Dr. Michael Wichman and Dr. Robert A Root congratulate SCIENCE RESEARCH TEAM "DEAD WEIGHT".

Dear Team Dead Weight:

My CONGRATULATIONS! to all of you on a job well done. Your hard work, research and well designed project are very well deserving the recognition as National Grand Prize Winners of the 2009 Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge. Young researchers like all of you truly can change the world. We are honored to have had the opportunity to work with you.

Congratulations,

mdw

P Michael D. Wichman, Ph.D.
Associate Director
Environmental Health Programs

Hygienic Laboratory
The University of Iowa
#H 101 OH, 102 Oakdale Campus
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-5002

Telephone: 319-335-4479
Facsimile: 319-335-4555

Please note NEW email address:
e-mail: michael-wichman@uiowa.edu
URL: http://www.uhl.uiowa.edu

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.