New coalition promotes health hazards of lead

ANKENY (StateNewsWire) ? A new Iowa nonprofit group has been formed to educate people about the hazards of lead poisoning for the health of both humans and wildlife. The ?Lead is Poison Coalition? includes individuals and groups from the fields of conservation, human health and community action.

The coalition formed after a recent decision to allow lead-based ammunition in hunting mourning doves. Iowa?s first-ever dove season began on Sept. 1. The Iowa Natural Resources Commission, after extensive review of the evidence of the harmful effects of lead-based ammunition, voted to require non-toxic shot for hunting doves. However, implementation of this rule was delayed by the Iowa Legislature?s Administrative Rules Committee. The Legislature is expected to debate the ammunition issue again in 2012.

Lead, a potent neurotoxin, has in recent years been banned for most commercial uses, including gasoline, paint, solder and wheel weights. Federal law has required non-toxic shot in waterfowl hunting since 1991, to reduce the poisoning of ducks and geese that ingested lead pellets while feeding in shallow marshes.

Requiring the use of non-toxic ammunition for hunting other game, however, has proved difficult. Guns-rights groups defending ?traditional ammunition? interpret attempts to regulate lead ammunition as an attack on the sport of hunting and downplay the poisonous nature of this neurotoxin.

The scientific evidence is growing, however, on the negative health and environmental effects of lead ammunition. For Iowa wildlife, lead poisoning each year kills dozens of bald eagles and other scavengers that consume animal carcasses containing lead. Lead contamination also isa rising problem at shooting ranges and other places that accumulate large amounts of spent shot. Doves and other ground feeders can ingest the shot mistaking it for seed.

For humans, ingesting game meat harvested with lead ammunition is not lethal; however, those persons consuming more wild game do show higher blood lead levels. This is because not all shot and bullet fragments can reliably be cleaned from the meat.

Since lead is a proven neurotoxin, there is no safe level of exposure. Children and pregnant women are most at risk from ingested lead, which mimics calcium. Growing bodies have a high calcium demand and will absorb lead at a higher rate than adults. Extensive research proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that lead exposure can impact brain development, causing attention deficit and learning disorders and lowering IQ.

?As a registered nurse, I am concerned about the long-term health of both children and adults who consume wild game hunted with lead ammunition,? said Cynthia Hansen, LIP-C manager. ?As a nature lover, it concerns me that more and more wildlife are being unnecessarily poisoned by exposure to lead ammunition either through direct ingestion or by ingesting animal carcasses containing lead. As a lifelong Iowan, I have always been proud that we have been good stewards of our land and all its natural resources. It only makes sense to remove lead ammunition from use in an effort to protect our families and our wildlife.?

Safe alternatives are available for lead-based ammunition. Steel shot can be used for game birds, and copper slugs and bullets for deer hunting.