Banning Toxics From Brake Pads

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 4, 2009 at 5:00 AM PST

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

A San Diego legislator has introduced a bill to replace copper in brake pads. Copper and other material in the pads pollutes waterways and can harm marine life. KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce has

A San Diego legislator has introduced a bill to replace copper in brake pads. Copper and other material in the pads pollutes waterways and can harm marine life. KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

State Senator Christine Kehoe says her legislation would ban the use of copper, lead, mercury and asbestos in vehicle brake pads starting in 2023.

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Kehoe: Well every time you push on your brakes a little bit of brake dust goes down on the pavement. And that means that every time it rains some of that stuff is going to our storm drains and down to the beach.

Kehoe says the bill has a good chance of becoming law.

Kehoe: The Brake Manufacturers Council as well as the Sierra Club and other organizations support it. So there's already been a lot of discussion to try to come to a consensus that will work at least in the case of copper and brake pads.

She says the legislation is part of a continuing effort to reduce the toxic substances in various products used in California, from lead wheel weights to children's pajamas.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

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Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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