CHRIS MERRILL Star-Tribune environment reporter with wire reports | Posted: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 12:00 am
LANDER - People who eat animals killed with lead bullets need to be concerned about lead poisoning, according to a conservation organization working to convince game hunters to switch to copper ammunition.
Opponents, however, argue that the group's agenda - to get the lead out of commercial ammo - rather than hard science, is the driving force behind the results of a recent study. Participating scientists say it provides proof that lead-based ammunition poses health risks not only for animals, but for people.
The Peregrine Fund, a Boise, Idaho-based conservation group that works to protect birds of prey, conducted the study in concert with scientists from Washington State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, in which researchers examined professionally processed meat from hunter-killed deer in Wyoming.
Eighty percent of the deer killed by high-velocity lead-based ammunition produced at least some meat with metal fragments or metal "dust" in it, and 92 percent of the metal found was lead, according to the leaders of the project who presented their findings Tuesday at a conference in Boise.
Separately, the North Dakota Health Department and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are planning to test nearly 700 people who eat wild game killed with lead bullets, to determine if there are any health risks.
The suggestion that lead bullets could make venison unsafe for humans has prompted outrage from pro-hunting groups such as Safari Club International of Somerset, N.J., and the Connecticut-based National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry group, after North Dakota and Minnesota in March and April instructed food banks there to pull hunter-donated venison from their shelves.
"This is one more piece of evidence that points to lead bullets as a source of contamination in our environment," Rick Watson, vice president of the Peregrine Fund, said in a statement ahead of a presentation of the study.
The study released Tuesday comes after a Peregrine Fund board member, Dr. William Cornatzer, previously did CT scans of about 100 packets of venison that had been donated to food banks by hunters. He found 60 percent had multiple lead fragments.
Lawrence Keane, a National Shooting Sports Foundation spokesman, said he hasn't seen the latest study. But he said initial evidence supplied by Cornatzer, a dermatologist and professor at the University of North Dakota medical school, didn't justify a policy change or destruction of venison. Groups, including Safari Club, gave nearly 1 million pounds of venison in 2007 to food banks as part of their humanitarian efforts.
"The Peregrine Fund is an advocacy group and has an agenda," Keane said. "We have serious questions with the so-called science by the dermatologist. It's my understanding there's not a single reported case that the CDC is aware of, of anyone having elevated blood lead levels from eating game harvested with lead ammunition."
Lead poisoning has been linked to learning disabilities, behavioral problems and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and death. There is no safe level of lead in blood.
Wyoming whitetails
The Peregrine Fund organized the ongoing four-day conference on lead-based ammunition at Boise State University and funded its own research as well as that done by Washington State University researchers.
The study sampled 30 whitetail deer shot near Sheridan with lead-core, copper-jacketed bullets, fired from a high-powered rifle. Each of the 30 carcasses was taken to a different commercial meat processor throughout the state for standard preparation of ground meat and boneless steaks in 2-pound packages, according to Susan Whaley, spokeswoman with the Peregrine Fund.
X-rays of the 30 deer showed "widespread dispersal of lead fragments" ranging from "smaller than a grain of table salt to as large as a sesame seed," Whaley wrote in a prepared statement.
"There was at least one lead particle in 24 of 30 deer killed, in the processed meat, so 80 percent of the deer actually produced lead in the processed meat," said Grainger Hunt, a biologist with the Peregrine Fund.
Lindsay Oaks, professor of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University, and co-investigator on the study, said the findings will be published in the coming months in a peer-reviewed science journal. Although the Peregrine Fund is a conservation organization, it is not "anti-hunter," he said, and it practiced sound science throughout the research project.
In addition to his work at Washington State University, Oaks does consulting work for the Peregrine Fund, he said.
"We're all hunters," Oaks said. "We're not an anti-hunter group at all. Everybody involved in this study, and most people involved in the Peregrine Fund, are hunters. Bill Cornatzer at the University of North Dakota is a lifetime hunter. All we're saying is that in deer processed by normal commercial methods, there's a real risk of getting a significant amount of lead."
All told, 43 percent of the 2-pound packages of Wyoming deer that were tested proved to contain some metal, he said, and almost all of the metal was lead.
"Which is not surprising, because lead tends to blow up, because it's softer," Oaks said. "But I think we were all surprised by the amount of lead that was present."
Oaks suggested that hunters consider these findings when consuming meat killed with lead-based ammunition, and be especially careful when feeding children. And he said those involved in the study, at least, have taken its findings to heart.
"It's a potential health risk, a potential source of lead, and it might be something you want to be careful about," he said. "I think all of us (involved in the study) have already converted to solid copper bullets."
'Stay tuned'
Eric Keszler, spokesman for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said he was not familiar with the new study, but he was aware of previous, related studies.
He advised hunters to "stay tuned" as everybody learns more about the topic.
"It's an issue that we're looking into, and we're concerned about," Keszler said. "It's a national issue - it's not just specific to Wyoming. There is a lot of research going on, and we in the department are getting involved and looking at the research, but I think it's early at this point to take any actions."
Dr. Tracy Murphy with the Wyoming Department of Health said it hasn't become evident yet that lead poisoning in children or adults can occur from eating wild game.
"We'll be interested to see what the results show, but at this time we're not aware that it's a big problem," Murphy said. "We have to reserve judgment until well-done studies are completed and peer-reviewed."
Jerry Bath, owner of JB's Wild Wyoming in Lander, who processes game meat during hunting season, said he would advise hunters to remain skeptical about the research at this point.
"I've been doing this for 14 years, and it sounds bogus to me," Bath said. "It sounds like this (Peregrine Fund) is on a search-and-destroy mission."
Environment reporter Chris Merrill can be reached at chris.merrill@trib.com or at (307) 267-6722.