Lead in Venison FAQ
|
|
| Q: When did health concerns over lead in venison surface? A: Health concerns over lead in venison were virtually nonexistent until March 2008 when Dr. William Cornatzer, a Bismarck dermatologist and board member of the Peregrine Fund, informed the North Dakota Department of Health that he’d tested 95 one-pound samples of ground venison donated through state food pantries and found lead fragments in 53 of them. At Cornatzer’s announcement, North Dakota and Minnesota actually disposed of thousands of pounds of venison destined for needy families. Iowa delayed distribution until it could do its own testing, then resumed distribution. Cornatzer was on the board of directors for the Peregrine Fund, a group that had supported the ban on lead ammunition in California’s condor range. Cornatzer’s announcement was timed just weeks before the Peregrine Fund was set to hold a conference in May, entitled, “Ingestion of Spent Lead Ammunition: Implications for Wildlife and Humans.” Many felt the timing of his announcement was a deliberate attempt to draw attention to the conference.
|
| Q: Do people become ill from eating venison taken with lead ammunition? A: Hunters have eaten venison taken with lead bullets for hundreds of years. Yet there is not one documented case of lead poisoning from eating deer meat. Doctors are required to report all cases of lead poisoning to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), yet according to CDC public health advisor Kimball Credle, no cases have ever been traced to wild game meat.
|
| Q: What studies have been conducted on lead levels in humans caused by eating venison? A: At the request of the North Dakota Department of Health, the CDC tested blood lead levels in 738 residents of that state. Results were released in November 2008, and not one individual tested had levels considered elevated. According to the CDC, blood levels are considered “elevated” in children when they are above 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood; and in adults 25 micrograms per deciliter. The highest level in the whole CDC test was 9.8 micrograms per deciliter. The geometric mean of the CDC study of 1.17 micrograms per deciliter was lower than the geometric mean of lead in the overall U.S. population (1.60 micrograms per deciliter). More than 86 percent of the people in the CDC test reported eating more than one type of wild game. The lead levels of children under 6, those who the Minnesota Department of Health deems "the most at risk," had a mean of just 0.88 micrograms per deciliter of blood. That’s just one part per billion and less than half the national average.
|
| Q: Has anyone other than the CDC conducted tests on blood lead levels in humans? A: The Iowa State Department of Health has tested blood-lead levels since 1992, in 500,000 youths and 25,000 adults. They have not found one single case of lead poisoning from wild game.
|
| Q: Why did Minnesota X-ray all the meat donated for its venison distribution program? A: In 2008, Minnesota hunters donated about 25,000 pounds of deer meat for the state’s food sharing programs. Random testing of that meat conducted by the state’s Department of Agriculture found that 5.3 percent of the meat contained “lead fragments.” So even though 95 percent of the meat tested contained no lead, the state made a decision to round up all 25,000 pounds of the meat, ship it to the Twin Cities, and X-ray every bit of it before they distributed it to any food banks or get it to people who are hungry.
There are several problems with this decision:
• It cost the taxpayer about $6,000 to have the meat tested by an outside contractor. Not a huge amount, but certainly an unnecessary expense.
• It caused an unnecessary delay getting the meat to the families who needed it.
• It contributes to increased calls for restrictions or bans on lead ammunition. The Humane Society of the United States has called for a total ban on lead ammunition, and they are the most radical anti-hunting group in the country. A ban on lead ammunition would force hunters to buy alternatives (such as copper) which tend to be much harder to find, and ultimately cause some people to actually drop out of hunting.
• Non-lead ammunition is more expensive than lead. In one online example, we found Winchester .270 130-gr. lead bullets selling for $18.99 for 20; a similar copper load—Federal’s all-copper Triple Shock Barnes 130-gr. bullet—sells for $44.99.
• Finally, this inconsequential random testing led Minnesota state officials to consider eliminating their venison donation program. That has two consequences: fewer hungry families will receive the lean, high-protein meals they’ve been getting, and fewer deer will be taken throughout the state. One of the things a venison donation program does is allow hunters to legally harvest more deer than they might be able to fit in their own freezer. Ultimately, this can have a bad affect on a state’s deer management.
