16ga.com ~ View topic - Another Lead ban????? you gotta read this

Joined: 15 Dec 2005 Posts: 59

Don't know if any of you guys saw this article in the Minneapoils, MN Star and Tribune on Friday. But I really have to wonder about the motives. I think it reinforces my thoughts about the coming Lead ban for upland hunting in MN. there are forces out there that are looking to ban hunting/shooting as we know it and the real scary part is there is alot of general apathy by a large number of hunters here in MN that think it just won't affect them that much. Needless to say this really burns my @##
Scott

by Doug Smith, Star Tribune

Minnesota food shelves will halt distribution of venison donated by hunters after lead particles were discovered in ground venison at North Dakota food shelves.

Authorities urged that any donated meat that had already left the food shelves not be eaten.

The Minnesota venison will be tested for lead fragments.

Hunters donated about 78,000 pounds of venison last fall, the first year of the statewide program paid for by the state and hunter donations. Officials said they don't know how much already has been consumed.

Minnesota officials took the action after the North Dakota Department of Health told food pantries there Wednesday to throw out 4,000 to 5,000 pounds of donated venison after a physician found lead bullet fragments in 60 percent of the samples tested. Another 12,000 pounds of venison already has been distributed.

The doctor, William Cornatzer of Bismarck, N.D. -- an avid big-game hunter -- said hunters should reconsider eating any deer or big game shot with lead bullets from high-powered rifles.

Those bullets fragment on impact and can spread lead far beyond the entrance wounds, he said.

"This is very disturbing news that we found," Cornatzer said.

Deer killed with shotgun slugs or muzzleloader slugs shouldn't pose a problem because those slugs don't fragment, he said.

While the findings surprised state officials in North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin, they also provoked some skepticism.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the shooting, hunting and firearms industry, sharply criticized the North Dakota action.

"There is absolutely no peer-reviewed scientific evidence to support the unfortunate and unnecessary overreaction by health officials in North Dakota to have food pantries discard perfectly good meat because it was taken with traditional ammunition," the foundation said in a statement.

It said the decision "was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the chemistry of lead and the human digestive system. The state is needlessly creating a scare upon hunters that has no basis in science."

In Wisconsin, the head of the venison-donation program expressed doubts, too.

"I thought it was preposterous that a bullet would leave that much residue," said Laurie Fike. "My feeling is the lead got in there some other way. I have a lot of questions."

She said state officials will discuss the situation today.

Wisconsin hunters donated 414,000 pounds of venison last fall to food shelves -- five times the amount in Minnesota. While Minnesota's program is new, Wisconsin's has been operating for years.

Cornatzer, 53, a dermatologist and professor at the University of North Dakota medical school in Grand Forks, said consuming lead is a problem.

"It's not rocket science, if you put it in your stomach, you absorb it," he said. "We know lead is a severe neurotoxin, especially in young children and women of child-bearing age."

"I'm a big-game hunter, and have been since I was 13," said Cornatzer, who has hunted deer, elk, antelope, caribou and musk-ox all over the world. "I'm eating this, and I fed this to my own children. This is terrible."

Concern began with condors

Cornatzer said he became concerned after hearing about possible lead fragments through his membership in the Peregrine Fund of Boise, Idaho, a group that promotes the conservation of birds of prey, including peregrine falcons and California condors.

The organization says lead from bullets in the carcasses of animals is primarily responsible for lead poisoning that has endangered the condors. (In July, California will ban the use of all lead ammunition by hunters in the condor's range.)

A lead bullet shot from a high-powered rifle "fragments into hundreds of tiny pieces," said Rick Watson, vice president and director of international programs for the Peregrine Fund. "Usually a hunter cuts away damaged meat, but the lead sprays through a large part of the animal," he said.

Bad news in CT scans

Cornatzer decided to look at the issue himself, so he acquired 100 pounds of donated ground venison, processed by a variety of meat processors. Dr. Ted Fogarty, chairman of the Department of Radiology at the UND medical school, did a high-definition CT scan of the meat in January.

"To be honest, I didn't expect to find much," said Cornatzer.

"Unfortunately, 60 percent of these one-pound packages had multiple lead fragments. The worst part: They are not metal fragments like a shotgun pellet, that you can feel. They are like lead dust that's in the meat. We're eating it."

