Trying to Scare Hunters Who Use Traditional Ammunition

An alarmist article written by Michael Glenn Easter at scienceline.org tries to scare hunters and others who enjoy eating venison by impying that game harvested with traditional ammunition is unsafe to eat. It is not.

The writer never contacted NSSF to get its position on the matter, yet he gives credence to a North Dakota dermatologist who two years ago unscientifically selected non-random sample packages of venison from food banks and "tested" them, saying they were contaminated with lead fragments. North Dakota health officials, who did not collect their own samples for study, then overreacted by ordering food banks to throw out tons of nutritious food. What the article  doesn't say is that the dermatologist's testing method was called into question, that he sits on the board of the Peregrine Fund, an organization whose stated agenda includes banning lead ammunition, and that the release of the dermatologist's "study" was timed to coincide with a Peregrine Fund conference aimed at advancing its agenda.

Eating game taken with traditional ammunition that contains lead-core components does not pose a health risk. A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bears this out. The CDC's study of North Dakota hunters found that their blood lead levels were lower than the average American's. Additionally, the Iowa Department of Public Health has said, "IDPH maintains that if lead in venison were a serious health risk, it would likely have surfaced within extensive blood lead testing since 1992 with 500,000 youth under 6 and 25,000 adults having been screened." It has not.

Here's the data from CDC's North Dakota study: The adult with the highest lead level (9.82 micrograms per deciliter of blood) was still below the CDC recommended threshold for that of a child (10 micrograms per deciliter of blood) and well below the CDC recommended threshold for an adult (25 micrograms per deciliter of blood). Consider too that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration doesn't even require removal of an employee from a job involving lead exposure until that employee's blood lead level reaches 60 micrograms per declilter of blood.

There is no evidence of a single case of human lead poisoning related to eating game taken with traditional ammunition, and no peer-reviewed scientic evidence exists as a reason to ban the use of such ammunition.

To allay any concerns about eating venison taken with traditional ammunition, hunters should point out the CDC study to other hunters, always with the reminder to properly field dress and butcher meat. Food pantries should be made aware of the CDC study as well, so that healthy, low-fat meat donated by hunters to feed the needy is not wasted out of unwarranted fear. To date, the North Dakota Department of Health encourages hunters to continue donating venison to local food banks as long as processing guidelines are adhered to. Food banks in nearly every other state willingly and gratefully accept venison from hunters, something they wouldn't do if it was unsafe.  

We expect less advocacy and more accurate and balanced reporting from a publication with the word "science" in its name.

Comments

[Rick Watson]

Aiming for accuracy, I offer these corrections to your blog:

1. The Peregrine Fund's stated agenda does not include banning lead ammunition. It does include providing scientifically substantiated facts to hunters so they can make informed choices.

2. Cornatzer's study, and several independent studies since then, have shown that venison is contaminated with lead fragments when traditional lead-based bullets are used to harvest the animal, and eating the venison can raise blood lead levels above 2 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood with every contaminated meal. Other studies show that lead accumulates in the body, stored in bone, and can be released again during lactation or in old age. Many other studies have shown that tiny amounts of lead in the blood are harmful (e.g., at 2 micrograms per deciliter), especially to the developing brains of babies and children, but also with health effects in adults.

3. The CDC's North Dakota study showed that game eaters had about 50% more lead in their blood than those who did not eat game, and the difference was statistically significant. The CDC has stated/published many times that there is no minimum safe level of lead in the blood, therefore it is reasonable to conclude that eating game harvested with lead ammunition is not good for your health.

4. The CDC's benchmark of 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood is a benchmark for intervention on behalf of a child (or 25 micrograms/deciliter in adults). Neither of these benchmarks are 'safe' levels of lead in blood, and they should not be portrayed as such.

[Rick Watson]

5. There are many peer-reviewed scientific papers showing that people are exposed to unhealthy levels of lead from eating game harvested with traditional lead ammunition, particularly from among subsistence communities where the problem was first identified.

6. North Dakota food banks will not feed game hunted with lead bullets to women or children because of its health risk, and they provide a warning to men about the risk of lead to their health.

7. Hunters and others who eat game should be given these facts to consider when choosing what kind of bullets or shot to use. About half the employees of The Peregrine Fund are avid hunters. Having seen the evidence, they all use lead-free solid copper bullets to prevent any possibility of contaminating either themselves or wildlife with toxic lead.

8. This issue is about lead, whose chemical properties make it toxic, and nothing else. Safe lead-free alternatives are available for hunters to use in most popular hunting calibers. Hunters deserve accurate facts on which to base their decisions.

[Michael Fry]

Here is a recent list of scientific publications on lead poisoning of families of subsistence hunters in Northern Canada.

