I like to think that I keep up the current news and trends, but just sometimes I come across something that I'm sure I should have noticed.

This week, that was the RoHS Compliance Program. The RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directive comes from the European Union and, to quote the site:

“Member States shall ensure that, from 1 July 2006, new electrical and electronic equipment put on the market does not contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).”

Basically, it's an attempt to clean up a business which is very damaging to the environment. Silican chip production is a toxic process, which they are trying to offset by removing other nasty chemicals and compounds from the manufacturing process.