For Immediate Release, August 3, 2010


Contact: Robert Johns, American Bird Conservancy, (202) 234-7181 x 210

Jeff Miller, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 499-9185


National Ban on Lead-based Ammunition, Fishing Tackle Sought to End Wildlife Poisoning

Lead Still a Potent Killer of Millions of Wild Birds, Health Risk for Humans


Media Advisory:

What: Audio Press Conference

When: August 3, 1:00 EST

Who: American Bird Conservancy and Center for Biological

Diversity

How: Call 866-551-3680 followed by PIN 7675702#



WASHINGTON, D.C.— A coalition of conservation, hunting and veterinary groups today filed a formal petition with the Environmental Protection Agency requesting a ban on the use of toxic lead in hunting ammunition and fishing tackle. Major efforts to reduce lead exposure to people have greatly reduced the amount of lead in the environment, but toxic lead is still a widespread killer in the wild, harming bald eagles, trumpeter swans, endangered California condors and other wildlife.

“It’s long past time do something about this deadly – and preventable – epidemic of lead poisoning in the wild,” said Jeff Miller of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Over the past several decades we’ve wisely taken steps to get lead out of our gasoline, paint, water pipes and other sources that are dangerous to people. Now it’s time to get the lead out of hunting and fishing sports to save wildlife from needless poisoning.”

An estimated 10 million to 20 million birds and other animals die each year from lead poisoning in the United States. This occurs when animals scavenge on carcasses shot and contaminated with lead bullet fragments, or pick up and eat spent lead-shot pellets or lost fishing weights, mistaking them for food or grit. Some animals die a painful death from lead poisoning while others suffer for years from its debilitating effects.

“The science on this issue is massive in breadth and unimpeachable in its integrity,” said George Fenwick, president of American Bird Conservancy. “Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies show continued lead poisoning of large numbers of birds and other animals, and this petition is a prudent step to safeguard wildlife and reduce unacceptable human health risks.”

American Bird Conservancy, Center for Biological Diversity, Association of Avian Veterinarians, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and the hunters’ group Project Gutpile are asking for the ban under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which regulates dangerous chemicals in the United States.

"As a hunter in California, compliance with the recent state nonlead ammunition regulation has been simple," said Anthony Prieto, a hunter and co-founder of Project Gutpile, a hunter's group that provides educational resources for lead-free hunters and anglers. "I still get to hunt, there is no toxic impact on wildlife or my health, and copper bullets shoot better."

The petition references almost 500 scientific studies, most of which have been peer-reviewed, that starkly illustrate the widespread dangers from lead ammunition and fishing tackle. Lead is an extremely toxic substance that is dangerous to people and wildlife even at low levels. Exposure can cause a range of health effects, from acute poisoning and death to long-term problems such as reduced reproduction, inhibition of growth and damage to neurological development. In the United States, 3,000 tons of lead are shot into the environment by hunting every year, another 80,000 tons are released at shooting ranges, and 4,000 tons are lost in ponds and streams as fishing lures and sinkers. At least 75 wild bird species are poisoned by spent lead ammunition, including bald eagles, golden eagles, ravens and endangered California condors. Despite being banned in 1992 for hunting waterfowl, spent lead shotgun pellets continue to be frequently ingested by swans, cranes, ducks, geese, loons and other waterfowl. These birds also consume lead-based fishing tackle lost in lakes and rivers, often with deadly consequences.

Lead ammunition also poses health risks to people. Lead bullets explode and fragment into minute particles in shot game and can spread throughout meat that humans eat. Studies using radiographs show that numerous, imperceptible, dust-sized particles of lead can infect meat up to a foot and a half away from the bullet wound, causing a greater health risk to humans who consume lead-shot game than previously thought. A recent study found that up to 87 percent of cooked game killed by lead ammunition can contain unsafe levels of lead. State health agencies have had to recall venison donated to feed the hungry because of lead contamination from lead bullet fragments. Nearly 10 million hunters, their families and low-income beneficiaries of venison donations may be at risk.

