The legislature finds that:

(1) Environmental health hazards associated with lead wheel weights are a preventable problem. People are exposed to lead fragments and dust when lead wheel weights fall from motor vehicles onto Washington roadways and are then abraded and pulverized by traffic. Lead wheel weights on and alongside roadways can contribute to soil, surface, and groundwater contamination and pose hazards to downstream aquatic life.

(2) Lead negatively affects every bodily system. While it is injurious to people of all ages, lead is especially harmful to fetuses, children, and adults of childbearing age. Effects of lead on a child’s cognitive, behavioral, and developmental abilities may necessitate large expenditures of public funds for health care and special education. Irreversible damage to children and subsequent expenditures could be avoided if exposure to lead is reduced.

(3) There are no federal regulatory controls governing use of lead wheel weights. The legislature recognizes the state’s need to protect the public from exposure to lead hazards.