When and why did TIP begin supporting research into TRWP and their potential health and environmental impact?
We began working on tire particles in 2005 – the same year that TIP was founded – to help answer questions that TIP members were asking about the fate and potential human health and environmental impacts of the particles generated as tires move over road surfaces.
There were no existing data to help answer these questions, so we established a TRWP working group to study the potential human health and environmental impacts of tire particles.
We soon realized that a significant and coordinated investment of resources would be required to help answer these questions. WBCSD tire manufacturing members’ CEOs agreed that as a non-competitive topic, TIP should lead industry efforts to fill knowledge gaps on tire particles.
Toward an improved understanding of the potential hazards and exposure scenarios relevant to TRWP, initial studies focused on identifying and quantifying TRWP in the environment and delivering human health and environmental risk assessments. These first studies examined toxicity and exposure relevant to the airborne environment, and soils and freshwater sediments.
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