U.S. states have implemented a broad range of policies in recent months and years aimed at improving the safety and lessening the environmental footprint of consumer and industrial products. Not satisfied with the considerable progress achieved so far, regulators and legislators in California, Washington, Vermont and other environmentally-conscious states are seeking to build on these policies to further preserve their natural resources and protect their citizens from unforeseen product hazards. For example, several states have stepped up their efforts to prohibit the sale of products that contain hazardous chemicals or heavy metals by broadening the scope of current restrictions. This includes recent efforts by California, Maine, Vermont and Washington to establish state-wide bans on the use of lead-containing wheel weights, which are typically used to balance tyres and prevent shimmying at high speeds. 

Washington enacted legislation into law on 28 April (HB 1033) that will require any person who replaces or balances motor vehicle tyres to replace lead wheel weights with environmentally preferred wheel weights on all vehicles, effective from 1 January 2011. Alternatives to lead wheel weights that are determined by the Washington Department of Ecology to not qualify as environmentally preferred wheel weights may be used for up to two years following the date of that determination, but environmentally preferred wheel weights  must be used thereafter. The term "lead wheel weight" is defined in the legislation as any externally affixed or attached wheel weight used for balancing motor vehicle wheels and composed of greater than 0.1 percent lead by weight. "Environmentally preferred wheel weight" means any wheel weight used for balancing motor vehicle wheels that does not include more than 0.5 percent by weight of any chemical, group of chemicals or metal of concern identified by rule in Washington.

According to its statement of purpose, the legislation is seeking to prevent environmental health hazards associated with lead wheel weights. People are exposed to lead fragments and dust when lead wheel weights fall from motor vehicles onto roadways and are then abraded and pulverised by traffic. It is widely known that lead negatively affects every bodily system, especially those of children. Lead wheel weights on and alongside roadways can also contribute to soil, surface and groundwater contamination and pose hazards to downstream aquatic life.

A similar measure was enacted into law in Maine on 12 May. The Maine legislation also prohibits the use of lead-containing wheel weights when a motor vehicle tyre is replaced or rotated but expands on that restriction to cover mercury-containing wheel weights as well, effective from 1 January 2011. Moreover, Maine will ban the sale of new motor vehicles that are equipped with a weight or other product for balancing motor vehicle wheels if it contains lead or mercury that was intentionally added during the manufacture of the product, effective from 1 January 2012.

Vermont implemented a comprehensive ban on lead-containing products last year that will prohibit the use of lead-containing wheel weights in state vehicles beginning 1 January 2010 and in all new motor vehicles beginning 1 September 2011. The Vermont legislation also includes restrictions on children's products that are similar to those enacted into law as part of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, as well as a ban on the sale of solder or flux for plumbing containing more than 0.2 percent lead or plumbing fixtures (i.e., pipe and plumbing fittings and fixtures used to convey or dispense water for human consumption) whose vetted surfaces contain more than a weighted average of 0.25 percent lead, effective from 1 January 2010. The legislation will also prohibit the sale of lead-containing non-residential paints and primers beginning 1 January 2011.

For its part, the California Senate passed a bill on 18 May (SB 757) that would prohibit the manufacture, sale or installation in California of wheel weights containing more than 0.1 percent lead and provide for administrative and civil penalties of up to US$2,500 per day for each violation. While this bill still needs to be approved by the California Assembly and signed by the governor to enter into force, the adoption of such a restriction by California would significantly raise the visibility of this issue and may persuade other states to adopt similar measures.

In fact, the issue has already caught the attention of the  Environmental Protection Agency, which launched a voluntary National Lead-Free Wheel Weight Initiative in August 2008 to persuade the private sector to phase in the use of lead-free alternative wheel weights and reduce the amount of lead released into the environment by 2011. In addition, the Ecology Center, the Sierra Club, the Center for Environmental Health and various other parties filed a petition with the EPA on 28 May requesting an outright ban on the manufacture, processing and distribution in commerce of lead-containing wheel weights pursuant to Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act. A similar petition was filed in May 2005 but the EPA rejected it about three months later.

In other state news, Vermont Governor Jim Douglas signed into law on 2 June legislation that will ban the use of decabromodiphenyl ether (deca-PBDEs) in certain consumer products. Under this legislation, Vermont will prohibit the sale or distribution of (1) all products containing penta- or octa-PBDEs, effective from 1 July 2010; (2) mattresses, mattress pads and upholstered furniture containing deca-PBDEs, effective from 1 July 2010 (except for inventory purchased prior to 1 July 2009); and (3) televisions or computers with a plastic housing containing deca-PBDEs, effective from 1 July 2012 (except for inventory purchased prior to 1 July 2009). These restrictions will not apply to the sale or resale of used products or to motor vehicles or parts for use on motor vehicles.

PBDEs have been used extensively as flame retardants in a range of household products, including electronics, upholstery and furniture. Penta- and octa-PBDEs are believed by many to be the most hazardous types of PBDEs, while deca-PBDEs are regarded as much less hazardous but are used more widely than either penta- or octa-PBDEs.