Groups target lead in ammo, tackle – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

By Bob Frye, TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Lead is a common ingredient in ammunition and fishing tackle such as sinkers, but should it be?

Some say no.

A coalition of groups — the American Bird Conservancy, Center for Biological Diversity, Association of Avian Veterinarians, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and hunters’ group Project Gutpile — filed a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency asking for a ban on the use of lead in ammunition and fishing tackle.

It is being sought under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which regulates dangerous chemicals. The petition references almost 500 scientific studies, “most of which have been peer-reviewed, that starkly illustrate the widespread dangers from lead ammunition and fishing tackle,” according to a press release from the American Bird Conservancy.

The groups claim that 3,000 tons of lead are shot into the environment in the United States through hunting every year, that another 80,000 are released at shooting ranges and that 4,000 are lost in ponds and streams as fishing lures and sinkers. That poses a threat to birds such as bald eagles — the release called lead “a widespread killer in the wild” — and to people, who eat meat from game taken by lead bullets.  Click Link Below for Full Story!

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