"Shooting is pouring lead into soil"

[The_Engineer]

I read this in an industry magazine (Brownfield Briefing) and found it very interesting. FYI My background is in Environmental Science, specialising in contaminated land:

 

"DEFRA’s Lead Ammunition Group has

warned the Department that more than

5,000t of lead is being discharged into UK

soils annually by sport and vermin shooting

and is affecting wildlife and possibly

children’s health.

The Group of experts was established in

2010 and has since involved considerable

debate between shooting and scientific

interests. Its report awaits peer review and is

expected later this year, but a summary of its

findings has been released.

In a letter to environment secretary

Liz Truss, Group chairman John Swift

said around 6,000t of lead ammunition

is discharged for game and clay pigeon

shooting.

“At least 2,000t of shot used for game and

pest shooting are irretrievably and unevenly

deposited on or close to the soil surface where

it is available for ingestion by birds,” says the

summary. “It probably becomes unavailable

to them quite quickly, though it remains in

the soil and substrates for a long time with as

yet unknown consequences. Some 3,000t are

deposited on clay target shooting grounds.”

It says lead is certainly ingested by birds, in

mistake for grit, by scavengers and by raptors.

“In areas of intensive shooting lead is

taken up by some plants and soil microfauna

getting into the food chain, but the research

studies that have been done on this latter

route are limited,” concluded the Group.

The main threat they identified is the

game meat pathway. Around 10,000 children

are growing up in households where they

could regularly be eating sufficient game shot

to cause neuro-developmental harm and

other health impairments. Tens of thousands

of adults are also exposed to low-level health

effects.

The Group concluded that current

regulations on lead shot in wetlands are

ineffective and the risks go much wider.

There is no evidence that Food Standards

Agency advice is reaching its targets but safe

alternatives exist and only replacement of

lead will address the risks to human health.

But Mr Swift warned the secretary of state

the Group has become polarized and, while

an action plan might be desirable, it could

not be developed without clear direction

from DEFRA or the FSA."

 

 

 

http://www.leadammunitiongroup.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LAG-Letter-to-SoS-Environment-030615_Redacted.pdf

Edited October 6, 2015 by The_Engineer

[robbiep]

Unfortunately, the LAG had one aim from day 1. To see lead banned. They would say or do anything with the evidence to make it fit their viewpoint.

 

To make my point, the LAG have said in that summary that "only replacement of lead will address the risks to human health". But they also admit that children "could" be consuming dangerous levels of game contaminated with lead shot, with absolutely no studies or evidence to back that up. So they have utterly failed to quantify the actual risks to human health, before addressing the solution (to the problem which has not been confirmed as even existing) !

 

Sadly, the LAG forgot one critical thing. "Risk" is not what MIGHT happen, but a factor of what MIGHT happen against the likelihood of that happening.

[panoma1]

Where does lead originally come from?.....if not out of the land mass on this planet! shooters are merely conservationists..........we're just recycling it!

[Guest stevo]

Hmmm well all the clay grounds i know of . Have the lead extracted every few yrs and sold .

[Gordon R]

The Engineer - with your background - does the report seem objective or merely confirm the pre-determined aim of some of its members?

[The_Engineer]

I've not read the report in detail (yet) but the summaries I have looked at have some flawed arguments/comments. There is the potential for a risk to human health through plant uptake of lead over crop fields, however to be a genuine threat there would need to be a significant quantity of lead deposited over the field/crop and then the crops would need to uptake the lead (which is a fairly stable element) and then to be a risk someone would need to eat a considerable amount of said crop over a period of time. The issue is that lead is a blood-borne toxin and its true toxicity is very difficult to assess (human blood tests etc).

 

My issue with what I have read is the language used (Hyperbole) and they do not consider the source-pathway-receptor model. Without trying to get too technical for a contaminant like lead to pose a risk there needs to be a source (lead shot) - pathway (ingestion of crop) and receptor - (the person eating the crop) all three must be present to cause potential harm.

 

At most clay grounds/ shooting areas there is no receptor (no one eats much grown from a clay ground) and most crop fields are not shot over so much as to create a large reservoir of lead contaminant in the soil (i.e. minimal source).

