On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 11:18:44 -0800, Hawke
wrote:


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.

Good timing, I'd just finished a little googling on the subject. The
number I saw several times was a half-million pounds from wheel
weights making it into the environment every year through various
routes, including landfills. That seems quite plausible, and if some
company got caught releasing even a tiny fraction of that then
sensible people would be calling for the owners to be locked up. Some
stories claim that wheel weights are reckoned to be the #1 source of
lead release right now, which explains why other countries are way
ahead in changing to other materials. Of course the nitwit denialists
will say that those other countries are all in cahoots with...
something quacky, probably communism. :-)

Some articles say that the substitutes will cost a small premium, but
this
http://www.klsupply.com/Dealer/KLSup...4/Default.aspx
says it will cost less, which makes the change a no-brainer and
probably long overdue. I had to chuckle though - some folks are having
to replace galvanized drop pipe in their wells due to the risk of zinc
contamination. Yet at least some of the new wheel weights are zinc. I
guess it's all about relative risk.

Wayne