[Animats]

There's a useful device which is a muffin fan in a shroud, with a charcoal filter on the back. Put this next to your soldering station and it sucks up the fumes.

Lead-free solder is the way to go now. I know, it's a pain because of the higher melting point, but it's the future. Also, you can get the kind with a little silver in it to bring the melting point down. Unless you're running a large production shop, the slightly higher cost won't matter. The student electronics labs at Stanford now have a No Pb sign - no leaded solder allowed.

[justin66]

I'd be more worried about the smoke from rosin based flux than the presence of lead. Not that either one is some kind of health benefit...