 

I will read the report and give a proper opinion at some point but the gist of it seems to be some scientific method but then has been somewhat escalated and conclusions made that are a bit of a stretch (i.e. only way to remove risk is no lead, well, equally the only way to stop the risk of car accidents is to stop everyone driving. It should be about minimising risk to an acceptable level, not removing all risk). There are values for what amounts of lead etc can be in soils within allotments for example (C4SL of 80mg/kg). It would be sensible to consider that if the soil in farmland is somewhere near that then there is a risk.

Edited October 6, 2015 by The_Engineer

[The_Engineer]

Does anyone have a link to the reports so I can read them?

[JDog]

There is no doubt that many hundreds of tonnes of lead are scattered over the countryside every year. How safe or dangerous this is to wildlife depends to some extent on which organisation to believe.

[wymberley]

Does anyone have a link to the reports so I can read them?

Think they're under wraps until post peer review. Could always hope for a 'leak'.

[Rewulf]

There is no doubt that many hundreds of tonnes of lead are scattered over the countryside every year. How safe or dangerous this is to wildlife depends to some extent on which organisation to believe.

 

Agreed ,but 5000 tonnes as per the report seems like a lot to me.

How would they get this figure ?

Out of the air..

[cromwell7]

Cartridge sales?

[saddler]

Any figures on the total lead production in the UK?

 

What about the amount of lead contaminated rainwater that is the result of lead flashing on buildings? As such water will more easily enter the food chain than lead shot - esp. with plants & the like....

 

The LAG group seems to be a vested interest expense-account-heavy jolly for a select few greens & anti-shooting zealots

 

How much of a success was the lead ban from petrol? Just replaced the damage there with more of the same but from another source within the "improved" fuel

[Westward]

As an enthusiastic vegetable grower I'd be interested in how they make a connection between lead levels in the soil and uptake by edible plants. It has always been my experience that plants take in the nutrients they need and in the amounts they need according to the biology of the plant. In other words they don't take in things such as lead if they don't need it, even if its present in the soil.

[Milo]

Suggesting that children are at particular risk from eating game is cheap, sensationalist nonsense. Healthiest people I have known are those who have lived in the countryside their entire lives and have regularly eaten game from an early age.

[The_Engineer]

As an enthusiastic vegetable grower I'd be interested in how they make a connection between lead levels in the soil and uptake by edible plants. It has always been my experience that plants take in the nutrients they need and in the amounts they need according to the biology of the plant. In other words they don't take in things such as lead if they don't need it, even if its present in the soil.

In general, plants do not absorb or accumulate much lead. However, in soils high in lead some lead can be taken up by plants although it does not readily accumulate in the fruiting parts of vegetable and fruit (corn, tomatoes). Higher concentrations are more likely to be found in leafy vegetables (e.g., lettuce) and on the surface of root crops. The greater risk from eating fruit and veg from high lead concentration soils can also be from lead in soil still attached to the crop when eaten (i.e. not sterile food).

[The_Engineer]

Suggesting that children are at particular risk from eating game is cheap, sensationalist nonsense. Healthiest people I have known are those who have lived in the countryside their entire lives and have regularly eaten game from an early age.

Although I understand the point you are making you are wrong - the highest risk from ANY toxic effect from eating foods are children. They are absolutely at particular risk. I agree though that this was put in their letter misleadingly and is hyperbole/headline fishing IMO.

[The_Engineer]

Think they're under wraps until post peer review. Could always hope for a 'leak'.

Doesn't surprise me in the least and backs the thoughts of many that this is hyperbole and misleading. The usual method is: Peer review - agreement in principal - releasing of results, not release of headline generating/scaremongering letter - peer review - release of report. Usually peer review data is available for all to question. Apparently not in this case.

[poontang]

Does anyone have a link to the reports so I can read them?

 

The minutes of all the LAG meetings and other assorted stuff is contained in the link below.

 

http://www.leadammunitiongroup.org.uk/

 

Nice to hear some sensible opinions on the whole sorry saga.

[leadbreakfast]

Next they will be wanting an outright ban on lead pencils incase children consume it. Ha ha

[LeadWasp]

No body ever mentions, in order to put these sort of figures into perspective, the lead contamination from mining (e.g. Mendips) or the arsenic (Cornwall) or the rampant levels of anthrax in the soils in former fulling areas, or the levels of benzene ring nasties in former brownfield sites that are now housing estates with lots of 'organic' veg being grown in the gardens!

