Lead groups

I've written a few times about the issue of lead, and announced in this blog last October that the RSPB was phasing out the use of lead ammunition for deer and predator control on our nature reserves.  Our decision came after hearing the results of US experience on the subject at an international conference in the USA and carrying out detailed trials of non-lead alternative bullets on our nature reserves.

This x-ray image of a roe deer shot with a lead bullet on our nature reserve at Abernethy shows the tiny fragments of lead that break off from a bullet and are scattered widely through a carcass.  The fragments are so tiny that they can't be removed before cooking, with obvious potential implications for wildlife and humans ingesting such carcasses.

Now Defra and the Food Standards Agency have set up a group to look at these issues - and I'll be a member of the group.  The group will be chaired by John Swift, the Chief Executive of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation and has representatives of shooting bodies, gun and ammunition manufacturers and others on board.

Reaction within the shooting community is mixed.  James Marchington has commented on it in his blog, the Shooting Times reported very factually (see - they can sometimes!) on the issue as it was presented at a deer management conference and the Countryside Alliance has decided it's a plot!  Not a bad reaction all in all! 

I see that the RSPB has been described as vehemently anti-lead - not so, but we are pleased that government is looking at this issue which we believe is of potential importance for wildlife and human health.  Whenever new evidence is available we must check out its implications.  

The Countryside Alliance is reported (by James Marchington) as saying that its role on the group will be to 'robustly represent the shooting community'.  I'm sure they mean 'look at the evidence and consider the public good'. The Countryside Alliance has a long-running Game to Eat campaign.