This 2014 video from the USA is called Condors vs. Lead Bullets.
From Focusing On Wildlife blog, about the USA:
Stop the NRA’s Lead-Poisoning Legislation
Nov 15 2012
There’s nothing sporting about poisoning bald eagles. Yet legislation the Senate will vote on this month, the so-called “Sportsmen’s Act,” would actually prevent the Environmental Protection Agency — the same agency that got lead out of paint and gasoline — from protecting wildlife, as well as families that eat game shot with lead ammunition, from lead poisoning.
Toxic lead continues to enter the food chain through bullet fragments in game shot by hunters who opted for less expensive lead shot pellets. In addition to bald eagles and endangered condors, more than 75 species of birds and other wildlife are needlessly poisoned or killed by lead left in the wild. The EPA can, and should, address these preventable deaths by applying the Toxic Substances Control Act, a well-established and time-tested federal law aimed at limiting our exposure to dangerous substances like lead.
Now that numerous effective, nontoxic bullets and shot are widely available and in many cases comparable in price to lead, there’s simply no reason to continue to use toxic materials for hunting.
The tired argument presented by the National Rifle Association and its well-heeled gun lobby claims that removing toxic materials from the sporting marketplace is somehow anti-hunting — but this has been proven wrong through the example of California’s nontoxic hunting laws.
Regulations that went into effect in 2008 to reduce lead poisonings of condors require nonlead ammunition for all hunting in most of Southern and central California. Hunters in these areas continue to hunt traditional game using nontoxic copper rounds, and there has been no decrease in game tags or hunter-generated revenues.
More than 150 organizations in 38 states are calling for regulation of lead ammunition. But the NRA’s radical legislation would gut the Toxic Substances Control Act and prevent the EPA from doing its job.
Sign this letter asking your senators to say no to this bill (and share the letter with everyone you know), plus learn more about the Center’s campaign to get the lead out. Also, check out this interesting New York Times op-ed, which clearly shows that the NRA does not represent all hunters.
Human Health Risks of Lead Ammunition:
Lead ammunition also poses unnecessary health risks to people. Lead bullets fragment extensively and spread minute particles of toxic lead throughout shot game. Hunters then feed this toxic harvest to their families. Radiographs show that imperceptible, dust-sized particles of lead can infect meat up to a foot and a half away from the bullet wound, causing a grave health risk to humans eating lead-shot game. Read more about our Get the Lead Out campaign at www.GetTheLeadOut.org.
Please share this lifesaving campaign with your friends on Twitter and Facebook.
Related articles
- Kieran Suckling: It’s Time to Finally End Needless Poisoning of Wildlife (huffingtonpost.com)
- AZ Wildlife Agency Needs to Restrict Lead Ammunition (thetruthaboutguns.com)
- Hunters Asked To Use Copper Bullets, Protect Bald Eagles (minnesota.cbslocal.com)
- Karen C. Scheuermann: Lead-bullet bill bad for wildlife (redding.com)
- United Kingdom: Birds still at risk from lead poisoning despite shotgun laws (independent.co.uk)
- Britain’s waterbirds still being killed by lead poisoning, study finds (guardian.co.uk)
- Lead gunshot ‘poisoning UK birds’ (bbc.co.uk)
- Did Lead Makeup Poison Samurai Kids & Topple Japan’s Shogunate? (history.com)
- Lead poisoning basics (goerie.com)
This is a “States Rights Issue.” The states will attack the problem in their own best interest. We have too much federal regulation as it is.
LikeLike
Which may mean that in state A bald eagles will die and hunters and their families eating venison will get poisoned, while in state B the eagles will live and hunters and their families will be healthy. Unless all state governments act according to reason.
LikeLike
Yes. Correct. However, I have hunted for wild birds and mammals and also fished for years. Of course I have bitten into lead shot and discarded it before consuming it. I doubt that I have eaten any lead shot but if so there has been no ill effects (other than being a little insane). Most of our states are catching on to this GOOD IDEA of getting rid of lead bullets. Serious hunters and fishermen (lead sinkers) have done it on their own. Thanks for the post. I did enjoy it.
LikeLike
You’re welcome 🙂
Yes, I hope that more and more serious hunting and fishing people will get rid of lead bullets themselves, even before state laws change.
“Lead bullets fragment extensively and spread minute particles of toxic lead throughout shot game.” So, it is not easy to detect these if one eats venison.
LikeLike
I am sure I have ingested more lead by biting on “split shot” fishing sinkers than I have eating venison or a duck that has been eating lead pellets off the bottom of a lake or river.
LikeLike
Yes. But that might be different for people who live far from water, or in areas where there isn’t much fishing, or where fisher folk use non-lead sinkers.
LikeLike
If they need some lead to chew on I can help them out.
LikeLike
The bottom line is that more animals and birds will live if all hunters and fishermen move to lead free shot. Lead toxicity is a serious problem when it gets into the food chain. I’m sure that (as Wally said) responsible folk will make the change themselves as a way of preserving their sport and for conservation – the only way to go! The old ‘die hard’s’ may need further encouragement though. This should come from fellow.hunters in addition to state legislation. We must all take responsibility for the future- everyone must do their bit! .Those that choose to ignore what is staring us (mankind) in the face should not participate in the sport in any case. Cheers Supernova.
LikeLike
Pingback: Lead gunshot kills British birds | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Stand with us against gun violence and toxic pollution. « Sunset Daily
Pingback: California condors still suffering from DDT | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British birds dying from lead shot | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Poison discovery in lipstick | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: California condors and lead ammunition | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Spanish waterfowl saved from poisoning by lead ammunition prohibition | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Migratory birds killed by lead ammunition | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Polar bear, whale and fish conservation news | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Dutch bird-poisoning poacher arrested | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: European Union not stopping lead poisoning birds | Dear Kitty. Some blog