In 2010, Washington and California passed a law that would require brake pads sold after 2021 to contain less than 5 percent by weight copper. Both laws have provisions that prohibit the use of asbestos and other toxic substances in the pads from 1 January 2015.
The laws will also affect the automakers and brake manufacturers that could still produce and sell brake pads containing asbestos. The provisions of this kind to prohibit the sale of asbestos in brake pads will reduce exposure to asbestos in auto mechanics and other similar professions, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.
While California and Washington are the first states to implement these laws on asbestos in brake pads, it is not practical for automakers to have a type of brake pads for vehicles in two states and another type for vehicles in other states. Therefore, the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association provides both laws provide guidelines for the national industry standards for brake pads in North America in the coming years.
Copper is a major source of water pollution. Because the brake pads are a friction material, they release tiny copper substance filled on the roads every time a driver uses the vehicle's brakes. Copper on the roads can get into waterways, such as rivers and ponds, where it can harm marine life, such as salmon.
According to the Washington Department of Ecology, 21 percent of the copper deposited in Puget Sound each year is the result of the use of brake between vehicles.
"You think of all this traffic, every day on the road, braking and going," said Curt Hart, spokesman for the Washington Department of Ecology, in a Fox News article . "All this in total starts to really make a difference."
By adopting the law Better Brakes, Washington became the first state in the nation to phase out the use of copper, asbestos and other harmful toxins in brake pads.
