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Hunters, meat processors can reduce lead risk

No health problems have been linked to lead bullets, but

caution is advised for young children and pregnant women.

JEFFERSON CITY–People who eat venison can reduce the risk of exposure to lead bullet fragments by careful handling of the meat, according to Missouri officials.

Representatives from the Missouri departments of Conservation, Health and Senior Services (DHSS) and Agriculture met with representatives of the Conservation Federation of Missouri July 28. They discussed appropriate responses to a growing awareness of the potential presence of lead bullet fragments in hunter-killed deer in the Midwest. Missouri officials also attended a meeting of conservation, health and agriculture officials from five other Midwestern states June 4 in Bloomington, Minn., for the same purpose.

From those meetings emerged a set of guidelines for commercial or home processing of venison. Those include the following.

· Evaluate each deer carcass for suitability for human consumption.

· Examine the area around the wound channel for damage.

· Remove damaged meat, plus all meat within 3 inches in all directions of the wound channel.

· Take special care to remove blood-shot areas and meat with evidence of bone fragments or other contamination.

· Inspect carcasses after trimming, looking for bruised meat or other evidence of possible contamination. Trim further where necessary.

Another way to avoid lead is to use ammunition with bullets made of solid copper. Such ammunition and bullets for reloading are commercially available.

Conservation Department Assistant Director Dave Erickson said health officials in several states have concluded that lead in venison is not a human health crisis. They note that millions of deer and other big game animals are taken by hunters each year and eaten.

“There are no known cases of lead poisoning from this type of exposure,” said Erickson. “It simply is not something that has been encountered over many years of dealing with lead and human health. Still, lead is a toxic substance, and efforts to reduce exposure are prudent. Health officials recommend an approach that emphasizes risk management.”

State Veterinarian Taylor Woods said “We have never had an illness or case of lead poisoning by consumers eating deer, quail or pheasant, but we recommend that meat be trimmed around the wound channel to get rid of more than 98 percent of the lead.”

DHSS officials noted that children less than 6 years of age are particularly sensitive to lead exposure because of their developing bodies. Concerns for lead exposure also extend to pregnant women and women of childbearing age because they can pass lead to their unborn children.

Lead particles in hunter-harvested venison have not been linked to any human illness. However, most lead particles that have been found in venison are too small to be seen or felt. This makes careful processing important to reduce the risk of lead exposure.

Starting this fall, Missouri’s charitable venison donation program – Share the Harvest – will reimburse meat processors for disposal of donated deer if they are not considered suitable for the program.

The issue of venison contamination by lead bullets surfaced last fall, when tests of meat in North Dakota’s charitable venison donation program showed lead fragments in more than half of donated ground venison that they tested from food banks.

Following this news, Minnesota tested samples of donated venison and found lead fragments in one-quarter of them. Contamination levels varied widely depending on which processor provided the samples. Three-quarters of samples from one processor had lead particles, while some other processors’ samples showed no lead.

In expanded testing, Minnesota officials collected 1,239 samples from 39 processors. Twenty-two percent showed lead contamination. Ground venison had a much higher contamination rate than whole cuts of meat, where only 2 percent of samples were found to contain lead fragments.

In all cases, the lead particles were assumed to be fragments of rifle bullets that broke up after striking deer. In some circumstances, lead bullets break up into many pieces, some of which are too small to be seen or felt. The Minnesota DNR is researching expansion, fragmentation and residues from different bullet types.

“We are not alone in grappling with this topic,” said Erickson, who attended the June meeting in Minnesota. “A multi-state effort is taking shape where we collaborate on gathering information and informing the public about our findings.”

“At the moment, we are very short of reliable scientific information about almost every important aspect of this question,” said Erickson. “We don’t have much detailed knowledge about how different kinds of lead bullets affect the amount of lead that gets into venison or how dangerous lead fragments are to people.”

Fragments of lead bullets in game are only one of many potential sources of lead exposure. Others include lead-based paint, old water pipes and solder, soil, occupational exposure, hobbies, home remedies, jewelry, toys, and other commercially available products containing lead.

Lead exposure can occur without producing any outward signs or symptoms. Exposure to lead primarily affects the central nervous system. The only way to know if you or your child has been exposed to lead is to have a simple blood test performed by a health care provider or your local health department.

DHSS officials urge Missourians to remember that venison is a good source of lean protein as part of a healthy balanced diet. Iowa, Michigan, South Dakota and Wisconsin plan to continue their venison donation programs. In Missouri, where hunters donated more than 8 million 5-ounce servings of venison to food banks last year, officials also have decided to keep the low-fat, high-protein meat available to needy families.

“Considering the huge contribution of donated venison to feeding the hungry and the lack of evidence of ill-effects from eating venison, we decided to continue the program,” said Conservation Federation Executive Director Dave Murphy. The Conservation Federation administers the Share the Harvest program in cooperation with the Conservation Department. The Department of Agriculture licenses and inspects meat processors.

“I hunt deer myself,” said Murphy. “I wouldn’t feed venison to my family if I thought it was jeopardizing their health. But at the same time, I am concerned that we don’t know more about how lead from bullets might affect those who eat venison. We have a lot of work to do to make sure we keep Missourians fed and healthy.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga., has taken samples from several hundred North Dakota residents to compare lead levels among people who eat venison on a regular basis and those who do not eat wild game. The study includes a questionnaire to take into account such factors as age, consumption of waterfowl and upland birds and other possible sources of lead.

-Jim Low-

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