Our Head of Species, Anne-Marie McDevitt, is throwing a spotlight on BirdLife International’s (of which we are a member) #BanLeadNow campaign, which is advocating for a full EU ban on lead use in hunting, sports shooting and fishing and explains why we should be taking action to consign this poison to the history books! Why ban lead?
Lead is a toxic pollutant, it has been banned from petrol, paint and pipes and yet it’s still being put into our environment through hunting, sports shooting and fishing activities.
The story so far
It has been known for a long time that lead is a harmful poison both for people and nature. The RSPB has been advocating for a long time with other organisations, both domestically and internationally, to secure a ban on lead ammunition. It is now illegal to use lead shot in European wetlands – e.g. all 27 EU member states, plus Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Northern Ireland. This law, if properly enforced, will help to save the lives of the around 1 million water birds which die of lead poisoning in EU wetlands each year. However, further progress to ban this prolific pollutant by voluntary commitments has been slow to date – you can find out more here, that’s why we need more policy change.
What’s next and how you can help
In our view, this fight is far from over as the ban doesn’t cover the use of lead ammunition in hunting outside wetlands, or in outdoor sports or fishing sinkers and lures. Under the EU REACH* Directive the European Chemicals Agency is developing a second restriction which proposes a complete ban on their use. This is one of the EU Directives that applies to us in Northern Ireland, under the Windsor Protocol. A parallel process is happening under GB REACH for the countries in Great Britain. For us, this is vital – it’s time to stop the poisoning of our environment, for both our precious nature, and our health. But the process for this wider ban has a long way to go yet; that’s why we need to help send a clear message to decision makers that we care about this ban going through. Take action to support the campaign here.