This article originally ran at Environmental Health News, a news source published by Environmental Health Sciences, a nonprofit media company.
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Tests by the CDC show that eating venison and other game can raise the amounts of lead in human bodies by 50 percent
This article originally ran at Environmental Health News, a news source published by Environmental Health Sciences, a nonprofit media company.
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16 Comments
Add CommentThe primary reason lead shot was banned for waterfowl hunting was not because of the ingestion of lead in dead waterfowl by birds of prey, e.g. eagles, which would be a relatively rare occurence. Instead, lead shot, when used in waterfowl hunting, is widely dispersed in the environment on the bottom of marshes and other similar shallow waters and was commonly picked up by feeding ducks and geese with a consequent suprsingly high mortality rate
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe price issue with non lead projectiles is silly at best. The cost of actual hunting ammo would be minimal if "practice " ammo of the cheaper lead types were allowed to remain in production. Hunters would pay the additional cost for lead free ammo gladly to avoid the lead in their taken game. Hunters aren't stupid folk for the most part and they would understand the hunting non lead ammo use.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe cost of actual hunting ammo would be very, very small for all hunters. We shoot very few rounds at game in the field annually. The vast majority of ammo is shoot in practice situations.
Developing projectiles without lead content would be easy and possibly superior to leads properties.
While no one wants to increase the amount of lead in our bodies or in the environment, I can't help wondering whocether these minuscule amounts of lead even matter when compared to the pollution (growth hormones, pesticides, dyes) in farm raised non-organic animals. Eating organic foods, primarily vegetation with occasional use of meat has served my family well for the last 30+ years.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe State of Minnesota conducted research in this area last year. Results can be found at http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/lead/index.html
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile the study is not intended to be exhaustive, the data collected is useful for hunters trying to decide what type of ammunition to hunt with.
Several questions to consider:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDo lower velocity bullets (30-30 type & muzzle loaders) release as much or any lead?
Does a particular type of bullet release less lead, copper jacketed hollow point, vs soft point, etc?
Lead birdshot in doves would be a much, much larger problem, any data on this??
Is the lead disbursed during the entry and fragmentation, or through blood circulation immediately afterward.
Does bonestrike by the bullet contribute to dispursment?
For years we borrowed from our children's futures by not having strong environmental laws so we could make stuff cheaply and have a higher standard of living after WWII. This is the same issue with lead shot. Throwing tons of shot onto our corn, maize, sorghum, or any seed field when hunting doves (or any other) is crazy at best. If we don't demand a change, people who don't understand our sport will do it for us. Lead is a great ammo for clays, but it needs to be kept out of our fields at least for bird shot. Copper jacketed bullets are designed to expand and this is the reason we have this issue, but I can't believe the amount of lead from big game is even close to the amount in birds, so the study above may have some flaws. All of this is ludicrous as the government allows millions of tons of mercury (far more toxic) into the atmosphere and therefore the oceans from coal burning plants.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are other sources of lead in the environment besides that originating from hunter's bullets. The article did not mention if wild game that had not been shot had been tested and the lead levels compared.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRegarding using lead only in practice ammo and not in that used to take the game, it would likely be difficult to match the bullet dimensions and weight between the two, obviously affecting ballistics. Consequently, you would have to practice a some with the bullets used for game so you can predict the bullets trajectory in the field.
The commenter above nailed the heart of the issue: the TONNAGE of mercury and other toxics emitted by coalburning power plants.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs an avid hunter, I only shoot what I'm going to eat, which is often whitetail. I've always prided myself on the fact that I knew where my meat was coming from, hence fewer hormones, etc. than store-bought meat, so this article is concerning. BUT I am curious as to several points in this article, the first being terminology. Was the hunter using a rifle or a shotgun: "The deer had been shot in the chest with a high-powered rifle... the deers entire carcass was riddled with dozens of tiny lead-shot fragments." When using a rifle, you would use a single, solid projectile, not "lead shot," as you would with a shotgun and buckshot. I'd also like to echo 'Lownes' call for more information on bullet type, etc. What about shot placement, range, and caliber? I shoot in the head or heart/lungs without exception and with my .257 Roberts, I almost always have an exit. I think specificity is needed before scaring hunters and recipients of game meat from consuming it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs an avid hunter, I only shoot what I'm going to eat, which is often whitetail. I've always prided myself on the fact that I knew where my meat was coming from, hence fewer hormones, etc. than store-bought meat, so this article is concerning. BUT I am curious as to several points in this article. Was the hunter using a rifle or a shotgun? "The deer had been shot in the chest with a high-powered rifle... the deer’s entire carcass was riddled with dozens of tiny lead-shot fragments." When using a rifle, you would use a single, solid projectile, not "lead shot," as you would with a shotgun and buckshot. I'd also like to echo 'Lownes' call for more information on bullet type, etc. What about shot placement, range, and caliber? I shoot in the head or heart/lungs without exception and with my .257 Roberts, I almost always have an exit. I think specificity is needed before scaring hunters and recipients of game meat from consuming it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFortunately, lead rifle bullets are increasingly being replaced by better performing alternatives, i.e. Barnes Solids, which are copper/zinc. These bullets appeared on the free market without a regulatory requirement, and have gained favor owing to their superior characteristics. Lead free bullets may or may not be designed to expand. Expansion is in general an over rated property; witness the acknowledged lethality of military ammunition which must not be made with expanding projectiles, per the Geneva Conventions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisShot is another matter. It has been illegal to waterfowl hunt with lead since 1991. Again, nontoxic shot such as bismuth, tungsten iron, etc have been introduced. Unlike the case of lead free bullets, the nontoxic shot was developed only after a regulatory incentive. Among the many varieties on the market today some enjoy substantially better ballistics than lead; others are poor substitutes. All the good substitutes are much more expensive than lead, but this is of no importance in the overall economics of an already expensive leisure activity.
