UK REACH lead ammunition review announced

Ah, it looks like I've been the victim of fake news then! Waitrose to phase out lead-shot game across its estates
There's nothing fake about that news. Elsewhere, I had read that Waitrose did this following pressure from anti-shooting activists. Regardless of whether that is correct or not, your article says that Waitrose buys game from only one game dealer. Nothing there, or anywhere else that i have read, indicates that a majority of game shot in the UK enters a commercial food chain.
 
There's nothing fake about that news. Elsewhere, I had read that Waitrose did this following pressure from anti-shooting activists. Regardless of whether that is correct or not, your article says that Waitrose buys game from only one game dealer. Nothing there, or anywhere else that i have read, indicates that a majority of game shot in the UK enters a commercial food chain.
If you watch the man from Waitrose's presentation you may inform yourself as to their policy.

 
Just read some of it and it looks to me like they are not independant in their views and want to mirror the EU lead moments regardless of what shooters think. It looks like they are aiming for a complete ban of lead regardless of hunting or target. Oh dear
Nothing like independent!
John Swift did a serious about turn considering his former job. However it appears his successors are doing the same.

So much for no science no change.

But that doesn’t suit the agenda.
 
There's nothing fake about that news. Elsewhere, I had read that Waitrose did this following pressure from anti-shooting activists. Regardless of whether that is correct or not, your article says that Waitrose buys game from only one game dealer. Nothing there, or anywhere else that i have read, indicates that a majority of game shot in the UK enters a commercial food chain.
NGDA: Statement on Lead free Ammunition.
At the National Game Dealers Association (NGDA) annual general meeting members voted to commit to sourcing all feather and fur Game as well as venison and wild boar from lead free supply chains from the 1st of July 2022.
This was agreed in order to future proof the sale of Game meat in their customers businesses, and to ensure continued consumer growth from those people seeking to enjoy our healthy delicious game products. This is a positive move for our industry to protect the environment and further assure our products in a highly competitive market place. The NGDA and its members will be working with the relevant industry groups to ensure, with this notice, our supply chains are able to make a transition.
If you have any concerns as a supplier to an NGDA member, please discuss your individual requirements with them or the NGDA.
https://www.nationalgamedealersassociation.co.uk/
 
NGDA: Statement on Lead free Ammunition.
At the National Game Dealers Association (NGDA) annual general meeting members voted to commit to sourcing all feather and fur Game as well as venison and wild boar from lead free supply chains from the 1st of July 2022.
This was agreed in order to future proof the sale of Game meat in their customers businesses, and to ensure continued consumer growth from those people seeking to enjoy our healthy delicious game products. This is a positive move for our industry to protect the environment and further assure our products in a highly competitive market place. The NGDA and its members will be working with the relevant industry groups to ensure, with this notice, our supply chains are able to make a transition.
If you have any concerns as a supplier to an NGDA member, please discuss your individual requirements with them or the NGDA.
https://www.nationalgamedealersassociation.co.uk/

Again, there's nothing in that which indicates that a majority of game shot in the UK enters a commercial food chain.
 
Can the cartridge manufacturers move that quickly, to supply the guns that are shooting the game that is then delivered into the NGDA food chain? Cartridge manufacturers have been squeaking already that even a 5 year timetable is a push. If they can't, and if as we are told, a substantial amount of the game shot in the UK enters the "official" game food chain, then the NGDA aren't going to have many birds capable of being accepted on their terms. What is that going to do to their business? hmmm....
 
Can the cartridge manufacturers move that quickly, to supply the guns that are shooting the game that is then delivered into the NGDA food chain? Cartridge manufacturers have been squeaking already that even a 5 year timetable is a push. If they can't, and if as we are told, a substantial amount of the game shot in the UK enters the "official" game food chain, then the NGDA aren't going to have many birds capable of being accepted on their terms. What is that going to do to their business? hmmm....
Perhaps they will merely import shot birds from abroad instead?
 
