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Canadian government wil not restrict rosins, IPC celebrates |
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 In a victory for IPC members and the Canadian
electronics industry, the Canadian Department of the Environment, on
June 26, 2010, elected not to ban five rosin-containing substances from
all products manufactured and sold in Canada.
-The Department
concluded that the five rosins identified under Batch 10 of the Canadian
Chemicals Management Plan are not inherently toxic, bioaccumulative or
persistent and, therefore, do not pose a threat to human health or the
environment. In October 2009, IPC
along with its Solder Products Value Council and Environment, Health and
Safety Committee submitted comments to the Canadian Department of the
Environment with an in-depth analysis of how banning rosins would
negatively affect the reliability, functionality and safety of all
electronic products. "Restricting rosins
would have made it extremely difficult for electronics manufacturers to
continue doing business in Canada. Canada made the right decision," says
Karl Seelig, vice president of technology for AIM Solder, Inc., and the
chairman of the IPC Solder Products Value Council. Rosins are key ingredients in soldering materials used in
the manufacture of more than seventy-five percent of electronics
products, including sophisticated defense systems and telecommunication
and transportation technologies that do not have any suitable
alternatives. "The electronics
industry applauds Canada for basing their decision on sound science.
This decision reassures us that governments do have the capabilities to
use scientific information when developing regulations. We hope that
governments around the globe use Canada as an example when developing
regulations that restrict substances," says Irene Sterian, engineering
manager, Celestica, and member of the IPC Government Relations
Committee. In its comments to the Department, IPC
concluded that due to the unique characteristics of rosins, there are no
other chemicals or combination of chemicals known that can provide the
same functionality and reliability. Banning rosin would have forced a
change in the composition of soldering flux and solder paste that would
have ultimately affected the reliability of the final electronic
product. IPC's comments also highlighted the extremely important point
that rosins have not been found to cause harm to human health and the
environment and, therefore, should not be restricted. www.IPC.orgFor
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In a victory for IPC members and the Canadian
electronics industry, the Canadian Department of the Environment, on
June 26, 2010, elected not to ban five rosin-containing substances from
all products manufactured and sold in Canada.