For more information, read about the Center’s Get the Lead Out campaign and the ABC web page on lead threats to birds.


Read the petition to EPA

Photos of lead-poisoned wildlife for media use

Frequently Asked Questions

Timeline of lead hazard reduction for wildlife and people

Summary of recent scientific studies



Background



Lead has been known to be highly toxic for more than 2,000 years. Its use in water pipes, cosmetics, pottery and food is suspected as a major contributing factor in the collapse of the Roman Empire. Lead causes numerous pathological effects on living organisms, from acute, paralytic poisoning and seizures to subtle, long-term mental impairment, miscarriage, neurological damage, and impotence. Even low levels of lead can impair biological functions. There may be no safe level of lead in the body tissues of fetuses and young. Despite knowledge of how dangerous lead is, it continues to be used in hunting and fishing products that expose wildlife and humans to lead. In recent decades the federal government has implemented regulations to reduce human lead exposure in drinking water, batteries, paint, gasoline, toys, toxic dumps, wheel balancing weights, and shooting ranges.

The California condor, so near extinction in the mid-1980s that the last nine wild birds were captured for an expensive captive-breeding program, had a healthy enough captive population to begin reintroduction into the wild in the mid-1990s. Yet reintroduced condors are far from safe since they feed on carcasses often containing lead bullet fragments. At least 30 condors in California and Arizona have died from lead poisoning since reintroductions began, and chronic, sub-lethal lead poisoning is rampant throughout the four reintroduced condor flocks in the United States. In 2008 California passed the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act requiring use of non-lead bullets for hunting in the condor range. This law has reduced lead exposure, but lead bullets are still available in California and condors, eagles, and other wildlife continue to be poisoned.

Because there are now numerous, commercially available, non-toxic alternatives, the petitioning groups are urging the EPA to develop regulations to require non-lead rifle bullets, shotgun pellets, and fishing weights and lures throughout the nation. Non-toxic steel, copper, and alloy bullets and non-lead fishing tackle are readily available in all 50 states. Hunters and anglers in states and areas that have restrictions or have already banned lead have made successful transitions to hunting with non-toxic bullets and fishing with non-toxic tackle. Over a dozen manufacturers of bullets have designed and now market many varieties of non-lead, nontoxic bullets and shot with satisfactory to superior ballistic characteristics – fully replacing the old lead projectiles. The Toxic Substances Control Act gives the EPA broad authority to regulate chemical substances that present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, such as lead. The EPA can prohibit the manufacture, processing, and distribution in commerce of lead for shot, bullets, and fishing sinkers.

American Bird Conservancy (www.abcbirds.org) conserves native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas by safeguarding the rarest species, conserving and restoring habitats, and reducing threats while building capacity of the bird conservation movement.

The Center for Biological Diversity (www.biologicaldiversity.org) is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 255,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility is a national nonprofit alliance of local, state and federal scientists, law enforcement officers, land managers and other professionals dedicated to upholding environmental laws and values.

The Association of Avian Veterinarians is an international professional organization of practitioners advancing and promoting avian medicine, stewardship, and conservation through education of its members, the veterinary community and those they serve.

Project Gutpile is a grassroots hunters’ organization dedicated to educating hunters and anglers and to saving wildlife from lead poisoning through encouraging the use of nontoxic ammunition.

Only one problem....condors are not getting the lead from bullets in gut piles...they get it from eating other garbage.

The hunting season is so short that there is basically a 60 day period where there is a potential for an exposure and that exposure is infintecimal.

Even if they did (and it is a big if) eat a gut pile with miniscule amounts of lead it would quickly leave there system and they would soon be free of lead.

Do you think condors my be getti ng lead from ither "junk" they eat. Photo below is from the San Diego Zoo and is of material recovered from baby condors gullets. It was material fed to them by their mothers.

I have nothing eloquent to say about this, it's all bullshit. the danger from big game hunters using ammo containing lead is so negligible to not be worth talking about. And there are no condors in my hunting zone and yet they say I can't use lead.

