BOISE, Idaho - An Idaho raptor group working to eliminate lead from ammunition has released study findings that it says show ground venison from 80 percent of 30 deer killed with high-velocity lead bullets contains metal fragments.

The Peregrine Fund, based in Boise, and researchers from Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., say it is further evidence people who eat meat from game animals shot with lead bullets risk exposure to the toxic metal.

Separately, the North Dakota Health Department and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are planning a study on nearly 700 people who eat meat from wild game harvested with lead bullets, to determine health risks, if any.

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.

"It's hard to keep lead out of butchered meat," said Grainger Hunt, a scientist with The Peregrine Fund who worked on the study, which focused on 30 white-tailed deer killed by standard, lead-core, copper-jacketed bullets fired from a high-powered rifle. "They left lead in 80 percent of those deer we brought in. We found that people who consume venison often consume lead."

Hunt declined Tuesday to comment on the specific health implications - the study didn't cover that. Further work by epidemiologists will have to determine that, he said.

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.

The Peregrine Fund organized a four-day conference at Boise State University to bolster its stand against lead ammunition, with more than 50 scientific presentations on lead poisoning in wildlife and humans, including research on Inuits in Alaska and Russia who practice subsistence hunting.

The study released Tuesday comes after a Peregrine Fund board member, Dr. William Cornatzer of Bismarck, N.D., 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 had not 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."

Rick Kelley, assistant director of the University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory where Cornatzer's samples were sent by North Dakota for some testing, said he feared venison was destroyed prematurely. He said more study is needed before public policy changes are made.

"I have a concern with the way that people respond to the results of that study," Kelley said. "In at least one location, they landfilled all the deer meat."

North Dakota Department of Health epidemiologists said the agency's planned study with the CDC will investigate whether there are any health risks for people, by attempting to determine whether eating wild game harvested with lead bullets results in increased blood lead levels.

"This study is an important opportunity to help us understand whether swallowing lead bullet fragments causes increased levels of lead in the blood," said state Health Officer Terry Dwelle.

They are going to keep shoving this [PoorWordUsage] down our throats until we agree. Just like global warming.

Look into my eyes............lead is bad, repeat after me....lead is bad.

We have been killing deer with lead for well over 100 years, shouldn't deer hunters be extinct by now?

I don't understand how it is possible these people say that there are metal fragments in the meat. I mean how many people throw everything inntop the meat pile?

Our group cleans our own deer (usually around 20 during 1st season shotgun season in Iowa) and then take it to the locker.
Heck if it is pretty bloody we don't even bother with it, let alone keep anything near the bullet holes. It sounds like a case of people needing a lesson on proper cleaning of their game. I can't believe a locker would keep a piece of meat with a bullet hole in it especially if it was for the HUSH (Help Us Stop Hunger) program.

This was a group with an agenda that went out hoping to find something. Surprise: They found it!

For lunch today I made a smoked turkey sandwich from my turkey I shot last week. I found BB. Man I am a gonner. Tell my family I will miss them. But that was an awesome sandwich. I might as well have another one Tommorrow.......

meanwhile, our government allows toys from china covered in lead

Oh no! I better go in for a lead screening.

This weekend I had venison sausage for breakfast on Saturday; canned venison strogganof on Saturday evening; venison summer sausage for lunch on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday; and venison sausage for breakfast again today.

I just remembered, I have some venison jerky in the freezer. I'll be back later.

Bob

Agenda, Agenda, Agenda.
If I am looking for something hard enough I will find it.

I saw where Norht Dakota is going to be testing lead levels in hunters starting later this week.

Did the lead level come from meat or exposure from something else? Those reports will only be slanted the direction to benefit those who are paying for the study.

After eating lead shot animals for over 40 years, I should be dead.

The press release I saw said they were going to be questioned for about 10 minutes. I am sure that this would be to reveal other possible lead exposures that may be in their lives.

It's yet another knee-jerk-bait reaction to a non-issue. Do we need to all run around in a bubble suit? The Anti's will pull any weapon out of the arsenal to further their agendas. It's the same crud we see when a thermometer breaks in a school-the whole building gets evacuated and the building is quarantined and for a measly couple of grams of mercury. I remember when I was in grade school in science class they had about a pound of the stuff and we would handle it WITHOUT GLOVES OR ANYTHING *GASP!*.
Neither myself or any of my classmates suffered any ill effects. Here's an idea-stop feeding the poor. Maybe they will learn to hunt and make money for food, and the problem will be solved. It's the old "give a man a fish" thing.

My dad just told me last weekend that he and his friends used to break open thermometers and push the mercury around with their fingers. He's ok.

Here's another thought to ponder-about 10 of those little POS new light bulbs have the amount of mercury as one thermometer. So, if one thermometer breaks and it shuts a whole school down, what about when one bulb breaks in your house? Do you need to call a HazMat team to come and clean it up? No. The same junk about the lead-someone finds a chunk, and they WANTONLY WASTE a million pounds?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I stress Wantonly waste. Perfect example of hypocrisy and double standards of bureaucratic [PoorWordUsage].