|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
Selected Articles from our newsletterThe C.A.S.H. CourierARTICLE from the Winter 2009 IssueLet’s Hope that Lead is Dead But the NSSF Says Lead is Edible and Delicious!No, the NSSF is not a government health department this time, it’s the National Shooting Sports Foundation. They put out a press release in which they claimed that there’s nothing wrong with hunting with lead bullets. They’re worried because California legislators are considering a ban on the use of lead ammunition. The NSSF claims that hunters will just stop hunting and it will result in terrible deprivation to the economy. Joe Miele, President of C.A.S.H. sent out the following letter to newspapers around the country: A recently published press release from the National Shooting Sports Foundation exposed the organization as caring very little about the environment and the health of wildlife populations. The Foundation is up in arms that a proposed ban on lead ammunition may become law. Because lead is a severe neurotoxin, and an unknown number of wild animals and fish are poisoned each year after ingesting lead pellets and sinkers. Lead ammunition also endangers the poor. Last year, a North Dakota physician and big game hunter found lead bullet fragments in sixty percent of meat samples that were donated to food pantries. As a result, the state Department of Health ordered food pantries to discard the venison they had not yet distributed. Instead of showing concern for the environment by supporting the elimination of toxic shot, hunting interest groups are more concerned with hunters who are too lazy or stubborn to switch to a different kind of ammunition. If special interest groups succeed in keeping this toxic ammunition legal, perhaps they should bear the burden of funding the clean-up of the poisonous heavy metal from the areas where it is found. Hunting is a violent practice that destroys wildlife and the natural world. To learn what you can do to stop these polluters visit http://www.abolishsporthunting.com . -------------------------------------------- In a Nov. 12th article that appeared on www.jhguide.com, a University of Montana graduate student said that lead bullet fragments in offal piles could be poisoning Greater Yellowstone grizzly bears as they scavenge the remains of big game during hunting season. Studies on ravens and eagles yielded the same results. Eleven bears sampled outside of hunting season didn’t show any signs of lead in their blood. Yet 45% of those sampled during hunting season showed elevated blood lead levels defined as 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter. Lead stays in the bloodstream for two weeks before it gets deposited in organs and other tissues. It can cause serious health problems in children including stomach pain, anemia, lower intelligence and poor school performance. There are plans for looking at lead contamination in blood and scat of black bears, cougars, wolves, and coyotes. As coyotes are mostly scavengers, they are the most vulnerable. Lead bullets shatter on impact, spreading fragments throughout the meat. Hunters typically leave the animal’s organs behind and the shot flesh. These offal piles are a food source for scavengers such as bears, eagles, and ravens. Scientists think this type of lead poisoning has hampered efforts to repopulate the endangered California condor. In North Dakota, health officials recommend that parents not feed game meat killed with lead to children 6 years and younger. -------------------------------------------- David Kveragas, a prominent anti-hunter in Pennsylvania made the following connection when he sent this out: There was an article in the paper today (it was national so it may be in yours) about how motorcycle shops are being prohibited from selling or repairing many types of bikes for young children. This is all under the new federal regs concerning lead contamination. Seems the engines in many of the bikes have too much lead per the new law. Seems to me if they are legally prohibited from riding a motorbike because of minute lead content, the same kids should be prohibited from handling guns and ammo with lead content also. -------------------------------------------- Let’s not forget that the animals die a painful lingering death. Ann Fanizzi of Putnam County, NY wrote: The other night I saw on CT TV the most heartbreaking sight: that of a bald eagle slowly and excruciatingly dying from lead-poisoning ingested from bullets encased in carcasses of hunter-killed deer. I believe it was in Yellowstone. I couldn’t stand to watch it. Go on to Next Article |