After listening to session after session of Minnesota House hearings about the dangers of lead sinkers, fishing lures and spent ammunition, we think sometimes the news is just Groundhog Day all over again.
So it was this year. At the Duluth News Tribune on Wednesday, February 2, John Myers reported in Minnesota lawmakers hear dangers of lead water pipes, ammunition:
More than 40 years after the U.S. started to phase lead out of gasoline and paint because of its destructive health impacts, especially on children, lead poisoning remains an ongoing problem for both human and wildlife health.
That was the message given to Minnesota lawmakers Wednesday during a virtual meeting of the Minnesota House Preventive Health Policy Division at the Capitol in St. Paul.
Representatives heard testimony on two bills already introduced that would help homeowners pay to replace lead water pipes in their homes and to require hunters to use nontoxic, lead-free ammunition.
Lead not only restricts brain and nerve development in children and fetuses, but it is also known to cause cancer as well as heart and nerve damage in adults. Dr. Zeke McKinney, a Minneapolis physician and president of the Twin Cities Medical Society, said lead exposure and its impacts can never be reversed but can almost always be prevented. . . .
Meanwhile, HF 2556, a bill introduced by state Rep. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, a physician, would impose an outright ban on all lead hunting ammunition.
Lead can kill eagles and other raptors that ingest lead bullet fragments or birdshot, and small pieces of lead fishing tackle kills loons that ingest them, mistaking them for small pebbles needed to digest their food. Trumpeter swans, ducks and another 120 species of birds have been found to have lead in their bloodstreams.
Lead bullets that shatter when they hit a deer also are a human health concern, tainting meat even far away from the point where the bullet struck the animal. State health officials said as much as 10% of all venison donated to food shelves in Minnesota has to be thrown out because it is contaminated with lead.
“A single piece of lead the size of a grain of rice will kill a bald eagle,” said Victoria Hall, executive director of the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center, which handled 1,000 wild birds in 2021. Hall said more than 85% of eagles admitted to the center for any problem have unhealthy lead levels in their blood and that as many as 30% die due to fatal lead levels.
The confounding problem with lead is that it is so inexpensive and so easy to work with. It is heavy, cheap and easy to mold into things like pellets for shotgun shells, fishing sinkers and jigs heads, tire weights (used to balance wheels) and other items. Many replacements are available that don’t have lead’s toxicity. But they tend to be much more expensive.
Tungsten, for example, is even heavier than lead and can be used for shotgun ammunition and fishing lures. But tungsten now goes for about $3.50 per pound while lead sells for about 25 cents.
Still, nontoxic bird shot and rifle ammunition, such as copper and steel, is widely available, effective and comparable in price to lead ammunition on store shelves.
“There is no safe level of lead exposure for anybody,” McKinney said.
Carroll Henderson, who headed the Minnesota Department of Natural Resource Non-Game Division from 1977 to 2018, said he discovered his first eagle that died due to lead poisoning nearly a half-century ago. Henderson strongly supports the bill to ban lead ammunition.
“The tragedy of lead poisoning has plagued me for 48 years of my career,” Henderson said. “How many more years will it take to make the right decision?”
The bill calls on the DNR to provide lead-free alternatives to hunters and buy back lead ammunition.
Kelly Straka, who heads the Minnesota DNR’s wildlife division, said her agency supports the “concept” of phasing out lead ammunition for hunting and will be part of ongoing discussions on the issue at the Capitol.
Representative of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the industry trade group for U.S firearms and ammunition manufacturers, and the NRA, testified against any ban on lead ammunition, saying there’s no evidence it impacts overall wildlife populations.
Wednesday’s hearing was informational only and no vote was taken.
There's more at the Duluth News Tribune but we think readers can get the picture. We're just hoping the Minnesota Legislature can learn to do the right thing, get out of this endless loop, and get the lead out for the sake of people and wildlife.
Here's the Minnesota House Information Service YouTube of the Minnesota House Preventive Health Policy Division information hearing on HF 2556:
Related posts
- Twenty-one conservation groups petition DNR to ban lead tackle, ammunition in state parks, SNAs (2021)
- Getting the lead out permanently: watch girl scout speak up for trumpeter swans (2021)
- Getting the lead out: Minnesota House considering lead fishing tackle, ammunition bills (2020)
- MN swans died of lead poisoning, likely from anglers' sinkers; use nontoxic alternatives (2019)
- MN rep says lead is a-okay because it's natural; or, poisoning is life on Planet Josh Heintzeman (2017)
- Lead shot debate: bald eagles keep dying and here's what the MN House had to say about it (2017)
Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) researchers examining 58 dead bald eagles in 2012. Sixty percent had detectable concentrations of lead; 38 percent had lethal lead concentrations. Credit: USFWS.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.
I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Comments