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Team DeadWeight in nation’s capital Posted on Oct 07,
2009 by Meredith Hines-Dochterman.
(from left)
Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White
House Office of Science and Technology Policy Dr. John P. Holdren;
Jathan Kron; Justin Roth;
Brennan Nelson; U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Team DeadWeight’s
work toward a state ban of lead tire weights takes another step forward this
week. Team members Brennan Nelson, Justin
Roth and Jathan Kron, and
their teacher, Hector Ibarra, will meet with Sen. Senator Grassley while they
are in Wheel weights are clipped to tire
rims to balance the tires and prevent vibration at high speeds. Lead weights
are favored, because they are cheap, heavy and easy to work with. However, lead
weights falling off tire rims are one of the largest ongoing sources of lead
released into the environment. Team DeadWeight
encourages motorists and tire dealerships to switch to steel wheel
weights. Their research prompted the ban of lead wheel weights on
city and school vehicles in West Branch. Mike Brown, owner of Iowa City Tire,
was the first tire business in the state to make the switch from lead to steel.
Brown’s decision was based on Team DeadWeight’s
research. Team DeadWeight won
the first Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge in May. They
also visited the United Nations headquarters in “It’s exciting to know that our
project has gone as far as the national level,” Nelson said in an interview
with The Gazette last month. The students hope their work, and the
national attention the project has garnered, will lead to a state ban of lead
wheel weights. To date, four states — Roth and Kron,
both 13, are eighth graders at |
Science research team "Dead Weight" recognizes the
need to protect the public from exposure to lead hazards.
There are no federal regulatory controls governing use of lead
wheel weights. Environmental health hazards associated with lead
wheel weights are a preventable problem. People are exposed to
lead fragments and dust when lead wheel weights fall from motor
vehicles onto the nation's roadways and are then abraded and
pulverized by traffic. Lead wheel weights on and alongside roadways
can contribute to soil, surface and groundwater contamination and
pose hazards to downstream aquatic life.
Lead negatively affects every bodily system. While it is
injurious to people of all ages, lead is especially harmful to
fetuses,children, and adults of childbearing age. Effects of lead
on a child's cognitive, behavioral, and developmental abilities may
necessitate large expenditures of public funds for health care and
special education. Irreversible damage to children and subsequent
expenditures could be avoided if exposure to lead is reduced.
"Save the earth from pollution with a 'green' smart energy solution." COPYRIGHT SMARTENERGY4KIDS.ORG 2008-2009. All Rights Reserved. |