And there are not NUMEROUS lead free bullet sources, and they are all more expensive, considerably more. Most hunters I know shoot less than a box of ammo a year, only when checking their rifle and hunting. they're not putting that much lead out there.

condors are ugly anyways, I see no reason to punish millions of hunters to SUPPOSEDLY save a few birds.

I wrote letters via email to the editors of a couple of large hunting magazines and wasnever given a reply, asking them to use their readership base to start an organized strike by hunters. no hunting licenses or tags purchased in the whole state California for a year I know would be millions of dollars from the coffers. that would straighten them out.

Red

Dear Mr. Mandile:

When I read that the "issue is settled" or a "consensus is now formed" or "how can anyone disagree" my legal training goes into high gear.

Evidence: anthropomorphic caused global warming. Not likely.

At present I have no idea if lead bullets cause these deaths in animal scavengers or not.

Having grown up near several battery plants here in Pennsylvania, I do know that lead exposure in immature humans, meaning children below a certain age can cause severe defects. But as we become adults, lead, unlike mercury does flush itself from the human body.

I have no idea if that is true with all or some other species, such as scavangers or predators.

Until I see some quantifiable and repeatable scientific evidence, I'll continue to use lead bullets.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

And I'll add this.

Living near the Chesapeake bay, there is a real question now as to the "scientific evidence" being fixed that caused the waterfowl lead shot ban.

How many injured birds die because of inefficient steel shot versus ingestion of lead shot?

We still use lead shot in the fields for upland game here in Pennsylvania, and I don't see a bunch of dead Canada geese around my house.

And don't get me started about the removal of lead in paint. I had my own painting business for years in high school and college, and the lead paint ban was and is a pain in the ass.

Lead based paint was the best outdoor paint that I ever used.

And no one was eating it.

The commercials that you saw in the 1970's to ban lead based paint, were illuminating a landlord/tenant issue and a welfare issue no more.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

complete bullshit...just like the ban for waterfowl.

Perry

Yes, Yes, it is BS. We all know that. What we don't know is how you voted on Tuesday, or the last voting Tuesday, or the one before that, or most importantly, the next voting Tuesday.
Best regards,
dmw

While I realize that Mandile is earnest, it it also quite obvious that he is a "lead ban" fool. His anti-lead rants have appeared on this forum from time to time. Last year he was worked up about Arizona (his home state) condors. Now he is in favor of a nation-wide ban. This guy made up his mind a long time ago, and is finding some satisfaction in the bogus science he espouses. Unfortunately, people like him just make life more difficult for the rest of us. What I don't understand is that he represents himself as a hunter, too.

This following is an unbelievable comment:

quote:

“The science on this issue is massive in breadth and unimpeachable in its integrity,” said George Fenwick, president of American Bird Conservancy. “Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies show continued lead poisoning of large numbers of birds and other animals, and this petition is a prudent step to safeguard wildlife and reduce unacceptable human health risks.”

The official findings of the CA DFG was that the science was completely inconclusive.

So while Mandile maybe earnest in his convictions to continue to repeat nonsense is not.

Would an anti-hunting mole take any different tact or spout and gloat any more than Mr. Mandile on this whole issue? He's not doing any of us, or himself, any favors spreading this highly-agendized junk science. I was a graduate student in biology in the early '90's when I first heard of these studies and who was paying for them, it looks like they're making some headway duping some allies in the hunting community.

OW-I hope you are posting this in support of these idiots.

Here is the NSSF Response:

August 5 : 2010
Firearms Industry Responds to Anti-hunting Attack on Traditional Ammunition

NEWTOWN, Conn.-The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry, has announced its opposition to a petition filed today with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking to ban the use of traditional ammunition, containing lead-core components, by America's sportsmen and women. The petition, filed by several agenda-driven groups including the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), erroneously claims that the use of traditional ammunition by hunters is inconsistent with the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976. The petition goes on to suggest that the use of traditional ammunition poses a danger to wildlife, in particular raptors such as bald eagles, that may feed on entrails or unrecovered game left in the field.

