WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will not regulate the manufacture, processing or distribution of lead for wheel-balancing weights under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
The ruling, effective Dec. 23 and published in the Federal Register, is in response to a citizen petition field in 2009 that asked the EPA to regulate lead wheel weights used in commerce, including at tire and automotive service shops.
The EPA said in its ruling that during the period in which the agency sought public comments in regards to the issue, it did not receive any lead wheel weight exposure data that it had not consider previously or that would be sufficient to determine that the lead wheel weights presented "an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment" to necessitate a proposed rule.
The EPA said it received 128 comments during the period.
The agency also said in preliminary examination, it found that risk associated with exposure is lower than previously believed, and that any risk from exposures to lead from the manufacture (including import), processing (including recycling), distribution in commerce, use, and disposal of lead wheel weights "would be more appropriately assessed and addressed as part of a broader assessment of exposures associated with lead and lead compounds" in other investigations.
"Therefore, EPA is not proceeding with a proposed regulation addressing lead wheel weights," the agency wrote.
Wheel weights are small pieces of metal or other material used to balance weight distribution in tires. Lead has been a primary component of many wheel weights because of its malleability, high density and relatively low cost.
Nine states have banned the sale, distribution and/or use of lead wheel weights. Many auto manufacturers, both those manufacturing within the U.S. and those exporting vehicles to the U.S., use alternative wheel weight options in new vehicle production that meet the regulatory requirements in those states.
Because of that, most automotive manufacturers that sell vehicles in the U.S. comply with Canada's ban on the use of lead wheel weights as well. The EPA said that lead wheel weights still may be used for balancing in aftermarket auto repair and maintenance of vehicles.
The EPA said that "addressing potential remaining exposures from lead continues to be a high priority ... as reflected in EPA's announcement that "Lead and Lead Compounds" is on its list of candidate chemical substances currently being considered for future prioritization actions under TSCA."
The EPA stressed this action is limited to lead for lead wheel weights.
The 2009 petition was filed by several groups, including the Sierra Club, Alliance for Healthy Homes, Center for Environmental Health, Environmental Health Watch, Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, United Parents Against Lead, Lead Technicians, Tulane University and Drexel School of Public Health.
EPA said it one domestic manufacturer of lead wheel weights and several other importers of lead wheel weights. Petitioners claimed that when wheel weights separate from the wheel due to failure of the adhesive or clip attaching them, or due to impact of the wheel with a pothole or road debris, they are dispersed into the environment.
Lead wheel weights not properly disposed of may be abraded into fine particles by traffic, they contend, and the lead particles may then be released into the air as part of roadway dust and blown into nearby yards. Children or adults living nearby can be exposed through ingestion of soil or dust particles.
