead causes permanent brain damage in children. There is no detectable amount of lead in the blood of children which is considered safe. While an adult body absorbs roughly 95% of lead into its bones, children's bodies end up storing lead in blood and soft tissue where it causes damage. When untreated, it can take months for lead to exit a child's bloodstream.

I would never consider reducing the lead used in something I've built to be wasted time.

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Re:My Business Card Runs Linux by amelius on Tuesday December 24, 2019 @11:10PM (#21876741)

Until what age?

Is it safe for children to solder with leaded tin? (Many people here did so as a child, I suppose)

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Re:My Business Card Runs Linux by caseymarquis on Wednesday December 25, 2019 @12:36AM (#21877030)

I have no idea. I'm not a doctor, I just read a lot.

I used lead based solder as a child, and I turned out okay. That said, people used to use pewter plates and got sick from lead poisoning after eating tomatoes (the acid leached the lead from the plate); Roman soldiers would keep their wine in a lead container to sweeten it; pretty sure I've heard something about people painting their houses with leaded paint as well. On the one hand, society survived all that. On the other hand, if I have the opportunity to not risk poisoning a child by spending a couple extra dollars buying solder, that seems like a pretty easy decision to make.

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