Everybody feeling mellow? Comfy and content in the belief that, except for those wackos in CA, nobody is going to come for your lead ammo?
Well then, let me just upset that apple cart for you. The Center For Biological Diversity, in concert with a couple of other organizations, today filed a petition to force the EPA to ban lead ammunition and fishing tackle… not just in “The Land of Fruits and Nuts”, folks, but all over the country.
The rhetoric itself is pretty much unchanged. Here are the introductory paragraphs from today’s CBD press release:
WASHINGTON— A coalition of conservation, hunting and veterinary groups today filed a formal petition with the Environmental Protection Agency requesting a ban on the use of toxic lead in hunting ammunition and fishing tackle. Major efforts to reduce lead exposure to people have greatly reduced the amount of lead in the environment, but toxic lead is still a widespread killer in the wild, harming bald eagles, trumpeter swans, endangered California condors and other wildlife.
“It’s long past time do something about this deadly – and preventable – epidemic of lead poisoning in the wild,” said Jeff Miller of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Over the past several decades we’ve wisely taken steps to get lead out of our gasoline, paint, water pipes and other sources that are dangerous to people. Now it’s time to get the lead out of hunting and fishing sports to save wildlife from needless poisoning.”
An estimated 10 million to 20 million birds and other animals die each year from lead poisoning in the United States. This occurs when animals scavenge on carcasses shot and contaminated with lead bullet fragments, or pick up and eat spent lead-shot pellets or lost fishing weights, mistaking them for food or grit. Some animals die a painful death from lead poisoning while others suffer for years from its debilitating effects.
“The science on this issue is massive in breadth and unimpeachable in its integrity,” said George Fenwick, president of American Bird Conservancy. “Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies show continued lead poisoning of large numbers of birds and other animals, and this petition is a prudent step to safeguard wildlife and reduce unacceptable human health risks.”
American Bird Conservancy, Center for Biological Diversity, Association of Avian Veterinarians, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and the hunters’ group Project Gutpile are asking for the ban under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which regulates dangerous chemicals in the United States.
We’ve heard or read all of this before, and those who’ve bothered to dig deeper have learned that there’s not a ton of substance underneath the sensationalistic language. With the arguable exception of the California Condor, no species is at risk or even being “decimated” by spent lead ammo, lead bullet fragments, or fishing weights. To be sure, there certainly is some mortality. Whether it’s as high as the CBD’s “estimated 10 to 20 million animals” or not is subject to argument, but anyone who has bothered to review the research must concede that some deaths are occurring.
Is this acceptable? Well, that’s a definite point of contention and a philosophical debate that belongs anywhere but the floor of a bureaucratic agency such as the EPA.
As far as a human health risk, the science simply isn’t there. Sure, as I’ve mentioned before, I’d have some concerns about feeding significant amounts of lead-killed game to young children or pregnant/nursing mothers. However, those concerns can be simply alleviated without the burden of legislation banning ammunition. Proper processing alone can eliminate the majority of risk, and this has been demonstrated in studies conducted in North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. But even without the precautions, the real threat of lead toxicity from ammunition is largely unproven.
In short, the situation is not nearly as grave (for wildlife or humans) as the Center for Biological Diversity would paint it to be. The press release is misleading, and the petition to the EPA is little more. It’s offensive to me, as someone who simply wants to know the truth and to do the best thing. I’d like to trust someone to give me that truth, but the recent actions of the CBD show more a fringe agenda than the mainstream message I thought they once promoted. Like so many other organizations, they’re trying to create a black and white issue out of something far more complex. The whole thing reeks.
So, to the petition… I’m afraid they have leverage here, using the terms of the Toxic Substances Control Act to compel the EPA to take action. My non-lawyer read on this is that it’s the groundwork for a lawsuit. If the EPA does not take positive action on the petition, the CBD and gang will use this as the basis to sue the Federal Government to force a lead ban.
What can we do about it? I’m honestly not sure. I’d like to get all Pollyanna and say that we can leverage the power of the blogosphere to challenge and stop this thing, but in light of the CA lead ban, AB962 (the ban on mail-order sales of handgun ammo), and other similar legislation in which the affected parties (hunters and shooters) sat on their thumbs, I don’t have much hope left for that kind of thing. I’m all for doing what I can to get the word out, but the apathy I’ve witnessed so far doesn’t inspire a lot of faith in America’s hunting and fishing community.
Besides, the insidious thing about this tactic by the CBD is that it would be pretty tough for a grass-roots movement to have an impact at this level… at least in any kind of timely manner. We can raise all kinds of hell, but the EPA isn’t really tasked with listening to “the people.” With mid-term elections only a couple of months away, representatives are going to be far more interested in the big ticket issues, and not very willing to seem anti-environment anyway (who wants to be seen voting against saving the bald eagles?).
I’m afraid the best we can hope for right now is that the industry, through the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) and the NRA, will be able to counter the CBD’s claims with enough evidence to keep the EPA from taking action. That will lead to a lawsuit, of course, but that’s the kind of thing I expect the NRA to use my membership money to fight (yeah, I can be a little naive for a cynic).
So here I sit…hopefully hopeless.