EPA to seek ban on lead tire weights

[Shannow]

labman, a friend has an autistic son with lead levels through the roof...

This area has many old houses, and they rent.

Behind his bed, they found that he's been peeling the paint off the walls and eating it...

Never ever had I worried about lead paint (and I still don't really).

All of (well most of) the classic pigments that made the classic art classic are pretty not nice to eat.

 

[jcwit]

By and large, eating paint is pretty far down on the list of things I like to eat.

Course I've never tried deep fried oil base high gloss yet.

 

[labman]

Originally Posted By: 21Rouge
Originally Posted By: labman

My grandson was found to have excess lead.


Just curious as to the symptoms your young grandson exhibited that led them to suspect lead.


I think the lead was found in a routine screening. It was low enough not to bring on symptoms.

Originally Posted By: Shannow
labman, a friend has an autistic son with lead levels through the roof...

This area has many old houses, and they rent.

Behind his bed, they found that he's been peeling the paint off the walls and eating it...

Never ever had I worried about lead paint (and I still don't really).

All of (well most of) the classic pigments that made the classic art classic are pretty not nice to eat.


How old? This is part of my point. The stupid law lumps harmless things from the 70's in with the real dangers of older houses. Thus we waste resources ''remediating'' houses that aren't a problem while letting the dangerous ones go. Also it is quite possible to discover a child was exposed to paint with 0.1% lead in it and fail to look further and identify and correct the real problem.

Yes other metals were used as pigments too that are dangerous such as cadmium. On the other hand, the titanium dioxide that is cheaper and better than lead oxide is safe enough that you will find it in your toothpaste. That it made both technical and economic sense didn't stop many from continuing to use lead in paint for a long time. Industry standards did keep it out of toys and household paint long before 1978.

Most of the vinyl electrical insulation in America has lead stabilizer in it. Other countries use the even more dangerous tin and cadmium that also have poorer .
electrical properties.

Truly protecting our children means following scientific principles, not emotional over reaction to things that aren't part of the problem. It does appear many of our officials were over exposed to lead as children.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: Samilcar
Originally Posted By: 97 GTP
Originally Posted By: Jdblya
Then what, fishing weights?


That's what I was thinking.


Smaller lead sinkers are already banned in NY,NH,VT,ME,Canada and the UK.


Yup. It was done to protect Loons. Loons grab small pebbles off the bottom to help grind up their food and they can ingest lead sinkers that way. They claim they eat them too( sinkers, jigs, etc... )but that I question as Loons eat fish. A few Loons may die from lead poisining but it is not the epidemic they want to say it is. Another overreaction by the environmental nut jobs.

I don't have as much of an issue with the sinker ban though as I do the lead shot ban for waterfowl. You can adapt to different sinker material a lot easier. Steel shot for waterfowl actually causes more cripple deaths than lead ingestion ever did( at first anyway - modern steel shot is a lot betetr but still causes more cripples than lead ever did ). While there are non toxic alternatives to steel shot that perform like lead, or even better, they cost so much no one short of a Millionaire can afford them. Quality steel shot costs $9-$15 a box whereas the other alternatives( Hevi Shot, Bismuth, Tungsten, etc... )cost upwards of $25-$30+ a box( of 10! vs 25 for steel ). Don't be surprised if your new wheel weights jump from $2 each to $50 each.

Back to the original topic. You have got to be kidding me! Ban lead tire weights? Why? You can't tell me animals are eating them and dieing. Can't be a big problem with them falling off and getting into water because 99.9% of our roads are not on water. Got to be something started in CA. Unbelievable. As another member said it's all about some government employee trying to do something to justify their job. LAME!

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: labman
It does appear many of our officials were over exposed to lead as children.


AMEN!

 

[labman]

Lead is less than 1.5 times as heavy as iron and much higher in $/ounce. I don't think volume is a big factor in either wheel weight or sinkers. May be I am missing something, but it doesn't sound like switching to iron will be a big problem. Something may need to be done to prevent contact between aluminum wheels and steel weights. However, we are living with steel weight clips, lugnuts, studs, and hubs.

Yes, I do see wheel weights or parts of them along the road, but never remember having to have a tire rebalanced because of a broken or lost wheel weight. Have you ever had to?

Replacing lead in either may be stupid and useless, but shouldn't be nearly as expensive as a lot else.

I am still digging into bittering agents in antifreeze. If we care about our children and animals. maybe some of our anti lead efforts might better go into making them universal.

 

[JohnBrowning]

I had to trade in my Mercury thermometer last night in Chemistry class and go to a digital one. The digital ones are not as accurate or durable and many of them ship from China with mercury batteries in them!LOL

So what do they use in CA tungsten?

 

[labman]

Tungsten would only work at very high temperatures in a thermometer.

 

[Shannow]

From an environmental viewpoint, lead shot, leaded fuel maybe, but wheel weights is silly.

 

[oilyriser]

They do get ground up into dust as cars pass over them.

 

[crinkles]

lets all ban breathing because it makes CO2.

world would be a much better place.

 

[oilyriser]

Mandatory breath scrubbers...

 

[BuickGN]

Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
And the next thing to be attacked by these idiots will be lead bullets.

Another way to destroy our bill of rights.

The sheeple will not care. They want what is "best" for the world...

I'm not sure if that was sarcasm but around here we have to use copper rounds for hunting. Accuracy is terrible, especially the farther out you go. I'm sure you know what it did to the price.

Luckily we reload and keep thousands of rounds in stock just in case or should I say when the day comes that #1 lead bullets are banned altogether and #2 when all ammo is banned.

 

[labman]

Originally Posted By: oilyriser
They do get ground up into dust as cars pass over them.


Only the very few that get lost. Even then, most of them are likely still buried at the road side with very little weathering. Look at lead's use as roof flashing.

 

[Kestas]

Lead is too expensive to use as roof flashing, and some communities ban the practise in a watershed area.

 

[labman]

I meant the hundreds of years old stuff that hasn't weathered away. Oh, that reminds me of the ancient lead water pipes still in service.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Lead is too expensive to use as roof flashing, and some communities ban the practise in a watershed area.


Lead flashing has never been expensive? Lead is and always has been cheap. That is why it was used in so many things.

 

[labman]

I thought it was expensive too, but hunted up http://www.kitcometals.com/

Of course, in comparing the cost of lead or aluminum for flashing, you need to consider $/volume.

 

[Kestas]

I looked into lead flashing when redoing my roof and found it was too expensive, though it's a wonderful roofing material. Per square foot it is more expensive than the alternatives. I ended up flashing with galvanized and painted steel. The cost of copper was... well... through the roof! I'd never consider aluminum for flashing chimneys.

 

[Dualie]

i just finished making up stainless steel flashing for a high end home being built in the Oakland hills. I think his flashing cost more than the whole roof on my house.