People generally reject the idea of injecting toxic substances into food, except when it involves hunting wild game. Perhaps surprising to nonhunters, up to 95% of hunters use lead projectiles, despite nonlead projectiles offering a suitable alternative. The use of nonlead projectiles eliminates lead exposure experienced through eating wild game. Hunters are not averse to using lead-free projectiles: when hunters were given free copper projectiles, 77% used these nontoxic projectiles. Physicians are in a unique position to explain the risks of lead exposure to hunting patients and their families and also explain the option of using nonlead projectiles.
Eighty percent of ground meat packages of wild-harvested deer contain lead and this lead is bioavailable. Eating meat harvested with lead projectiles increases serum lead levels, and while it has been suggested that the tissue from around the wound channel can be discarded to reduce lead exposure, there are an average of 356 metal fragments in a deer carcass after being shot with a lead projectile from a rifle. This is an impossible number of fragments to pick out by hand, especially because some of these fragments are microscopic. Regularly eating game birds harvested with lead shot may exceed World Health Organization lead intake limits, and regular consumption of large game shot with lead bullets using a rifle is likely to exceed World Health Organization lead intake limits. It is important to keep in mind that the California condor nearly went extinct largely from lead poisoning as a result of scavenging lead-shot carrion. Medically, it is clear that eating wild game harvested with lead projectiles increases lead serum levels.
As lead is one of the few substances that does not have a safe level of exposure, it is important to prevent all lead exposure. Lead has negative consequences for nearly every major physiologic system, with the central nervous system being the system classically impacted. Very low levels of lead exposure result in neurologic impairments, and as many as 7.7% of children that eat wild game harvested with lead bullets will experience a reduction of one IQ point. That magnitude of a reduction in IQ translates into a decreased lifetime earnings value of between £1319 (2042 USD) and £11,967 (18,528 USD).
Particularly because there are readily available suitable projectile alternatives to lead, such as copper, limiting the use of lead projectiles for hunting is reasonable, and California has moved to ban all lead projectiles for hunting by 2019. Physicians need to be proactive in sharing with their patients the risks of potential lead exposure through eating wild game. Often when I explain to hunters the risks associated with lead exposure, especially when considering their children, their response is, “I have been hunting for years and I am fine.” My response to them is, “but just imagine how smart you could have been.”
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-Eric J. Buenz, PhD
This article originally appeared in the May 2016 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
