Computer makers have had mixed success in eliminating the diskette drive.
It has ranked the top mobile-phone and PC-makers based on their progress in eliminating chemicals and in taking back and recycling products (see chart).The RoHS rules ban products containing any more than trace amounts of lead, mercury, cadmium and other hazardous substances, including some nasty materials called brominated flame-retardants (BFRs).
Because of concerns over the preservative, vaccine makers in 2001 largely eliminated thimerosal from routinely administered childhood vaccines.
Like most manufacturers, textile makers have been eliminating jobs for years, in large part to become more competitive in price.
While meetings of the groups' committees and provincial delegations can be freewheeling, their formal agendas are largely free of controversy, including measures like one requiring product makers to eliminate waste in their packaging.
Libbey Inc., the glassware maker, is eliminating 140 jobs, or about 3.7percentt of its work force, as it closes a plant in Southern California.
Unilever, the world's leading maker of margarine, eliminated the ingredient in all its spreads this year.
Wyeth, Madison, N.J., the drug maker, said it planned to close a factory in West Chester, Pa., in December, eliminating about 200 jobs.
The Mead Corporation, the biggest United States maker of school notebooks, said yesterday that it would close plants in Michigan and Indiana, eliminating 330 jobs to cut costs.
When rule-makers seek to eliminate small risks, perverse consequences proliferate.
