Bald eagle in crosshairs of US fight over lead bullets

[SatCong]

The bald eagle that came into wildlife rehabilitator Belinda Burwell's care last month, just as the hunting season was coming to a close in North America, was a shadow of its former self.

The stiff and wobbly bird clung to life but showed distinct signs of lead poisoning, likely from scavenging the remains of big game left by hunters who killed their prey with lead bullets.

"She couldn't walk, couldn't fly," said Burwell. "If she tried to move, she would fall over, she would stumble."

The dangers of lead have been well known for decades, and steps have been taken to prevent human consumption by removing it from paint, gasoline, pipes, children's jewelry and more.


Bald eagle in crosshairs of US fight over lead bullets - Yahoo! News Canada

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Rock and Glock]

The Center for Biological Diversity is a bunch of wackos from the flat earth society fringes that got kicked out of Global Warming Now, Green Peace and the Occupy Movement for extremist views. No science behind them at all - only agendas.

[HotGuns]

It's all BS.

I've got a lead .22 bullet in my arm that has been there since 1977. I'm still here.

Most people know that the body passes out any foreign substance that is not supposed to be there. For hundreds of years, people ate lead shot that was in food killed by shotguns. All they did was pass it out. The biggest hazard from lead shot was from chipping a tooth on something that was killed with it.

Lead goes back into the earth in almost the same form that it came from.

A posted online a host of peer-reviewed studies on the effects of lead on wildlife, with some figures showing as many as 10-15 percent of young eagles die each year from lead poisoning.

Pure speculation. Unless the figures showed the exact amount of eagles that were born, (something that they could never know)and exactly what they ate, there is no way that they could come up with a valid percentage.

The science for a lead ban will not pass any close scrutiny because it is based on nothing other than emotionalism. Most educated gun owners have enough sense to be able to separate the facts from the speculation.

Still, the junk science pops up.

Cant ban the guns? Ban the ammunition.

[Bark'n]

More than likely the Eagle had mercury poisoning from eating too much Salmon out of the river, with lead bullets being totally irrelevant.

[chiefjason]

"Environmental groups say 20 million birds die worldwide each year from eating bits of lead in animal carcasses, because many US hunters use lead ammunition which leaves 3,000 tons of toxic fragments in gut piles and unclaimed kills."

6,000,000 lbs of lead ammo left in carcasses? Wow. FWIW, I don't know many folks that shoot animals in the gut, or leave them behind. Inflated much?

Also, the EPA cannot ban lead ammo. They are currently restricted from doing it. From a 2010 letter,

“EPA today denied a petition submitted by several outside groups for the agency to implement a ban on the production and distribution of lead hunting ammunition. EPA reached this decision because the agency does not have the legal authority to regulate this type of product under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) – nor is the agency seeking such authority."