Lead poisoning, are you concerned?

I was doing a "shits and giggles" PubMed (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi)search.

I was quite suprised at how much literature was available on the risk of lead poisoning to occupational and recreational shooters.

One article in the American Journal of Public Health (Am J Public Health. 1987 Sep;77(9):1225-6.) contains a case report on a range employee suffering from a neurological toxicity due to lead poisoning and other employees at the same range suffering from less severe symptoms.

Another study (Clin Immunol Immunopathol. 1993 Feb;66(2):163-8.) found that only mildly increased levels of lead in the blood (>25microgrammes/dl) had a detrimental effect on the individual's immune system.

A study from New Zealand (N Z Med J. 1993 Oct 13;106(965):422-4) concluded that the risk of lead poisoning from small-bore rifle shooting was significant for only 70mins/week time spent on the range. Infact red cell lead levels were 2.4 times normal in male shooters.

Do ranges do anything to lower the level of airbourne lead?

Do ranges warn women of childbearing age and parents of the increased levels of airbourne lead?

has a sign on the door leading to the range saying pregnant women should not enter due to lead. If an indoor range has good ventilation it reduces lead exposure. Several of the ammo companys make ammo now with complete jacket bullets and lead free primers for indoor shooting.

http://www.bconnex.net/~smorel/trumpet/wye1.html

Obstacles to Overcome

When Wye Marsh <in Ontario> began re-introducing Trumpeter Swans <which had been wiped out by hunting earlier in the 20th century>, there was no indication that lead poisoning would be an issue. Waterfowl occasionally ingest spent lead shot (mistaking it for grit), resulting in poisoning, and frequently death. It appears Trumpeters are no exception to lead poisoning - in fact, they are perhaps more prone to it than other waterfowl, because their long necks enable them to reach deep into the sediment where lead shot may be found. After the illness and death of several swans, a ban restricting the use of lead shot in hunting was established, but research concluded that lead shot would continue to be available for decades, due to its slow sinking rate into the sediment. The Wye Marsh, in conjunction with the Severn Sound Remedial Action Plan (RAP), spent years researching and developing a device to help accelerate the sedimentation rate of lead pellets, putting them out of the reach of swans and other waterfowl. The RAP has been remediating lead “hot spots” within Wye Marsh with the device, and plans to treat several similarly affected surrounding wetlands, helping to prevent future cases of lead poisoning in Trumpeters and other waterfowl.

Ah, those environmentally sensitive hunters, eh?


http://www.ec.gc.ca/minister/speeches/l_b_sp_e.htm

Speech delivered by the Honourable Sheila Copps, P.C., M.P.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment
Toronto July 24, 1995

I have strong messages to send today about three key issues: lead shot; benzene; and the attack on important environmental legislation in the United States Congress.

Across Canada, up to 6 million birds eat spent lead shot gun pellets each year. Ducks, geese and swans mistake lead pellets for food. Poisoning occurs after swallowing just a few pellets. The scientists in my department have concluded that at least a quarter of a million waterfowl are killed annually from eating lead.

In turn, bald eagles and other predators die from eating crippled or dead waterfowl. Our studies show that more than 10% of dead eagles have been lead poisoned.

Under the authority of the Migratory Birds Convention Act, I am announcing a national ban on lead shot for migratory game bird hunting to come into effect in 1997. ... We have moved to unleaded fuel. Surely, we must move to unleaded birds.

Of course, bald eagles aren't the only ones who eat those leaded birds. I would hope that the effects of lead poisoning on children are known to all. That would be why we no longer make pencils with lead, right?


From the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, US Geological Survey:
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrdata/pbpoison/intro.htm

I gather that there is a ban in the US:
http://migratorybirds.fws.gov/issues/nontoxic_shot/nontoxic.htm
which refers to the NPWRS:
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrdata/pbpoison/pbpoison.htm#contents

Given that the problem has been common knowledge for over a century (see that NPWRC site), it does seem like too little too late.

And apart from the toxicity danger to humans, the waterfowl themselves do die rather horrible deaths in lead poisoning cases.


But firing ranges, you ask? Dear me, surely you're not suggesting that there is something inherently dangerous to human beings about some product manufactured by the firearms industry!

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But now you've mentioned it, I do remember that the use of lead fishing-line sinkers (is that the correct term? I'm not an angler) has been banned here in the UK for a while now because of the poisoning of waterfowl.

Dear me, surely you're not suggesting that there is something inherently dangerous to human beings about some product manufactured by the firearms industry!

It would appear so. Should lead-containing products come with a warning?