Regarding paragraph two and the "lead-shot fragments" - this is just another example of a copy editor thinking that "shot" and "bullet" are equivalent words. You know, like "football" and "ping-pong ball" are. That said, even well designed expanding bullets often splinter extensively after striking bone, and those tiny chips can wind up a long way from the entry point.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTodays hysteria is: Eliminate lead bullets in the million to one chance that someone might end up with a slighlty elevated lead level. Is there any evidence that hunters and their families have evidence of lead poisioning? Maybe we should eliminate television because it causes a much higher rate of sedentary behaviour, which s a much higher health risk.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisClaiming that mercury is worse problem than lead is a red herring and false dichotomy: both are bad and together they are worse than their sum. Toxins multiply their effects when used together, both heavy metals and other toxins like phthalates. It's not an either/or issue (we need to eliminate either mercury or lead), it's a both/and issue (we need to eliminate both mercury and lead), and they all need to be addressed now.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf the house is flooding and filling with poison gas you don't waste time arguing about which is more dangerous, you do everything you can to deal with both and reducing either one is a good thing.
Sadly, calling this "hysteria" is a common reaction of people who don't understand (or are selfish and think they are somehow immune to) the persistent and systemic effects of these toxins. In our earlier flooding gassed house example, these people would be locking themselves in the upstairs bathroom and declaring that there's no problem because they have a shower and can open the window.
Is it really "hysterical" for someone to be alarmed that they are slowly being poisoned by the short-sightedness and arrogance of others?
You are right in pointing out the ambiguity in using the words "lead-shot fragments". I think what the author was trying to point out was that the fragments resulted from a lead-core bullet being "shot" with a rifle, not that a shot gun was used to shot "lead shot".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAt any rate, there is a lot of information out there that shows how much ALL centerfire, expanding lead-core bullets fragment when they hit an animal at more than twice the speed of sound.
In particular:
Do lower velocity bullets (30-30 type & muzzle loaders) release as much or any lead? Answer: The much lower velocities of muzzle loaders results in much less fragmentation.
Does a particular type of bullet release less lead, copper jacketed hollow point, vs soft point, etc?
Answer: Typical weight retention of lead-core bullets after being fired into ballistic gelatin varies from 70% to 90%, with soft point being the worst and bonded-core lead bullets being the best. That means that using a 150 grain (~10 grams) lead bullet will result in between 1 to 3 grams of highly powderized lead dust and fragments being dispursed throughout the wound channel. Some of the fragments travel as far as 18" away from the bullet's path.
The problem for any wildlife scavenger (or human for that matter) is when these lead fragments are inadvertently ingested with the rest of the meal. Taking the info from above, there is the potential for GRAMS of tiny lead pieces to be swallowed and pass into the very acidic digestive system, where the lead is leached from the fragments and passed into the bloodstream in short order (the lead must be exposed to acidic conditions to be leached). If the fragment is not passed quickly from the digestive system, the leaching process continues raising blood lead levels higher.
Here are some links that have more details:
http://www.peregrinefund.org/lead_conference/2008PbConf_Proceedings.htm
http://www.nps.gov/pinn/naturescience/condor_video.htm
http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/california_condor_lead.shtml
Lead birdshot in doves would be a much, much larger problem, any data on this??
Answer: A little (see link of confernece proceedings above). Missouri is taking the charge on better understanding this lead pathway.
Is the lead disbursed during the entry and fragmentation, or through blood circulation immediately afterward.
Answer: See answer above
Does bonestrike by the bullet contribute to dispursment?
Answer: Yes, when a lead bullet hits bone, it will fragment much more than hitting just flesh. The weight retention figures above are just for
Does bonestrike by the bullet contribute to dispursment?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnswer: Yes, when a lead bullet hits bone, it will fragment much more than hitting just flesh. The weight retention figures mentioned in the above reply are for bullets that hit ballistic gelatin, which is formulated to mimic soft tissue. If a lead-core bullet hits thick bone, the bullet often disintegrates much more into lead dust and fragments, with weight retention dropping to less than 50% of original values.