[Bobba]

An anorak moment over coffee!! with all the talk about the "ton" no agency defines whether it is a short ton 2000 lbs (USA)' long ton 2240 lbs (imperial)or metric tonne 2204 lbs approx.

A quick calculation is that there are 32,000 ounces in a short ton x 6000 tons of lead allegedly used for game and clay pigeon shooting at, say, 1 oz lead per cartridge = 192 million cartridges.

Is this feasible? Or am I missing something?

[Underdog]

If they whom wrote the report drive a diesel they are releasing particles know to cause heart and lung diseases. Cancers too!

But I don't point my finger at them so screw you LAG.

[Rewulf]

An anorak moment over coffee!! with all the talk about the "ton" no agency defines whether it is a short ton 2000 lbs (USA)' long ton 2240 lbs (imperial)or metric tonne 2204 lbs approx.

A quick calculation is that there are 32,000 ounces in a short ton x 6000 tons of lead allegedly used for game and clay pigeon shooting at, say, 1 oz lead per cartridge = 192 million cartridges.

Is this feasible? Or am I missing something?

 

Its feasible,but is it a fact ?

I use around 1200 carts a year.

I know people who use a lot more,a farmer who only shoots occasionally will use a lot less.

Are there 150,000 people in this country that use 1200 carts per year on average ?

Thats what you need to arrive at this figure.

I know there are many more registered shotguns than that,but some are rarely used,and some owners have multiple guns.

Yes it could be done on cart sales,but that doesnt mean they have been fired.

Unless LAG have done a survey on how many carts a year are used across a broad spectrum of shotgun users,they have as I suspect,just thought of a round figure.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Rewulf

[robbiep]

Charlie Bull (justcartridges) reckoned a while back that in the busy season they sell 250,000 cartridges a week.

 

For another point, my clay club (operates 25 sundays a year) we usually have 40 to 60 (call it 50 on average) members attending, shooting 100 cartridges each. That's 125,000 cartridges a year, and we are quite a small club. All lead, I'd imagine, as we are fibre wad only.

[Savhmr]

An anorak moment over coffee!! with all the talk about the "ton" no agency defines whether it is a short ton 2000 lbs (USA)' long ton 2240 lbs (imperial)or metric tonne 2204 lbs approx.

A quick calculation is that there are 32,000 ounces in a short ton x 6000 tons of lead allegedly used for game and clay pigeon shooting at, say, 1 oz lead per cartridge = 192 million cartridges.

Is this feasible? Or am I missing something?

 

In the UK, they'll be referencing SI units which is metric tonnes = 2201 Lbs = 35,216 oz or 1,000,000 grammes

 

That approximates to 33,333 cartridges per tonne assuming an average 30g (or just over 1 oz) load.

 

If the average regular game shooter fires 1000 cartridges per season, that would equate to roughly 333 guns per season per tonne of lead distributed. If there are say 150,000 regular shooters in the UK, then that equates to about 450 tonnes per year which is a fraction of the pollution caused by vehicles or industry or any other statistically significant source.

 

According to DEFRAs own figures, there were about 48,600 tonnes (or 27% of total PM10 emissions) of black carbon diesel particulates discharges into the atmosphere alone in 2001. Cars may be a little cleaner now but there are more of them so I'd expect emissions to be not that different, especially given the number of VWs about

 

There is a more readily damaging link between pollutant, receptor and direct health risk from diesel particulates, especially on children, as they are directly breathed, so what we can (very non scientifically) say from these statistics is that:

 

Diesel particulates are an order of magnitude far more influential on public health than lead shot ever was or ever is likely to be given that the pollutant, receptor and ingestion paths drastically reduce effects of lead shot as any sort of statistically significant public health risk.

 

That, as we all suspect, it is simply a political agenda point being part of the thin end of a "ban shooting" campaign in the UK by various ill informed antis and the campaign is without any real scientific credibility, so should be treated with the derision it deserves. Unfortunately for us, we cannot afford to become apathetic, because the powers that be are being informed as much by misinformation as information and also have political protectionist considerations, therefore we need to keep on fighting our corner and supporting our shooting organisations to do likewise or we will wake up one morning to find things have changed for the worse.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Savhmr