Last week the E.P.A. released their plan for a 35.5 fuel economy standard for vehicles by 2016.
This week they target lead tire weights.
EPA will also pursue a ban on the manufacture and distribution of lead tire weights in response to a 2009 petition from the Ecology Center, the Sierra Club and other NGOs requesting that the agency establish regulations prohibiting the manufacture, processing, and distribution of lead tire weights.
On the new regulatations, E.P.A. administrator Lisa Jackson said;
“As both EPA Administrator and as a mother, my highest priority is protecting our children from environmental threats in the places where they live, play and learn. Lead is still present in many of our neighborhoods, but we can limit exposure to children and adults by working together on comprehensive actions like these,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “We’re committed to giving our nation’s children the fullest protection possible, and giving parents clear assurance that their children are safe from harm.”
“Over the last few years, we’ve gained more information on the effect of lead tire weights in the environment,” said Steve Owens, an assistant E.P.A. administrator. “Also, a number of states have moved to ban these weights, so there’s clearly rising concern.”
Similar bans have been passed in Vermont and Maine.
Some companies have already decided to phase out lead weights by 2011, including Wal-Mart and Costco.
The United States Postal Service said it would get the lead out of it’s national fleet of 215,000 delivery vehicles.
The trend is to replace the lead weights with steel alternatives.
Steel weights are lighter, ticker, bulkier and more expensive. The latter reason is precisely why they need to call for a ban—as proponents fear weight companies will not voluntarily switch because Asian suppliers would be able to easily undercut them.
However, not everyone believes a threat exists.
A London-based lead association says “lead is a sustainable commodity when produced, used and recycled in a responsible manner. Efforts to restrict or even ban its use are not backed up by sound scientific evidence, but rather based on emotive comment and misguided public perception.”
The agency points out that lead contamination and exposure has dissipated—if a problem really existed, we would see lead exposure symptoms manifested in the general population. Furthermore, lead is common in building materials and household items such as batteries.
Can we expect these products to be banned in the future?
