Lead Free Standard, Essay Example

The use of lead in electronic products can have drastic sustainable and health related repercussions due to the effects that the substance has on the environment.  Use of lead in soldering electronic parts has, therefore, been regarded as an important issue to be resolved.  However, the underlying framework of electronic manufacturing has been established through the use of lead in these products.  While there is no danger posed to products that contain lead, their deposit into landfills presents a concern.  In seeing this risk, the proposal for newer safer products was established.

The major factor leading to this concern is the possibility of the lead from these products finding their way into the drinking supply of local communities.  Furthermore, people digging through landfills may break these electronics open, exposing themselves to the lead inside.  For this reason, standards such as the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) present legislative restrictions on the materials that can be used in these products.  This includes a limitation on the amount of lead that can be used in the manufacturing of electronics and other goods.  In this way, the social responsibility of these manufactures in regards to public health was committed to.

Through the application of this legislation, the amount of harmful materials that were present in these products was effectively reduced.  The harmful lead was replaced by less harmful materials, such as silver alloys, although there was need to learn new techniques in order to switch to the new substance.  This removal of lead from electronic products presents an example of the way that changes in policy regarding the materials effected social justice.  Through the establishment of these guidelines, a better framework for the moral position of manufacturers was created.