• The testing decision also raises the question: Since CDC is the leading authority on public health issues, why is a state government agency ignoring it?
• While no nationwide figures are available, state Hunters for the Hungry programs generate tons of lean, nutritious deer to hungry American families. Wisconsin alone in 2007 collected 414,000 pounds, and Iowa collected 326,650 pounds the same year.
|
| Q: Are other states eliminating Hunters for the Hungry programs because of lead issues? A: No. Despite knee-jerk reactions over lead in venison by a few states, virtually all state DNRs publicly called on hunters to continue donating venison to Hunters for the Hungry programs.
|
| Q: Has anyone actually called for a ban on lead ammunition, based on human health or other concerns? A: Yes. Unfounded fears over lead bullet fragmentation, or ingestion by certain birds, have caused some to call for a ban on the use of lead ammunition. For example: In 2007, California totally banned the use of lead ammunition for big game hunting throughout condor habitat in the state, and that prohibition took effect on July 1, 2008. In February 2009, the state Fish and Game Commission began considering a statewide ban on the use of lead ammunition. The commission also considered a ban on lead ammunition for small game and upland bird hunting in the state's condor zone but opted against that proposal by a 4-1 vote on Aug. 6, 2009. California has pushed for these additional lead bans even though data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) shows that the state's existing lead ban has not reduced blood-lead levels in condors. Despite reports of nearly 100 percent compliance from hunters in the first year of the lead ban, a California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) report utilizing the USFWS data showed that improvement in condor blood-lead levels was almost negligible between the first six months of 2008 (pre-lead ban) and the second half of 2008 (post-ban). During the January through June 2008 time frame, 59 percent of the condors tested had blood-lead levels above what is considered a normal or acceptable background level. In the second half of the year from July through December, 45 percent of condors had blood-lead levels above normal. (Source: "Lead Ban Not Really Helping Condors," Jim Matthews, San Bernardino Sun, July 30, 2009) In Washington State, SB 5095 would authorize the Fish and Game Commission to ban the use of lead for hunting anywhere in the state the Commission deems necessary. (Read an NRA-ILA alert on this issue by clicking here. The Washington State Dept. of Ecology has also issued a Lead Chemical Action Plan that paves the way to a lead ammunition ban. (NRA has submitted comments on that plan calling for the entire section on lead ammunition to be deleted.) The Humane Society of the United States has called for a complete ban on all lead ammunition. Minnesota State Representative Sandy Masin has announced her intent to introduce a ban or significant restrictions on lead ammunition. In a Draft Position Statement, The Wildlife Society advocates the replacement of lead-based ammunition and fishing tackle use and production with non-lead products. North Dakota’s Sportsmen Against Hunger Program began accepting only deer killed with arrows in 2008, but in July 2009 the program announced that it would resume accepting deer taken by hunters with traditional lead ammunition for the 2009-2010 hunting season. (Source: Grand Forks Herald, July 30, 2009) In the spring of 2008 the Peregrine Fund hosted a symposium entitled, "Ingestion of Spent Lead Ammunition: Implications for Wildlife and Humans." Most of the speakers present advocated a ban on lead ammunition. In January 2009, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit, alleging that the Bureau of Land Management and the US Fish and Wildlife Service had violated the Endangered Species Act by allowing hunters to use lead ammunition in areas of Arizona where condors feed. In January 2010, NRA won the right to intervene in the lawsuit. In March 2009, the National Park Service (NPS) announced its intention to ban lead on properties it manages: "Our goal is to eliminate the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle in parks by 2010," said Acting Park Service Director Dan Wenk. (NPS made this decision without seeking public comment.) After heavy criticism from NRA and other hunting groups, the Park Service later said the ban would only apply to its employees and authorized agents, while leaving open the possibility of banning lead ammunition and fishing tackle by the general public on a park-by-park basis. On Aug. 6, 2009, officials of Grand Teton National Park and National Elk Refuge issued an announcement asking hunters to voluntarily switch to non-lead ammunition for the 2009 elk and bison seasons. In August 2009, the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife announced that it is requiring hunters to use non-lead shot when dove hunting on state wildlife areas for the 2009-2010 mourning dove season