Team DeadWeight took its idea to phase out lead wheel weights to a national contest, appeared on Planet Green, explained its research to scientists at the United Nations and contributed to the Environmental Protection Agency’s turnaround on the issue.


So now the team of three eighth-graders returns to Iowa to attempt once again to get state legislators to pass its bill.

State Rep. Nate Willems (D-Mount Vernon) joined DeadWeight members Jathan Kron, Brennan Nelson and Justin Roth at the University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory at the Oakdale Campus Sept. 9 to talk with researcher Dr. Michael Wichman and review where to go from here.

Willems has already given his support to the phase-out, as well as state Rep. Jeff Kaufmann. The bill they supported in 2009 did not get much traction, but Willems said it just needs time.

“New ideas don’t get accomplished in the first year,” he said. “I’m hoping it’s something we can take up again next year.”

Willems said he thinks the bill will get further with another try because of the success at the EPA.

“The EPA credentials the idea a little bit,” he said. “It enhances (the bill’s) standing.”

Pitching the bill to other lawmakers will require him to point out it is “environmentally sound” to phase out lead for, say, steel and showing that some in the auto industry are embracing the idea. Chrysler is one of them.

“A lot of legislators want to do the right thing,” he said.

Wichman told Willems that high amounts of lead in the blood make it more difficult to learn.

“When blood levels go down, the ability to learn increases,” he said.

If Iowa’s legislature chooses to support the phase-out, it will have to get in line behind California, which last week sent a phase-out bill to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The day earlier, the California Center for Environmental Health sent an urgent e-mail to DeadWeight, asking for permission to include the team’s research with a push to convince Schwarzenegger to sign the bill.

“We’re optimistic he will sign it,” Kron said last Wednesday.

Schwarzenegger signed the bill Thursday.

Roth said that steel weights cost about 10 cents more than lead, but the consumer buys them only two or three at a time with each new tire.

“And as the demand for steel goes up,” Kron said, “that brings the prices down.”

In a testimonial by Mike Brown, owner of Iowa City Tire & Service, he explains how the DeadWeight research helped convince him to become the first dealer in Iowa City to offer steel wheel weights. He advertises that difference and his distributor reports that since Brown’s change, a few more dealers have made the switch.

“My business is always striving to learn more and implement ways to reduce our environmental impact,” he wrote. “Thank you to team DeadWeight for contributing to this very real and positive change.”