The Bullet Spins to the Right ... and the Left

This is Part I. See Part II and Part III.

I'm taking a small crash course in scientific spin this morning.

The science is the recent report from the CDC about lead bullets and wild game.

What's the report say? Who know? No one has bothered to actually link to it.

According to the National Shooting Sports Association, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry, the study shows "no evidence that lead or 'traditional' ammunition pose any health risk to those who consume game harvested meat."

According to an Associated Press story headlined Government study warns of lead levels in wild game, however, the study may say something a little less comforting:

A government study says people who eat wild game shot with lead bullets tend to have higher lead levels in their blood.

The preliminary study was released Wednesday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the North Dakota Health Department.

A state epidemiologist says the study found that the more recent the consumption, the higher the lead levels.

Health officials and the CDC collected blood samples this spring from more than 700 people in North Dakota. Most were adults who ate venison from deer killed with high-velocity ammunition.

State officials are recommending that pregnant women and children younger than 6 avoid meat from deer killed with lead bullets.

The notion that this study was promulgated by "anti's," by the way, is complete nonsense. As the video, at top, makes clear, this is a debate being initiated by hunters and it is is a public health issue and is being reported and treated as such. If lead bullets are a problem for hunters consuming game, the solution is not an end to hunting, but a simple change in ammunition formulation to copper or bonded bullets. We put a man on the moon; we can make cheap bullets out of something other than a highly toxic metal, eh? Have a little more faith in America!

From what I can tease from conflicting reports, lead bullets in game elevate the lead count in the blood of those who eat that meat, but that elevation may not be enough to cause a huge health concern in and of itself.

That said, lead in the human body is a bad thing in adults, and a very bad thing in children where it leads to stunted mental abilities. Is it worse that drinking whiskey, smoking cigarettes, or inhaling paint fumes? Probably not, but without a link to the CDC report, how will we ever know?
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Update: Fact sheets and summary info on the report are linked off of here. More from the Minnesota DNR is available here. The North Dakota Dept. of Health says:

• Pregnant women and children younger than 6 should not eat any venison harvested with lead bullets.


• Older children and other adults should take steps to minimize their potential exposure to lead, and use their judgment about consuming game that was taken using lead-based ammunition.


• The most certain way of avoiding lead bullet fragments in wild game is to hunt with non-lead bullets.


• Hunters and processors should follow the processing recommendations developed by the North Dakota Department of Agriculture.


• If food pantries choose to accept donated venison or other wild game, they should follow these recommendations:
  
  ** Shot with lead bullets – Accept only whole cuts rather than ground meat. (Studies indicate that whole cuts appear to contain fewer lead bullet fragments than ground venison.)
  ** Shot with bows – Accept whole cuts or ground meat.

The x-ray picture, above, shows a rapid-expansion soft-point bullet, showing where the bullet entered and exited, and the fact that small lead shards were strewn throughout the carcass, from shoulder to flank. See the Minnesota DNR video (slide show) for more information. Click on picture to enlarge.
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