EPA announced it won’t regulate lead weights in automobile wheels, 15 years after the agency granted a petition from environmental groups to initiate rulemaking.
The agency decided it would not proceed with proposed rulemaking after its analysis found “that risks to children from lead wheel weights are significantly lower than described in the petition EPA received on this issue in 2009,” according to a Friday announcement.
“Specifically, EPA estimates that dust from lead wheel weights represents an extremely small fraction of a child’s overall residential lead exposure, even if the residence is near busy roads,” the announcement continues.
Wheel weights are attached to the rims of cars to help offset imbalances. EPA in 2016 estimated that 1.6 million pounds of wheel weights fall off each year. The agency said in a Federal Register notice that manufacturers no longer use lead wheel weights, since nine U.S. states and Canada have banned them in the past 15 years.