during the month of September, although the ban does not apply to dove hunters on private land. On Oct. 14, 2009, as part of NRA’s continuing efforts to protect hunters from special interest groups seeking to eliminate the use of ammunition containing lead projectiles, attorneys for NRA filed paperwork in the United States District Court in Arizona, asking the Court to allow NRA to intervene and join in the lawsuit Center for Biological Diversity v. United States Bureau of Land Management et al (3:09-cv-08011-PCT-PGR). The lawsuit, filed January 27, 2009 by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), alleges that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (BLM, FWS) are illegally mismanaging federal lands in Arizona because those agencies failed to consider the potential impact on local wildlife resulting from authorizing activities like off-road vehicle use and allowing livestock grazing. CBD’s lawsuit also claims that California condors in Arizona are becoming ill or dying as a result of eating lead in scavenged game shot by hunters using lead shot or bullets, and that BLM and FWS are violating the Endangered Species Act by allowing hunters to use of lead shot and bullets while hunting. In January 2010 the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks tentatively proposed banning lead shot for upland bird hunting on the state's 72 wildlife management areas. The department offered no justification for the ban, and indeed, FWP spokesman Ron Aasheim told the Billings Gazette, "There are no biological reasons to ban lead shot on the areas, but people simply may not like it." The ban was voted down in February, by a margn of just one vote. Utah’s 2010 Big Game regulations (page 35) call for a voluntary, lead-free ammunition program. Citing alleged concerns about condors consuming lead fragments from gut piles left by hunters, the Utah Division of Wildlife and Utah Wildlife in Need joined together to offer coupons for one free box of lead-free ammunition for deer and elk hunters in certain parts of southwestern Utah. In August 2010 the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) announced a campaign to ban the use of lead in hunting ammunition and fishing tackle. CBD and other groups filed a petition with EPA calling for such a ban under the Toxic Substances Control Act--and did not limit it to "hunting ammunition." The petition asks to "ban the manufacture, processing, and distribution in commerce of lead shot, bullets, and fishing sinkers." Responding in an NRA-ILA press release, ILA Executive Director Chris Cox said, "These extremist groups are trying to ban bullets under a Federal law that specifically doesn't apply to ammunition." Read the full press release on the issue here.
|
| Q: What are the consequences of a ban on lead ammunition? A: Restrictions or bans on the use of lead ammunition may ultimately drive people out of hunting. Non-lead ammunition can cost double what lead ammunition costs, and availability is much more limited. Reducing the number of hunters reduces the income generated by the sale of hunting licenses (the major source of funding for game and fish departments), has a negative impact on wildlife management, and imposes economic losses on hunting-related businesses. In Minnesota alone in 2006, hunting-related retail sales totaled $637,270,173. Minnesota hunters also generated $75,882,194 in state taxes, plus $86,158,974 in federal tax revenues. In 2008, the first hunting season after California imposed a ban on lead ammunition in the state’s condor range, hunting license sales fell significantly after three years of steady gains. In the affected regions, the number of deer hunters dropped nearly 5 percent and hog hunters dropped 15 percent—costing the California Department of Fish and Game more than $200,000 in lost tag fees alone. (Source: "Ammo Rule Has Massive Impact," Jim Matthews, San Bernardino Sun, March 13, 2009 (http://www.sbsun.com/sports/ci_11903720)
Contributions to food banks will also suffer. For example, donations to Minnesota’s food bank program fell off dramatically. Hunters donated 2,000 deer in 2007, compared to 675 in 2008. Although no decision has been reached yet, Minnesota state officials are considering terminating the venison donation program, which would deprive thousands of needy families of lean, protein-rich meals, not to mention make it more difficult for the state to reach its deer management objectives.
|
| Q: What guidelines should I follow when handling or processing deer? A: There are common sense guidelines anyone can follow:
• Cut away all shot-damaged meat.
• Cut away a generous portion of meat around the wound channel.
• Don’t attempt to wash away lead fragments—it may just spread them more.
• Studies show that ground venison may contain more lead fragments than whole cuts of meat.
• Wash hands, face and clothing after shooting or reloading ammunition.
• Pregnant women and children under six have been cautioned not to ingest any lead at all for years. Avoid cooking venison in acidic sauces (wine, vinegar, lemon). |