LAG whitewash?

I was interested to read today that the government have now classed alcohol as having "no safe minimum limit" which is exactly the same definition given to consumption of lead in game, and which has so exercised Mark Avery and others in their calls for a complete ban. They argue that it should be banned from a public health perspective. Will they now argue that all alcohol also be banned for the same reason? Or might they accept that as with alcohol, as adults we accept risk and manage it?

Oink oink whoosh.....
 
Apparently more lead in beer than in game shot with lead.

MPs have questioned why the use of lead ammunition is being singled out as a health concern, when the lead content of other food items is so much higher.
image: http://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/01/pint-of-beer-630x420.jpg
pint-of-beer-630x420.jpg
what's the lead content?


In a debate on lead ammunition in the House of Commons last month, Rishi Sunak, Conservative MP for Richmond, commented: “The average consumer is exposed to 60 per cent more lead from their consumption of beer. Products contributing more lead to our diets than game meat include potatoes, coffee and even everyday eggs. Simply put, all studies carried out to date show that eating game meat in moderate quantities has no effect on blood lead levels.”
[h=2]Threat from game meat extremely small[/h]Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Conservative MP for The Cotswolds, concurred: “The threat from game meat specifically is extremely small. The European Food Safety Authority has stated that lead from game meat represents 0.1 per cent of average total dietary lead exposure — significantly less than other groups such as beer and substitutes, which expose the average European consumer to 62 per cent more lead than game meat. Only 0.1 per cent of the British adult population consumes game meat at higher levels than the Food Standards Agency’s guidance.”
Charles Walker, Conservative MP for Broxbourne, posed the question: “The shooting of birds with lead shot has been going on for many centuries. Where is the public health crisis?
[h=2]Lead content in food[/h]
“Lead is present in many foods that we all consume, and in alcohol and beer, so clearly there must be some level of tolerance or we would all be dropping down in the streets.”


The debate was secured by Gerald Jones, Labour MP for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, responding to an online petition, and also considered the financial impact of a lead ban, the work of the Lead Ammunition Group (LAG) and potential alternatives to lead ammunition.
George Eustice, DEFRA minister and Conservative MP for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, commented that due to the failure of the LAG: “We have no expert consensus about the impact of lead ammunition on wildlife or on human health.”








Read more at There is say MPs - Shooting UK
 
Thanks Fisheruk - it looks like its just a matter of time before its properly and fully discredited. Its a shame about the lack of publicity - based on the assumption that the anti's would make hay at the same time.
 
Has anyone heard that the Wildlife Trusts are proposing to adopt the LAG report.:-|

I believe they are considering it, but have now realised that the deer managed in their woodlands are in fact currently being culled with lead ammo. Non lead ammo is certainly fine for culling deer, but there is an increased risk of ricochet. I cull deer for them and have highlighted the pro's and cons. For deer management, other than increased cost and reduced availability of non-lead, I am fairly ambivalent to the argument. Both work very well.
However, for shotgun use, I feel steel is inhumane. I have hit ducks full on and several times with steel and they fly off wounded where lead would have dropped them first hit. I fully get the environmental issues, but steel is not an effective alternative from what I have seen.
MS
 
I think the mere fact of using the term "Steel" shot, gives this alternative a bit more "weight" in the minds of those who know little of the realities, steel to some may sound more lethal than it's real name .. soft iron ?
 
I think the mere fact of using the term "Steel" shot, gives this alternative a bit more "weight" in the minds of those who know little of the realities, steel to some may sound more lethal than it's real name .. soft iron ?

Absolutely. People readily assume steel is better than lead because "steel is harder, right?", and so must penetrate better, failing to appreciate that it is retained energy that does the job of killing game, that retained energy is determined more by projectile density than by muzzle velocity, and that lead is a good deal more dense than steel.

Lead's unique combination of softness, high density, and availability makes it ideal as a material for projectiles shot from sporting guns of all sorts, and the risk of toxicity it represents to humans and wildlife has been absurdly exaggerated.

As regards wildfowl ingesting shot, the data here seems very muddy. I'm sure wildfowl do die from ingesting things that are harmful to them, and that lead is among these, but I've never seen any estimate of how how likely any given bird is to die from ingesting lead, as compared to any other cause of death. Though I abide by the law that requires the use of steel shot for wildfowl, I think it is misguided, and has probably caused more suffering to birds than lead ever did.
 
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