https://phys.org/news/2022-08-...ullets-big-game.html


AUGUST 24, 2022

New research on the risks of lead exposure from bullets used in big game hunting

by Greg Basky, Canadian Light Source


The lead in some bullets used for hunting deer, moose, and elk is toxic to the humans who eat the harvested meat and to scavenger animals that feast on remains left in the field.


A team of researchers from the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) and the College of Medicine at USask has for the first time used synchrotron imaging to study both the size and spread of bullet fragments in big game shot by hunters. Their findings were published today in PLOS ONE.

Like a scene right out of the hit television series CSI, the research team fired bullets into blocks of ballistic gelatin—the same material used by law enforcement agencies for ballistic testing—and examined the resulting fragments using synchrotron imaging.

The BMIT beamline at the CLS enabled them to distinguish lead fragments from other materials used in bullets and bone fragments. To better simulate hunting, the team encased deer bone within the ballistic gelatin (which is a similar density to flesh).

Dr. Adam Leontowich, CLS Associate Scientist and lead author on the study, said the team found the lead fragments were significantly smaller than regular medical X-ray imaging has previously shown, and considerably more widely dispersed.


"I wasn't surprised that bullets can produce hundreds of lead fragments," said Leontowich, who is a hunter himself. "But I was surprised to see that the fragments can go down to the size of a single human blood cell."

To date, researchers studying this issue have relied on medical radiography, which cannot distinguish lead from other materials used in ammunition or accurately measure fragments that small.

The researchers hope their findings will convince big game hunters to switch to bullets made of non-toxic materials such as copper and to save the lead bullets for target practice.

Some countries like Sweden and Denmark, as well as the state of California, have banned lead rifle ammunition for hunting. In Canada, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island included warnings about the health and environmental risks of lead bullets in their 2021–22 hunting regulation handbooks.

"There are other forms of rifle ammunition on the market made of non-toxic materials like copper that work just as well," said Leontowich. "You don't have to buy a new rifle to use them. And you can enjoy that moose steak or elk burger and not have to worry about ingesting lead fragments or about the fragments spreading into the environment."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL2XyorDFCo


Link to research video.

Has there ever been any proof that eating the meat of a big game animal has caused illness in a human being?
Just asking for a friend.

Remember early head injuries when learning to walk and eating game taken with lead bullets is what keeps us normal

Just more anti hunting propaganda.

Coming from the anti gun capitol of the world Canada
like has been said another manipulation tool
the dreaded Galena

We used to fill our moths with lead pellets, most of the day!

It’s the same nonsense as CWD. We are sure it hurts you if you eat wild meat. We just haven’t seen a definitive case yet.

I can understand the "presumed link" between lead ammo and consumed meat. But other than buzzards, I can't think of many other animals whose diet might consist of a large portion of dead animals. And of those dead animals, what portion were shot?

You eat enough squirrels or doves shot with a shotgun and you will bite or ingest lead pellets! I am sure 7 1/2 shot is not as bad a "cell" size pieces! I usually cut off all the blood shot meat around the bullet hole on my deer! Automobiles are harder on vultures around here than lead and we kill more deer in Texas than most states have resident populations. More anti garbage!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
"There are other forms of rifle ammunition on the market made of non-toxic materials like copper that work just as well," said Leontowich. "You don't have to buy a new rifle to use them. And you can enjoy that moose steak or elk burger and not have to worry about ingesting lead fragments or about the fragments spreading into the environment."

Not for rimfire yet...the offerings so far don't group well.

quote:

Originally posted by white eagle:
Coming from the anti gun capitol of the world Canada
like has been said another manipulation tool
the dreaded Galena

Damn...and here I thought it was California! No doubt we are under attack by the anti-gun Liberal government but we still haven't gone as far as Australia, New Zealand or the UK...but we are getting there. Fingers crossed for a Conservative Gov't next time to at least slow things down.

I bit into some lead fragment once chewing a piece of deer streak. It was unpleasant, I spit it out, I lived.

The issue is that metallic lead isn’t very absorbable by people.

There hasn’t been a good research paper correlating game taken with lead leading to elevated lead levels in humans.

Shooting (with primer exposure) does expose you to lead styphanate (organic compound) which can cause problems, as can vaporized lead.

Most lead exposure for people is via industrial exposure or old paint pigments.

Condors in CA? Most likely from dusting themselves in the residual lead vapors from old leaded gasoline…

Birds apparently can turn metallic lead into organic compounds in their gizzards and are able to absorb some.

Face it, lots of folks have bullets/pellets in them. Every one of them would have lead poisoning, thus requiring removal of all lead fragments, if metallic lead caused lead poisoning.

Lead fragments would be logical to find in game taken with it- a high speed impact with fragmentation is reasonable. The problem is that they have to link it with disease to prove their point.

Copper or tungsten exposures at high levels aren’t safe either…

The edible big game I shoot is always (save and except mistakes) shot in the torso (ribs). I discard the small amount of meat around the entrance and exit -- and usually the entire ribcage. Lead fragments would only be found otherwise in the organ meat, which I don't use. So, unless I shoot a deer in the ass, the exposure of anyone who eats something I've shot is so small as to be discounted entirely.

Now, if you shoot a deer through both shoulders with a frangible bullet and insist on salvaging all of the shoulder meat, you might have some limited exposure to ingesting enough lead to have a deleterious effect, that is, if you eat nothing but deer shoulder for every meal.

I don't think the researchers are anti-hunting; they just aren't factoring for real-world circumstances.

The study doesn't consider that most modern ammo is copper clad and the somewhat recent advent of monolithic non-lead bullets discounts those findings. Even shotgun shells are now mostly lead free. 22s are perhaps the only prolific true lead projectiles in wide use these days.

As a youngster I remember Dad saying spit out the pellets while eating mallards. Later on in life I fed my family venison taken with 150 grain Silver Tips. Thinking we are more or less normal.

Several years ago I took my kids to the Animal Safari in Escondito Ca. They had a special display attacking lead bullets at the California Condor exibit. As a hunter it pissed me off, that I paid an entrance fee to have that propaganda crammed down my throat. That's what I get for doing a vacation in Loony California I guess. I use lead jacked bullets exclusively. I have zero interest in monolithics. Screw the Enviro-Nazis and their politically motivated junk science.

quote:

We used to fill our moths with lead pellets, most of the day!

That and most of us were exposed to lead paint, lead water pipes, lead fishing weights and split shot, toys, tools, implements, and sports equipment with some lead in them, and the list goes on and on. We ate wild game taken with lead bullets and lead shot nearly every day. I somehow survived and became a successful attorney practicing for 40 years, raising 5 children, with me suffering no apparent mental or physical effects/defects, nor any of my siblings, friends or parents. On the other hand. . . . . I can hear the comments coming. . . . .

It's an interesting study. I, too, am surprised that lead fragments can be as small as a blood cell, but I guess I shouldn't be.
The more important question is what portion of lead inadvertently consumed from game meat is actually absorbed and retained by the body. This would be a more useful measure of health risk.

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem...%20in%20the%20feces).

https://www.verywellhealth.com...g-is-treated-4160802

Interesting article from the UK

https://countrysquire.co.uk/20.../lead-into-darkness/