Perhaps they will merely import shot birds from abroad instead?
Maybe, but even then that assumes that the EU have forced the ban on lead shot through too by then, and that everyone in e.g. Hungary is shooting with non-lead already. I have a suspicion that there is a healthy reticence to adopt the EU REACH proposal in Eastern Europe - I can't see the Czechs or the Hungarians bending over any time soon to comply, but I may yet be proved wrong. Hitting a July 2022 date would also mean that the cartridge supply chains had all been reconfigured to produce a vastly greater supply of steel shot cartridges, not just in the UK but in Europe too. My sense is that it is a tall order inside 15 months, however one looks at it. Something is going to snap, somewhere.
 
Maybe, but even then that assumes that the EU have forced the ban on lead shot through too by then, and that everyone in e.g. Hungary is shooting with non-lead already. I have a suspicion that there is a healthy reticence to adopt the EU REACH proposal in Eastern Europe - I can't see the Czechs or the Hungarians bending over any time soon to comply, but I may yet be proved wrong. Hitting a July 2022 date would also mean that the cartridge supply chains had all been reconfigured to produce a vastly greater supply of steel shot cartridges, not just in the UK but in Europe too. My sense is that it is a tall order inside 15 months, however one looks at it. Something is going to snap, somewhere.
You may well be right, perhaps the relatively fewer non-lead shot birds & venison will attract a premium price if there is a shortage?
 
Maybe, but even then that assumes that the EU have forced the ban on lead shot through too by then, and that everyone in e.g. Hungary is shooting with non-lead already. I have a suspicion that there is a healthy reticence to adopt the EU REACH proposal in Eastern Europe - I can't see the Czechs or the Hungarians bending over any time soon to comply, but I may yet be proved wrong. Hitting a July 2022 date would also mean that the cartridge supply chains had all been reconfigured to produce a vastly greater supply of steel shot cartridges, not just in the UK but in Europe too. My sense is that it is a tall order inside 15 months, however one looks at it. Something is going to snap, somewhere.
They don’t give a hoot about whether or not there will be available ammunition to meet the requirement, it’s even better for the anti mob as it means less fluffy animals will be shot....just another step towards a complete ban.

regards,
Gixer
 
Anyone buying food from Waitrose or anything from John Lewis should be ashamed of themselves. I don't go anywhere near a store or supermarket that buys meat from abroad(NZ venison) Frog wine or cheese, as they should be ostracized for not buying British.😡
 
This video by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) is a few years old but given some of the views expressed on this thread I thought it might provide some useful background information on the science and evidence around the impacts of lead ammunition on the environment, wildlife and humans.



A more recent WWT video is here:

 
But it certainly represents a long term consumer trend doesn't it!
It might, but not certainly. It certainly represents a middleman trend.
There are two issues being studiously ignored in all this.
One is that the commercial market for game is only a minority of game shot.
The second is that the market for shot game is not a typical market where the producer is producing the product only to supply market demand. Game sold into the food chain is a by product. The dead game exists anyway and will continue to exist in similar quantities. Consequently, the tactic being used of having the middleman force the market to change is flawed because the usual laws of supply and demand don't function here.
The supply of dead game birds to the commercial market is a consequence of the demand to shoot them on commercial shoots. The old saying applies. For commercial shoots' game birds, the value is in the shooting. £45 for the shot, maybe as much as £1 for the bird. If a dealer doesn't want to buy the birds any more, wants to make silly stipulations which compromise the quality of the shooting and the welfare of birds, or where the gun must use ammunition which costs more than the value of the bird, then to a large extent the dealer will be left out. The commercial food chain is virtually worthless to the producer. Of much greater importance is whether the individuals supplying 99% of the income want to risk damaging their guns, or injuring more birds, for the sake of somebody else receiving 50p a bird or not.
If the middleman wants a change of behaviour, they must offer prices which incentivise it. Game dealers offer about 1% of the income of a commercial shoot. Nobody goes on a commercial shoot because they're interested in paying a grand a day to take part in supplying a food chain with a product they don't value.

The Deer Act means that all venison is also a by-product, and therefore supply also ought to be independent of demand. For venison, the meat value is a higher percentage, and using non-lead ammunition makes more sense and has less downside. Odd thing is that most venison I've seen offered in supermarkets is farmed or imported. I don't think that's because there isn't enough copper-shot venison being supplied to the market.

The whole thing is a red herring. There will never be a large-scale valuable functioning market for UK shot game. The quantity is insignificant and the demand virtually absent even at that level.
 
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