For decades, wheel weights have largely consisted of chunks of lead clamped to the wheel rim. Lead has traditionally been used to make wheel weights because it is cheap and heavy, allowing the use of relatively small weights to balance wheels. However, the highly toxic metal can cause brain damage and other nervous-system disorders in people.
Each year an estimated 50,000 tons of lead are used globally to manufacture wheel weights. Approximately 1.6 million tons of those weights fall from vehicles during normal driving in the US alone. (Source: Lead Free Wheels, a project of the Ecology Center) Banned by the European Union in 2005, lead weights are being phased out in Japan and South Korea, and now the trend is sweeping across the U.S. <
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