Like many sportsmen, I was pretty skeptical when people started panicking over lead particles found in hunter-killed venison.
Like many sportsmen, I was pretty skeptical when people started panicking over lead particles found in hunter-killed venison.
I was doubly skeptical when I learned that the physician who started the panic might have had a political ax to grind.
Dr. William Cornatzer, a dermatologist, took CT scans of 100 ground venison packets and found lead in 60 percent of them. Though Cornazter identified himself as an avid hunter, it was later revealed that he also served on the Peregrine Fund's board of directors. One of the Peregrine Fund's stated missions is to eliminate the use of lead ammunition in parts of California where endangered condors have been released into the wild.
Cornatzer's apparent conflict of interest made his findings easy to discount. But now a new study - one that appears scientifically solid - makes me wonder if I should take the doctor's advice and switch to lead-free ammo.
The study, conducted by scientists from Washington State and Boise State universities, is titled "Lead Bullet Fragments in Venison from Rifle-Killed Deer: Potential for Human Dietary Exposure."
Here's how the scientists conducted their research:
They radiographed 30 gutted deer carcasses of white-tailed deer. Each of the deer had been shot by a hunter using standard lead-core, copper-jacketed bullets under standard hunting conditions.
All the carcasses contained metal fragments and widespread fragment dispersion.
The carcasses were then taken to 30 separate meat processors, where the venison was boned and butchered. Fluoroscopy revealed metal fragments in 80 percent of the deer even after processing. Thirty-two percent of the 234 ground-meat packages contained at least one lead fragment.Like many sportsmen, I was pretty skeptical when people started panicking over lead particles found in hunter-killed venison.
I was doubly skeptical when I learned that the physician who started the panic might have had a political ax to grind.
Dr. William Cornatzer, a dermatologist, took CT scans of 100 ground venison packets and found lead in 60 percent of them. Though Cornazter identified himself as an avid hunter, it was later revealed that he also served on the Peregrine Fund's board of directors. One of the Peregrine Fund's stated missions is to eliminate the use of lead ammunition in parts of California where endangered condors have been released into the wild.
Cornatzer's apparent conflict of interest made his findings easy to discount. But now a new study - one that appears scientifically solid - makes me wonder if I should take the doctor's advice and switch to lead-free ammo.
The study, conducted by scientists from Washington State and Boise State universities, is titled "Lead Bullet Fragments in Venison from Rifle-Killed Deer: Potential for Human Dietary Exposure."
Here's how the scientists conducted their research:
They radiographed 30 gutted deer carcasses of white-tailed deer. Each of the deer had been shot by a hunter using standard lead-core, copper-jacketed bullets under standard hunting conditions.
All the carcasses contained metal fragments and widespread fragment dispersion.
The carcasses were then taken to 30 separate meat processors, where the venison was boned and butchered. Fluoroscopy revealed metal fragments in 80 percent of the deer even after processing. Thirty-two percent of the 234 ground-meat packages contained at least one lead fragment.
The scientists then fed lead-containing boned venison to four pigs. They also fed lead-free venison to a control group of four pigs.
Within two days of eating the contaminated meat, the test pigs' blood showed lead levels four times higher than the pigs in the control group.
Sounds pretty convincing, doesn't it? I thought so too. In fact, I still think so, even though one of the study's lead scientists is affiliated with the Peregrine Fund. I've read the entire study, and the researchers' methodology looks pretty darned solid. Furthermore, the study was peer-reviewed before it was published.
An outdoor writer friend of mine, Jim Low, thinks the science is solid, too. He works for the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Show-Me State's equivalent of West Virginia's Division of Natural Resources. Jim is as avid a hunter as there is, and he told me he'd already decided to switch to lead-free ammo.
"In my family, we eat a lot of game," he said. "I have a daughter who's getting close to child-bearing age. There's no way I'm going to take a chance at having a deer I kill cause a birth defect in one of my grandchildren."
As I write this, I can see into the closet that holds my gun and ammo lockers. Every bit of the ammo stored there contains lead. A month ago, I'd have bet good money that I'd never switch to lead-free ammo. Now I'm not so sure.
For anyone interested in looking it up, the study can be found on the Internet at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005330
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