Europe Pushes Tech Into Detox - Los Angeles Times

Gerald Barker is in the business of making people feel better -- not harming them. His company, Coherent Inc., makes sophisticated machines that produce high-performance lasers. The light

beams are used to perform glaucoma surgery and to produce stents that are implanted in arteries to ward off heart attacks, among other applications. But some of the 50,000 materials used to

manufacture its products contained minute amounts of six hazardous substances, such as lead and mercury. So for two years, Barker has been eliminating the harmful components. He has replaced

the lead solder in the circuit boards, jettisoned offending plastic insulation and even found less toxic paint for the company logo. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company wants to ensure

that it can keep exporting its high-end laser technology to European Union nations after July 1, when governments begin barring the sale of electronic products containing more than traces of

the six banned substances. The pending regulations affect everything from computers and cellphones to automated teller machines and toy trains. Coherent, whose annual sales total more than

$500 million, has spent millions of dollars working with its suppliers to identify the substances, locate environmentally friendly substitutes and redesign and test its modified products.

Barker, Coherent’s vice president of environmental initiatives, isn’t convinced that Europe’s rules will make the world a lot safer, pointing out that the electronics industry accounts for

just 2% of the world’s lead. But with 28% of his firm’s sales in Europe, he can’t risk running afoul of the new law. “The EU has grabbed the green jersey, and they are in the lead,” said

Barker, whose firm increased its research budget this year to handle the new requirements. “Everybody is going to need to fall into line.” By leveraging its clout as the world’s largest

market, the 25-country EU has triggered a global shift toward green manufacturing that is expected to cost manufacturers billions of dollars. Proponents say the requirements will lead to

fewer toxic landfills and safer water and food. The EU is also in the process of adopting mandatory recycling programs for the electronic and electrical products covered by the hazardous

substances law. Other governments are following suit, eager to boost their environmental credentials and worried about becoming dumping grounds for products that can’t be sold in Europe.

China, which some call the world’s workshop, has said it will impose its own version of Europe’s hazardous substances standards next year. And though the Bush administration has refused to

join in, a number of states, including California, are imposing similar measures. The state’s hazardous substances ban, which was passed in 2003 and will take effect in January, does not

include flame retardants and applies to fewer devices, such as cathode-ray tubes, computers and televisions. Electronic waste has become a serious problem, particularly in rapidly developing

countries such as China with weak environmental protection. The substances on the European hit list -- lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and

polybrominated diphenyl ethers (the latter two are flame retardants) -- have been linked to a variety of health problems. In the U.S, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more

than 220 million tons of electronic waste are discarded every year, with massive loads of lead and other heavy metals dumped into landfills. John Frey, manager of environmental strategies at

Hewlett-Packard Co., said the European regulation was fast becoming a de facto global standard. That is why his company and many others are bringing all of their products into compliance,

not just those heading for Europe. As their biggest customers shift gears, suppliers of commodities from steel to microcircuits to paint have been forced to come up with safer versions of

substances that have been used in manufacturing for decades. Hewlett-Packard, an industry leader in environmentally friendly methods, even revised its recycled plastics program because it

used ground-up inkjet cartridges and plastic bottles that sometimes contained banned substances. “This has caused unprecedented turmoil in the electronics industry supply chain,” said Bijan

Dastmalchi, president of Symphony Consulting of Sunnyvale, Calif., which works with high-tech companies. Dastmalchi and other manufacturing experts said many U.S. electronics firms,

particularly small operations involved in customized work, are unprepared for the global reforms. They predict that there will be delayed shipments and price surges in the coming months

resulting from last-minute discoveries of hazardous substances or shortages of the new, approved versions of steel plating and other commonly used materials. Companies may also find it

harder to sell products or components that don’t meet the European standards. Some products, such as medical devices, aircraft and the sophisticated servers that run the world’s financial

data networks, are exempt from the July 1 deadline. The EU agreed that the manufacturers of those products should not be required to switch until the substitute materials have been

thoroughly tested for reliability and safety. Makers of some products, such as fluorescent light bulbs containing mercury, were exempted because no good replacements exist. Solder is used in

many parts of the manufacturing process, including the assembly of electronic circuit boards. Lead is commonly used in solder because it allows the material to melt at a lower temperature

and keeps it smooth. Lead-free solder, which generally contains tin or copper, must be treated at a higher temperature. It is also susceptible to “tin whiskers,” a phenomenon in which tiny

threads of tin sprout from the soldered area and can cause short circuits. Products using lead-free solder often must be redesigned because individual components can’t withstand the higher

processing temperature. “There’s very little data available right now on the reliability of the alternatives to lead,” said Jean-Philippe Brisson, a New York attorney and expert on the

European regulations. Most companies that sell into the EU, and many more that don’t, are asking their suppliers to provide documents proving that their products comply with the new

regulations. A slip-up could be costly, particularly if competitors get wind of it. In 2001, Dutch officials, acting on a tip, confiscated 1.3 million Sony PlayStations because their power

cords violated legal limits on cadmium, they said. “The company that’s the most at risk here is the company whose brand name appears on the product,” Brisson said. Small firms such as

Electronic Source Co., a Van Nuys assembler of circuit boards for computer networking systems and satellites, are struggling to meet the new requirements. President Scott Alyn said he would

have to spend at least $50,000 on a second giant soldering machine so he could produce two lines of products, one of which would meet the European standards. To prevent contamination, Alyn

has segregated his supplies and retrained his staff to handle the new materials. “I think we are going to have headaches that persist for the next five years,” he said. Jeff Krull, vice

president of product development for Shure Inc., an Illinois manufacturer of high-end microphones and other audio gear, said executives were “biting our nails” nine months ago about whether

their suppliers could meet the tougher environmental standards. Shure sells about 30% of its products in Europe. But Krull said the producers of fire-retardant materials and laminates went

into “rapid development mode” and appeared to be meeting the demand. “We’re riding the wave of what the industry is capable of providing,” he said. Shure had a few low-volume products, such

as older-generation audio mixers, that couldn’t profitably be brought into compliance. They will be discontinued. Krull estimates that the compliance program has cost his firm as much as $5

million. Shure will meet the July 1 deadline “by hook or by crook” for its European production, Krull said. But the company will also be able to sell in the U.S. any inventory that doesn’t

meet the higher standards. “This gives us a little bit of a safety valve,” he said. That’s exactly what worries people such as Charles Corcoran, an official with the California Department of

Toxic Substances Control. He said part of the idea behind the California law, which takes effect in January, was to “protect the state from those toxic materials being dumped here.” MORE TO

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