Unlevel playing field created in wheel weight market. NLFWWI

"If the public becomes more aware of the environmental dangers of
lead wheel weights and is given alternative wheel balancing choices then
there will be a decrease in lead entering the environment. It is
important that we make sure that the water we drink and the air we
breathe is free of lead." TEAM DEAD WEIGHT

The National Lead Free Wheel Weight Initiative (NLFWWI) 
creates an unlevel playing field in the wheel weight market 
due to an unfair increase in foreign market share of the sale 
of lead wheel weights.  A ban on the sale of all lead wheel weights 
is needed to make it fair for USA wheel weight manufacturers.

We need a level playing field for wheel weight sales in California
The Center for Environmental Health was the plaintiff in litigation 
that lead to agreements with the two largest wheel weight 
manufacturers for the California market to end the sale of lead wheel 
weights in the state. In the discussions with the companies that lead 
to the agreement, the manufacturers asked the Center for Environmental
Health to help them advocate for a state law that would end the sale 
and use of lead wheel weights in California. They are both American 
companies and they are concerned that without a state law, they will 
lose market share to the many overseas wheel weight manufacturers who 
can undersell them by offering lower-priced lead wheel weights. 
Litigation with these overseas manufacturers is difficult.  Most small
tire retailers have not committed to the transition away from lead 
wheel weights and, without this legislation, represent a significant 
market for lead wheel weights. Testimony in Support of SB 757 
for the Senate Environmental Quality Committee April 20, 2009 By Michael Green, 
Executive Director Center for Environmental Health


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.

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