WASHINGTON — The Humane Society of the United States renewed a call for a nationwide ban on lead-shot ammunition after the North Dakota Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of a lead study last week. According to preliminary findings, North Dakotans who ate wildlife killed with lead bullets had higher levels of lead in their blood than people who ate little or no meat from wild animals.
“If there was any doubt about the urgent need to rid our country of lead ammunition, here is proof positive,” said Andrew Page, senior director of the Wildlife Abuse Campaign for The HSUS. “Extremist hunters have long contaminated watersheds and habitat, dooming animals to slow and painful deaths. Now that hunters know their actions are directly putting themselves and other people at risk, there are no more excuses to use the ammo that just keeps on killing.”
The North Dakota Department of Health is now recommending that pregnant women and children younger than 6 avoid eating any venison killed with lead bullets. The department also stated that the best way to avoid lead bullet fragments in wild animals is to hunt with non-lead bullets.
Many hunters support the use of nontoxic alternative shot, and voluntary programs in some areas have resulted in significant reductions in lead shot usage. Lead shot has been banned in waterfowl hunting in the U.S. since 1991. A ban on lead shot in endangered California condor territory went into effect this year just after seven condors, or one-fifth of the entire Southern California population, died from ingesting lead shot.
Prior to the study, several states removed all donated game meat from the shelves of food banks because of lead contamination. But some stubborn shooters, including lobbyists for the National Rifle Association, advocate lead shot on the flimsy grounds that it is “traditional” and “affordable.” Nontoxic shot is already on the market and used by millions of hunters.
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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization — backed by 10.5 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty — On the web at humanesociety.org.