The effects of low levels of lead are:

- Decreased intelligence
- Slowed growth
- Impaired hearing
- ADD/ADHD
- Hyperactivity
- Violent tendancies
- Alzheimer's Syndrome

And in pregnant women:
- Spontaneous abortion
- Stillbirth
- Premature delivery
- Low birth weight

"Of course, bald eagles aren't the only ones who eat those leaded birds. I would hope that the effects of lead poisoning on children are known to all. That would be why we no longer make pencils with lead, right?"

Pencil lead was always a misnomer. It's always been graphite that is in a pencil.

http://www.pencils.com/unlead.html

It was the paint on pencils that was leaded. Children chew pencils, ingest paint, ingest lead. Leaded paint is no longer used on pencils.

And lead pigment has also been used in the "lead" in coloured pencils. I assume that it no longer is in North America, although it apparently is in, e.g., Mexico.

.

Is there another material that could be used in ammunition to replace lead? Just curious.......

Depleted uranium? :P

http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/duupdate.htm

A press report from January 10, 2001 reported that ‘Defense Secretary William Cohen had said earlier this month that DU was no more dangerous than "leaded paint," and a U.S. Army briefer assured reporters it was safe enough to eat’. I do not know of any scientist or physician that would insinuate that either lead paint or uranium is safe to eat. Although numerous requests from the Iraqi government or their representatives attending medical conferences on Gulf War Illnesses for medical care and environmental clean up have been made united States Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs have rebuffed these requests.

Happened to have noticed that site while googling for leaded pencil-paint!

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PCB is an oily liquid used to fill power transformers, and it's an environmental headache. A politician (I think it was former NY Governor Mario Cuomo) once offerred to drink a whole glass of PCBs. I'm pretty sure no one took him up on his offer.......

weighing in on GE's side when the corporation was angrily insisting PCB was not a carcinogen (it is).

Carey also became a figure of fun in New York due to his marriage to the "widow of a Greek tycoon" who turned out, after a little digging by the press, to be the thrice-divorced wife of an auto mechanic, plumber, and pizza parlor owner (three different guys) all of whom were alive and well. He amused New York voters by dyeing his hair Bozo-red during the romance; Jimmy Breslin discovered that his code name among his State Ppolice protective detail had been switched to "Howdy Doody."

To be fair, Carey did move quickly in the Love Canal crisis...

My memory's getting a bit fuzzy at times.......

At the time Breslin and Hamill were both at the Daily News and they had lots of fun....

A transformer blew up a couple of miles from my house about a month ago and the liquid spread over someone's yard. The city dug up the entire yard and carted off the dirt. Guess it aint that safe.

two biggest problems is stability in bullets, and reliability in primers.

"stability in bullets"

Inflight, or in storage?

If you store bullets in a cool dry place should'nt matter what they are made with. There is another issue with this debate and that is of liability. I believe everybody, civilians and police officers alike that carry a gun for defense should practice with the ammo that they carry in their defensive pistols. And lead free primers are not reliable enough to trust your life to, they a great for the range but not the mean streets.

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrdata/pbpoison/toxicosi.htm

Losses due to crippling
As early as 1978 Roster (1978b:26) argued the case for steel shot: "Although steel shot can bag ducks as well as lead shot can, the belief persists that steel shot will cripple more waterfowl and damage shotguns. This belief stems from ignorance of the results of tests to investigate gunbarrel damage as well as from ignorance of the ballistic properties of steel shot. Ballistically, steel shot can be loaded to perform as well as lead shot in bagging waterfowl out to seventy yards. Steel shot retains its shape better than lead shot does, and compensations can be made for its lighter weight, enabling it to retain energy as well as lead shot." Nevertheless, waterfowl hunters continue to voice objections to steel shot. A primary objection is based on the belief that a greater number of ducks are crippled (mortally wounded and unretrieved) by steel shot than are poisoned and crippled by lead shot (National Wildlife Federation 1985b). In an Ohio survey, 45 percent of the hunters cited this reason for their opposition to steel shot (Smith and Townsend 1981). In Colorado, hunters of Canada geese feared that crippling losses would increase if steel shot were used (Szymczak 1978). Waterfowl hunters in California also identified crippling as their principal objection to steel shot (Leach 1980).

There's more.

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I can tell you that the reason so many ducks are wounded is not because of the type of shot used, but the skill of the shooter.

There is a highly objectionable practice of novice hunters we call sky-busting. They attempt to call ducks in to the decoys and when the ducks make their first pass (around 50 mph), the novice hunters open fire, usually at excessive ranges.

Now, I make it a rule not to shoot ducks that are farther than 30 yards away and only shoot those that are settling into the decoys (less than 30 mph), that ensures that the duck is close and slow enough for a clean kill.

I've used steel shot for my entire hunting life, and I can count the number of lost and crippled ducks on one hand. If only hunters get out to the skeet range about once a month, all year, that will be about sufficient to help them retain their hunting skills.

