[TowerTalk] Health Studies, electronic workers

[Eric - VE3GSI]

Hi Guys,

I am a retired Tv/Radio repairman - later component level repair depot tech
on computers and peripherals. This I have done for over thirty years at a
bench and in the field. Needless to say the solder was handled by hand,
fumes were sucked up when working in tight quarters and often the 'third
hand' was solder held between the teeth while positioning and soldering.
Counting the countless homebrew Ham projects over the years, I have lived,
breathed and handled many pounds of solder.

To put myself through school, I worked for a roofing company during the
summer months, you guess it -  soldering miles of eave troughs and metal
roofs. 

One of the reasons for retirement is hand tremors, which does not lend
itself well with tiny little parts etc.. Bad enough that I often need my
wife to help me solder the simplest of connectors on wires at times. 

When first diagnosed with the problem of tremors, my Doctor did a test for
lead poisoning in my blood. Happily enough NO excessive levels of lead were
found. Most likely my tremors are a hereditary problem.

73 Eric - VE3GSI




> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com 
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Pat Barthelow
> Sent: November 17, 2007 5:30 PM
> To: Martin Ewing - AA6E; 'Tower Talk List'
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Health Studies, electronic workers
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone know of actual Medical  studies done on people in 
> the electronics industry who handle lead bearing solder  over 
> a period of years?  For some years, back in the olden days,  
> I worked in  both Q/A and  production of a sensor  
> manufacturer.  Proibably hand soldered 300,000 or more 
> through hole componnent-pcb connections.  The Old fashioned 
> way.  Under a lamp, with a Panavise, Weller WTCPN, and a 
> handful of thin guage Ersin Multi or Kester 60-40 solder, 
> constanty broken off a nearby 1 lb spool. (Spools used to be 
> around $10.... not any more! )   The solder was held and fed 
> through my index finger and thumb, mostly, and, at the end of 
> the day, you culd see darkened skin on thumb and forefinger, 
> seemingly minute lead deposits right where the solder was 
> held.   It even tingled a bit, or felt different where the 
> lead solder was fed through the fingers.  I washed hands at 
> the end of the day, or more often.    Also, back then, we did 
> not even use fans to divert the rosin sm
>  oke from our noses while at work.  I wonder if any 
> measureable lead could be found in ones bloodstream who did 
> that kind of work.  Also is there any lead compounds likely 
> to be wafting up with the rosin smoke?   Any medical research 
> actually been done on techs from the oldend days?
>   
> 
> All the Best, 73,
> Pat Barthelow