Dallaire F., Dewailly E., Muckle G., Ayotte P. "Time trends of persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals in umbilical cord blood of Inuit infants born in Nunavik (Quebec, Canada) between 1994 and 2001." Environ Health Perspect. 2003 Oct;111(13):1660-4.

Dewailly E., Ayotte P., Bruneau S., Lebel G., Levallois P., Weber J.P.
"Exposure of the Inuit population of Nunavik (Arctic Quebec) to lead and mercury." Arch Environ Health. 2001 Jul-Aug;56(4):350-7.

Hanning R.M., Sandhu R., MacMillan A., Moss L., Tsuji L.J.S, Nieboer E.
"Impact on blood Pb levels of maternal and early infant feeding practices of First Nation Cree in the Mushkegowuk Territory of northern Ontario, Canada."
J Environ. Monit. 2003 Mar 12;5:241-245.

Kosatsky T., Przybysz R., Weber J.P., Kearney J. "Puzzling elevation of blood lead levels among consumers of freshwater sportfish." Arch Environ Health. 2001 Mar-Apr;56(2):111-6.

Lees, R. E., Scott, G. D., & Miles, C. G. (1988). Subacute lead poisoning from retained lead shot. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 138,(2), 130-131.

Levesque, B., Duchesne, J. F., Gariepy, C., Rhainds, M., Dumas, P., Scheuhammer, A. M. et al. (2003). Monitoring of umbilical cord blood lead levels and sources assessment among the Inuit. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 60,(9), 693-695.

Levesque, B., Duchesne, J. F., Gariepy, C., Rhainds, M., Dumas, P., Scheuhammer, A. M. et al. (2003). Monitoring of umbilical cord blood lead levels and sources assessment among the Inuit. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 60,(9), 693-695.

Muckle G., Ayotte P., Dewailly E., Jacobson S.W., Jacobson J.L. "Prenatal exposure of the northern Quebec Inuit infants to environmental contaminants." Environ Health Perspect. 2001 Dec;109(12):1291-9.

Pontifex, A. H. & Garg, A. K. (1985). Lead poisoning from an Asian Indian folk remedy. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 133,(12), 1227-1228.
Rhainds M., Levallois P., Dewailly E., Ayotte P. "Lead, mercury, and organochlorine compound levels in cord blood in Quebec, Canada." Arch Environ Health. 1999 Jan-Feb;54(1):40-7.

Tsuji, L. J. S., Nieboer, E., Karagatzides, J. D., & Kozlovic, D. R. (1997).
Elevated Dentine Lead Levels in Adult Teeth of First Nation People from an Isolated Region of Northern Ontario, Canada. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 59 854-860.

"Tsuji, LJS; Fletcher, GG; Nieboer, E (2002). Dissolution of Lead Pellets in Saliva: A Source of Lead Exposure in Children. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology [Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol.]. Vol. 68, no.
1, pp. 1-7.
"
Tsuji, L. J. S., Karagatzides, J. D., Hanning, R. M., Katapatuk, B., Young, J., & Nieboer, E. (2003). Dentine-Lead Levels and Dental Caries in First Nation Children from the Western James Bay Region of Northern Ontario, Canada. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 70 409-414.

Tsuji,L.J.S.; Wainman,B.C.; Martin,I.D.; Weber,J.P.; Sutherland,C.; Liberda,E.N.; & Nieboer,E. (2008). Elevated Blood-lead Levels in First Nation People of Northern Ontario Canada: Policy Implications. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 80 14-18.

Tsuji, L. J. S., Wainman, B. C., Jayasinghe, R. K., VanSpronsen, E. P., & Liberda, E. N. (2009). Determining Tissue-Lead Levels in Large Game Mammals Harvested with Lead Bullets: Human Health Concerns. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 82,(4), 435-439.

Michael Fry
Director of COnservation advocacy
American Bird Conservancy
Washington DC

[Carolyn Warren RN]

Amen Mr. Watson! As a nurse that has worked in the Lead program for 12 years, I have seen first hand the effects of the so-called
"safe" levels of lead in children. My husband is a hunter and we eat the game he brings home. He now uses non lead shot to avoid lead contamination to the food. My question to those that say that the exposure to lead is minimal would be, " If you were told that a child could have 1/2 a teaspoon of arsenic and not have severe illness, would you go ahead and give it to them?" ANY amount of lead is dangerous for a child! If there is an alternative, why should you not use it? But maybe I need to let you know what lead can do to you... Lead, even low levels can cause low sperm count, high blood pressure, kidney damage and heart damage to name a few problems. When an adults lead level gets to 60 ug/dl that you mentioned, he would have symptoms including numbness and tingling in the extremities, mental confusion and forgetfulness, irritability, nausea, and headache. The levels used by OSHA are old and out of date with the new information available and need to be updated and lowered. So please educate yourself, Hunt and enjoy, just do it in a smart way.