Death By Environmentalism

There are four well-known cases of environmental regulations that forced engineers to use ineffective flame-retardant compounds and may have led to loss of life: the Columbia space shuttle, which had to use the less-efficient foam insulation rather that Freon (see this, this, and this), the Challenger space shuttle, which had to use defective O-ring putty after the original was banned by the EPA for containing asbestos, and the World Trade Center, which was the first major skyscraper not to use asbestos, and hence collapsed sooner than it otherwise would have. Here is another case with less drastic but much more widespread consequences:

If your hard drive failed recently, an “environmentally friendly” flame-retardant compound may be to blame:

Red phosphorus is believed to accelerate the failures, but why did the semiconductor industry begin using red phosphorus as a flame retardant instead of the Br-based compound it had used for years? The answer lies with the equipment and materials manufacturers, who must stress environmental considerations.

The flame retardant most commonly used in encapsulation resins is a combination of Br-based compounds with additive Sb 2 O 3 (antimony trichloride). This mixture is extremely effective, and an encapsulation resin with 2 to 3% content will clear the American UL94-V0 standard for flame retarding performance. It also has a long record of successful performance in the field.

Br-based compounds, however, have been cited as potential sources of dioxins and other toxic gases when combusted, and this eventually led to restrictions on their use from about 1990, primarily in Europe. This accelerated the trend toward halogen-free material development, not only in encapsulation resins but in all types of applications.

Materials manufacturers developed environment-friendly semiconductor encapsulation resins by adding red phosphorus, but now that this failure problem has occurred, the IC and equipment manufacturers are rapidly changing their stance. Materials manufacturers are being forced to develop new materials.

Incidentally, there is no evidence that asbestos poses any kind of health risk when used for insulation – especially on space shuttles. However, it’s a great example of what happens to human lives when politicians get involved. The most deadly example of environmentalism in action is the banning of DDT, which has caused 10-30 million malaria deaths because of a lack of adequate pesticides.