Should we worry about all the lead?
- Thread starter Geared4fun
- Start date
The lead we leave in the ground is microscopic compared to the mega-tons of toxic waste being dumped into our rivers by industries cheating to save money over EPA rules and regulations. And...if you think that is bad, go to Mexico, or any third world nation. San Diago bay and beaches are closed on a regular basis due to contamination from the Tijuana river spewing raw sewage, untreated toxic waste, and heavy metal contaminates into the ocean.
I'm not saying lead is a good or bad thing. What I am saying is there are a LOT more dangerous waste products that need our consideration, and action, before we start recovering a few grams of lead from our back yards.
Kindly 'Ol Uncle
"...war is the most widespread cause of fatal lead poisoning!"
I'm not saying lead is a good or bad thing. What I am saying is there are a LOT more dangerous waste products that need our consideration, and action, before we start recovering a few grams of lead from our back yards.
Kindly 'Ol Uncle
"...war is the most widespread cause of fatal lead poisoning!"Upvote 0
Catching lead is the best we can do right now. But...what to do with it after we collect it???
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The lead we leave in the ground is microscopic compared to the mega-tons of toxic waste being dumped into our rivers by industries cheating to save money over EPA rules and regulations. And...if you think that is bad, go to Mexico, or any third world nation. San Diago bay and beaches are closed on a regular basis due to contamination from the Tijuana river spewing raw sewage, untreated toxic waste, and heavy metal contaminates into the ocean.
I'm not saying lead is a good or bad thing. What I am saying is there are a LOT more dangerous waste products that need our consideration, and action, before we start recovering a few grams of lead from our back yards.
Kindly 'Ol Uncle
Agree. It's a concern but seemingly a minor one in view of the larger issues around.
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I agree that there are much larger scale concerns we should worry about out there but this in not really about that, we don't live in a third world country and i haven't been to San Diego bay in over a decade but I do go into my back yard almost daily and so do most of us, who here can say their kids have never played in the same area of the yard where we do our shooting before? Someone suggested sifting the dirt like archaeologist do but I find that to be a impractical solution mostly because I'm too lazy to do it and secondly because I'm way too lazy to do it.
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It's kind of a simple solution. If your worried about the lead your putting out there, switch to lead-free. Not rocket science.
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Metallic lead, especially in the ground, isn't much of a concern. The issue in Detroit was not metallic lead but lead-carbon compounds and other lead compound chemicals formed when ignorance drove Detroit water policy.
Picking up after yourself is probably the safest and most responsible method to mitigate lead-caused harm, but lead in soil is notoriously difficult for plants to absorb. This makes lead remediation efforts more difficult but ensures lead in topsoil has close to zero impact on plant and animal life.
The biggest potential wildlife issue may be lead pellets in bird gizzards. In order for that to have a long term effect one would have to shoot copious amounts of pellets into a small area large numbers of fowl frequented for picking stones. That seems unlikely, but picking up after yourself would definitely minimize that concern.
Washing your hands before eating is just good policy regardless of the activity.
A bucket of deformed lead pellets might be a welcome donation to someone who casts their own bullets. One might try a gun club.
Picking up after yourself is probably the safest and most responsible method to mitigate lead-caused harm, but lead in soil is notoriously difficult for plants to absorb. This makes lead remediation efforts more difficult but ensures lead in topsoil has close to zero impact on plant and animal life.
The biggest potential wildlife issue may be lead pellets in bird gizzards. In order for that to have a long term effect one would have to shoot copious amounts of pellets into a small area large numbers of fowl frequented for picking stones. That seems unlikely, but picking up after yourself would definitely minimize that concern.
Washing your hands before eating is just good policy regardless of the activity.
A bucket of deformed lead pellets might be a welcome donation to someone who casts their own bullets. One might try a gun club.
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I also shoot my lead at plywood. I started using old carpet scraps stapled to the face of the plywood. It does a pretty good job of catching any that would bounce off. It does wear out tho, just put another scrap on. I wouldn't worry to much about lead on the ground. You might be surprised how much lead is in water. The health department says water with a TDS of 600ppm is acceptable and safe to drink. 400ppm is considered good. Most bottled water is 30-100ppms.I worked for a livestock feed production plant, you should be more worried about what's in the animal protein at your local grocery store. Some places have outlawed the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting, but no regulations regarding fishing. I am a fan of coated pellets, just wish they didn't have an added cost
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