Most shotgun shells, at least in the midwest, are all steel shot these days. The trap club I shoot at only allows steel shot. Lead shot has been gone for years. I'm sure there are some old boxes sitting aorund on somebody's closet shelf but they can't sell it commercially.

OSHA and EPA inspectors can do "drop ins" at any private club or public range.

Rifle and pistol ammunition is usually copper jacketed to cover the lead in the bullet portion of the cartridge. The only exception is some small caliber .22 rounds and those are usually "varnished" to seal the lead bullet.

Standard range safety procedure also includes washing your hands after every session with cold water to minimize any lead transfer. All the ranges I have been to have it posted prominently, along with the warnings for pregnant women etc.

In Illinois at least there is also a stringent air circulation requirement that has the air in any indoor range passing through several specialty filters and being required to be totally changed every so many minutes. They also have vents that push the air away from the firing line toward the filters at the far end of the range.

Both the lead and the brass at every range I've ever been to are recycled. It's too expensive to get rid of any other way.

Don P.

there are "green" ammo alternatives being produced right now. I think they use tungsten or something. They are almost twice as much in price as the non-"green" ammo - hopefully the price will drop in the future. Some ranges have completely banned the use of non-"green" ammo. Others don't care what you bring. And there are still more, like the range I am joining in my new state of residence x( , that require you to only shoot with ammo that you buy from them and that you have to completely use up while you are there (apparently a county ordinance/agreement before they would let the range operate) - and they don't offer "green" ammo.

I became aware of this lead issue last year. I wear a respirator rated for lead when I go to the range. The range employees wear one just like it. I get some double-takes, but people used to look at hearing-protection wearers the same way. Now those same "lookers" ask you to repeat everything you say to them.:P

for example, due to Federal legislation back in the 60's or 70's, all waterfowl hunters had to switch to non-lead shot so that ducks and geese, when ingesting pellets, are not poisoned and die slowly.

As a result, all waterfowl hunters in the US use non-toxic, non-lead shot, such as steel, tungsten, and bismuth.

The Army is adopting "green" bullets, ones that decompose over time without toxicity, but still deliver the necessary downrange performance.

Brian

Thanks to everyone who responded to my question.

Wayne
(CO Liberal)

ops? I retired before it became an issue.

Lookie here: Link

The only problem I see is that tungsten is a helluva lot more expensive than lead.

And I would guess if we ever get engaged in another major war lead would make a comeback.

I did already say all that about waterfowl and lead shot.

One would think that anyone concerned about verbiage (naming no names) might bother to read what has already been said before saying it all over again ...

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...some one that is on your side of the gun issue say that they read
all of your long posts.

it's such a relief after all the idiotic RKBA rubbish to read the posts of someone honest who actually can make a logical argument..

...peddle it to someone dumb enough to believe it! :evilgrin:

I'M not the one whining that long posts are too hard to understand.

...right on top of the first one. It's starting to smell in here Ben.

that the code has an exemption for using those substances in shotshells. It would be illegal to use them in handgun ammunition.

Unfortunately, Federal law prohibits it. They call it "armor piercing".


Case in point: East German 7.62x39 MM ammo. It had a steel core, and a steel case, because it was much cheaper to produce than lead-core jacketed bullets, and steel casings are much cheaper than brass. It was banned from import as "AP" ammo.

The law is that the core of the bullet must be lead.

Talk about unintended consequences...

Cost is a factor.

for rounds that could be used in a handgun. So is steel, tungsten, iron, brass, bronze, berrylium copper, and Depleted Uranium.

Everytime I take one down on the wing from a hip draw my buddies think I'm showing off. I'm too shy to put up with the ribbing so I mostly use a scatter gun.

because State law prohibits hunting with submachineguns. I do pretty well with the clays, though. ;-)

lead is cheap and effective though.

i was reading about the Robert Blake murder case, (typical story) and was struck by the persistence of the lead residue. (see first and last paragraphs quoted below) creepy.

``...
VAN NUYS, Calif. — Forensic evidence linking Robert Blake to the gun that killed his wife crumbled Tuesday when a criminalist testifying in Blake's preliminary hearing for murder admitted that a "hobby or occupation" involving guns was enough to produce a positive test for gunshot residue.

"It could be from that association and not necessarily the recent discharge of a firearm," testified Steven Dowell, a scientist with the Los Angeles County coroner's office. ...

Another LAPD criminalist said he conducted the test on Blake's hands despite a published instruction not to test for gunshot residue on individuals who have handled guns because he wanted to "err on the side of caution." ...

Dowell also cast doubt on positive gunshot residue tests performed on Blake's clothing, noting that, in some cases, gunshot residue can remain in clothing for a year or longer. ...
...''

must be built to OSHA specs for air removal. I think the standard is the entire volume of air must be purified every 15 minutes.