Consumption of lead shot

mr.orange

mr.orange

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East of the Rockies, West of the Rest.
I was wondering if anyone here has ever suffered any ill effects from consuming lead shot from upland game birds. CDC seems to suggest that no one in one of their test case studies showed levels greater than 10 ug/dl (micrograms/decilitre) from all game animals combined. Symptoms occur at 40 ug/dl in adults, and at 60 ug/dl in children. Would be interested in hearing about your personal experiences...thanks.
 
I would check for shot when i was preping the bird for cooking. Anything that looked like a wound was checked, i still missed the odd one but usually found them with my teeth. Ouch. Never worried about swallowing the rare one, it`ll come out fairly quickly.
 
Around here with two large power plants buring over 4 million tons of coal a year through open stacks a bit of lead from a bird is the least of our worries.
However we were exposed to it daily at work so would be tested at least every 24 months and even with that plus all the shooting I did plus reloading to add to the mix I never failed any tests including hair analysis.

Some good reading on it here

http://www.eco-usa.net/toxics/chemicals/lead.shtml
 
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I don't think inorganic lead is all that easy to absorbed. I think it has to methylated in order for your body to readily absorb it.
 
When I was just a kid living on the farm, I used to keep a few pellets in my mouth for handy access for reloading the pellet gun and shoot mice and pigeons...
Being a young teenager and having a few farm girls come over... the pellets seemed to put more lead in the pencil, than in the vermin.:)
 
My buddy lived in Europe and went for a yearly physical which included X-rays.

First time at this lab and after the scan the technician -out of the blue- asked him how his rabbit stew was the night before. :confused:
Buddy could not believe HOW the technician guessed it correctly, until he showed him the X-ray with a couple of pellets in his stomach :)
 
None that I've noticed. My profile is similar to .17's.
I'm just about to have my lead levels checked, so I'll find out for sure.
I'll post them in about 2 months when I get the test done (next doc's appt.)
 
Suka said:
I'm thinking this must have been a trend with us farm kids, and no ill effects either. :D

I'd be more worried about breaking a tooth on the stupid steel shot we must use now. :mad:
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Another farm kid here who did the same. It seemed to be the fastest and quietest way to get another pellet and get loaded before the starling you just missed ( or his buddy) flew away.
 
Even us city kids did the pellets in the mouth trick.

I remember eating duck and spitting the shot out on our plates. Never thought anything of it and haven't noticed any lead health issues.
 
Isn't arsenic used to harden lead shot in the factory? Maybe it's not lead levels that you should be worried about :confused:
 
People have been eating game and birds shot with lead and lead pellets for hundreds of years and i haven't heard of it killing 1 person, and if it did, they aren't talking.
 
c-fbmi said:
7mmlefty said:
When I was just a kid living on the farm, I used to keep a few pellets in my mouth for handy access for reloading the pellet gun and shoot mice and pigeons...


And another,and I'm still healthy too in fact about 50 lbs too healthy !!
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Few? Half a can? I wonder if I ever swallowed some.

We used to see who could get the most pellets on target the fastest from standing position. Target usually a can.
Ain't killed me yet, and blood tests show I'm in the normal lead range.
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DFarmer said:
Another farm kid here who did the same. It seemed to be the fastest and quietest way to get another pellet and get loaded before the starling you just missed ( or his buddy) flew away.
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Yet another farm kid who carried extra pellets in his mouth. Worried about if for a long time, the whole "reproductive harm" warning on the package that appeared after I'd been doing it a long time scared the bejeebus out of me. Then I had a healthy son, and well, don't worry so much anymore. Won't let him do it though. Bit plenty of lead fishing weights to crimp em on the line too.
 
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