Fume Extraction for healthy working environment
Don't breathe it in, Solder fumes contain COLOPHONY, exposure to flux fumes can produce:

Occupational Asthma, Upper respiratory tract irritation, Bronchospasm, Irritation to eyes, nose and throat, Headaches and Fatigue, Worker's compensation claims, Personal injury litigation, Miscarriages, Birth Defects

Concerned by the odour given off by lead-free fluxes, solder wire and solder pastes, rework professionals are increasingly calling for better health and safety measures and better fume extraction.

Lead-free reworking processes require higher temperatures and greater use of more active fluxes, which could account for the stronger smell of the gases released during lead-free rework. The often unpleasant odour is a matter of concern for many electronics manufacturing operators, who are worried that it may signal an increased health hazard.

Even though the smell of a gas is not necessarily an indicator of its impact on health,the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) concurs that rework professionals are right to be concerned. This is partly thanks to the fact that, after years of no-clean solder-fluxes, lead-free has triggered a return to the electronics workbench of rosin-based fluxes.

In its booklet "Solder Fume and You", the H&S underlines the possible health hazards that can arise from the use of rosin-containing flux materials. When they are heated to the higher lead-free processing temperatures, they form fumes, or colophony, that can irritate the skin, respiratory tract and eyes. It warns that "Rosin-based solder flux fume is now regarded as one of the most important causes of occupational asthma in Britain", and adds that if ventilation is poor, the effects may also be felt by others in the work area even if they are not involved in the soldering process.