Yeah, I completely agree. Everything that comes from government agencies
has to be taken with a bit of skepticism because there is an element of
politics in all of it. The government is not above cherry picking just
the research that wants so it can support the policies it wants to
implement. You can't just accept anything from the government at face
value. But I was mainly commenting about the accuracy and reliability
you get from a qualified government agency as compared to your own
personal experience. The comparison is between anecdotal and
scientifically collected data, of which there is no comparison. This is
a good example. As many people noted, they have never lost a wheel
weight. But the evidence shows that millions of tons of lead from wheel
weights are lost every year. I'll believe the government's findings in
this case over what the average guy knows any day of the week.

Hawke

A sniff test is still in order.

A DOT study estimated there to be about 250 million automobiles in the
US in 2007. If there was 1/2 lb of lead on each wheel rather than 2
or 3 ounces as is more usual, that'd be 2 lb of lead per car or about
256,000 tons total. Even if every wheel weight in the country fell off
once per year, it's still not millions of tons.



I think you're right. I think I should have said millions of pounds not
tons. But I haven't seen the actual report so I don't know which number
is right. Millions of tons does seem way too high. I may have written
tons when I meant to say pounds.

Hawke