"There is simply no scientific evidence that the use of traditional ammunition is having an adverse impact on wildlife populations that would require restricting or banning the use of traditional ammunition beyond current limitations, such as the scientifically based restriction on waterfowl hunting," said NSSF President Steve Sanetti.

Helping to demonstrate the validity of Sanetti's statement are recent statistics from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) showing from 1981 to 2006 the number of breeding pairs of bald eagles in the United States increased 724 percent. And much like the bald eagle, raptor populations throughout the United States are soaring.

Also fueling concerns over the CBD petition is the likely ramification a ban on traditional ammunition would have on wildlife conservation. The federal excise tax that manufacturers pay on the sale of the ammunition (11 percent) is a primary source of wildlife conservation funding and the financial backbone of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. The bald eagle's recovery, considered to be a truly great conservation success story, was made possible and funded by hunters using traditional ammunition - the very ammunition organizations like the CBD are now demonizing.

"Needlessly restricting or banning traditional ammunition absent sound science will hurt wildlife conservation efforts as fewer hunters take to the field," said NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane. "Hunters and their ammunition have done more for wildlife than the CBD ever will. And the CBD's scientifically baseless petition and endless lawsuits against state and federal wildlife managers certainly do not serve the wildlife that the organization claims to protect."

Ladies and Gentlemen:

This is solely about politics.

The anti-gun crowd has taken a recent drubbing with two pro-individual 2nd amendment right decisions by the Supreme Court, and they have now made a strategic decision to focus on ammunition.

I don't know about California Condors, but I do know that the local and migratory goose population here in Pennsylvania is out of control. And yet they feed in corn fields where we have used lead shot for 200 years.

The coyotes and buzzards aren't dying from dead road kill like ground hogs and deer which feed in the same damn fields.

C'mon.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

And again; so how then shall we act in the arena de politic? If we don't take these things out of the forums and into the Voting booth and in some cases into the streets, we will surely lose this and ever more freedoms.
Best regards,
dmw

quote:

quote:
“The science on this issue is massive in breadth and unimpeachable in its integrity,” said George Fenwick, president of American Bird Conservancy. “Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies show continued lead poisoning of large numbers of birds and other animals, and this petition is a prudent step to safeguard wildlife and reduce unacceptable human health risks.”

This sounds just like the Global Warming propaganda as well as the battle cry for the "save everyone and everything from every possible danger in all parts of life" crowd. Yeah the one or 10 shots a year by each hunter on big game is killing all the birds and ruining all of the natural water sources. Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies prove it!

Not to mention all of the lead bullets that we all will be asked to throw away to save the birds. Don't birds pick at the garbage in land fills? I think a lobbyist from Barnes Bullets id responsible.

Just another eco end around.If you do not see this as another attempt to keep you from hunting, then you must be asleep. Wake up, get involved and vote. They have an agenda and it's not in your best interest.

I have been up in Northern Arixaona in the Kaibab abd Arizona Strip many tin=mes where the Condor is suppposed to be and have never seen one. I repat, I have NEVER seen one of those oversized buzzards at any time while is their supposed flyway area of Arizona. Complete phucking bullshit!
BTW, Arizona requests that you use only the all copper bullets when hunting there. They even pay for them so you will use them. I di when I drew a tag two years ago. Cost me the only chance at a legal; buck worth shooting. He was standing with a bunch of does and if I'd shot hot with the barnes TSX bullet in my rifle, odds are I would have killed him and possibly a couple of does as well as they were that tightly bunched up. I'm not even sure a conventional cup and core would have stayed inside him but I kow damn well the TSX would have zipped right through him.
Paul B.

http://www.epa.gov/oppt/chemte...tions.html#petition8

Interesting reading on who the enemy is. Note that back in 2009 it only took from May 8th to August 26 for the EPA to "study" and grant the petition to regulate Lead wheel weights from the same crowd.
Remember folks, it's not who they call themselves, it's who they are that matters.

Total bullshit. Just another way to get rid of hunting and hunters. We better stick together on these issues. Daryl.

I wonder how long it will take to try and ban Copper bullets ,because of Copper sulfate?????