He sent samples to a laboratory, which identified the samples as lead.

That was enough proof for him that a larger problem exists. He threw his venison away.

"It's not worth the risk," he said.

He said he's not worried the issue will be seized upon by anti-hunters, because there's a relatively simple solution.

"We hunters have a viable alternative -- we have bullets that don't contain lead and don't fragment. And they are proven to put down large-game species. We need to switch over to lead-free bullets."

Federal Cartridge Co. of Anoka referred questions to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Meanwhile, Roger Rostvet, a hunter and deputy director of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said Thursday he isn't sure what to tell hunters.

"We don't know if lead particles in wild game are a significant health issue in North Dakota," he said. "The Health Department feels it is."

Joined: 01 Oct 2006 Posts: 171 Location: western PA

If this is such a big problem, then why havn't we hunters (gerations of hunters) died from this horrible poisoning? Shurly this would have shown up looooonnnnngggg befor now.
I smell a rat.

Ben

Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 23 Location: Ohio

here are some more thngs we need to ban

Sources In the Home
Lead-Based Paint-Present on many surfaces in homes not recently rebuilt or remodeled
Lead Pipes-More common in older homes
Lead Solder -On pipes and water heaters
Enameled or Ceramic Pots and Dishware-Improper glazing can leech lead into foods
Paper Wrappings-Holiday paper and party decorations (10g/kg)
Food Packages-Polythene plastic bags, flour bags(20mg/kg),cardboard boxes with dyes (50mg/kg)
Candy Packaging-Candy bar wrappers(7g/kg), Colored sports trading cards packaged with gum(88mg/kg)

Although lead paint chips are still the most common source of acute lead poisoning, candy wrappers and food packaging are of particular concern because they are in direct contact with immediately consumed items. It is important to keep these items from being consumed, chewed or licked.

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

Trying to post a response ----these idiots blow my mind Shocked

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

Still thinking of how the anti's can come up with such crazy ideas that the public will fall for Evil or Very Mad

Member Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 1975

Member Joined: 31 Aug 2007 Posts: 238 Location: Lodi, CA

Assuming that this report is true, the part that caught my interest is this statement:

"Deer killed with shotgun slugs or muzzleloader slugs shouldn't pose a problem because those slugs don't fragment, he said."

I would think that a shotgun pellet would be more like a muzzleloader slug than a high velocity bullet. I have never seen fragmented shotgun pellets in a bird they way you do when a bullet hits bone in a deer.

So...in a worst case scenario, if the public buys this like they did with lead and waterfowl, I guess a total lead ban would drive the price of shooting through the roof, making clays and hunting a pastime for the very wealthy --which of course, is already happening with access to land, increased license and tag fees, preserve birds, and private ranches.

Is the future of hunting in this country going to look like hunting in modern Europe? Damn I hope not.

No wonder these deer I've been trying to bring down with
#7 1/2's have looked pissed. I guess they've been worried about the lead.

Member Joined: 15 Jul 2007 Posts: 230 Location: SW Idaho

Member Joined: 27 Nov 2005 Posts: 258 Location: Nordern MN

I hate to say it guys, but this isn't from the anti crowd. The guy quoted claims to be a deer hunter.

It is simply the health-crazed, over-reacting, sissy crowd. these people think that everything is out to kill them, but somehow they plan to live forever.

Sad, sad state of affairs.

NR

Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 23 Location: Ohio

yes my post about the other things we need to ban was sarcasm. and to point out while the antis are trying to protect us from ourselves and eating meat that has no dyes antibiotics and such pumped into it . we are getting exposed to lead we do not know about all the time .
the lead we put into the dirt and the critters we shoot is a drop in the bucket over all

Member Joined: 01 Jun 2006 Posts: 182 Location: Minnesota

I do not think anything I have ever read in the Minneapolis Starry Eyed Libune was ever written by a real hunter Laughing

.

Perhaps the water should be tested by the good DR. If the lead scared him then the water should send him to the funny farm.

FOLKS IF WE DO NOTHING , YOU CAN SEE WHAT IS COMING DOWN THE ROAD !!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only way out of this is if we all get our dander up and start calling and writing letters , IF THINGS CONTINUE IN THE MANNER THAT THEY HAVE BEEN GOING .

IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER BOSTON TEA PARTY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Regards Charles