Here is an update about the lead free issue.For those that don't know it, Liz Garst is one of teh outgoing NRC Commissioners.
Just received this e-mail update from the NRA a few minutes ago.
Iowa: Proposed Ban on Traditional Ammunition Rejected
by Governor Branstad!
As previously reported, Iowa���s Natural Resources Commission recently announced its intent to ban hunters��� use of lead shot on numerous state and federal wildlife areas across Iowa. Yesterday, Governor Terry Branstad took a strong stand for hunters��� rights by rejecting this politically-motivated proposed rule change.
The Governor exercised his authority pursuant to a recently adopted executive order when he took this decisive step to save hunters from an exhaustive fight over a scientifically unfounded and unnecessary rule change. If imposed, this ban would have had a devastating impact on sportsmen throughout the Hawkeye state.
According to the Commission, its purpose in proposing this ban was to ���begin limiting the use of lead for all hunting and fishing on all public areas.��� The proposed ban would have also designated three wildlife areas as completely ���lead free,��� including rifle ammunition and fishing tackle. The proposed ban did not mention any research showing that the use of traditional ammunition is having a negative impact on the state���s wildlife populations.
While this proposal is no longer being considered, thank you to all who opposed this proposed ban during the public comment period. Please take a moment to thank Governor Branstad for his continued support of our cherished hunting heritage. Without true leaders like him, politics would be allowed to prevail over the scientific management that has allowed wildlife to flourish throughout our country.
Please contact Governor Bradstad today and thank him for rejecting this unnecessary anti-hunting proposal. To contact the Governor, please click here.
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Written by Liz GarstNo matter what one's position on the dove-shooting debate, this raises an issue of even deeper concern to all Iowans, wildlife-watchers and hunters alike. This is the large amounts of toxic lead entering the food chain through the ongoing use of lead-based ammunition.
Although lead was phased out years ago for water-fowl hunting, it is still the ammunition of choice for many hunters of upland game. Legalizing dove shooting will have the effect of increasing the amount of lead ammo used in Iowa. In fact, research indicates that as many doves will be poisoned from eating the lead shot left in the fields as will be killed outright by the hunters.
The public has not yet fully grasped that the same toxic element that previously poisoned our paint and gasoline is also contained in the shot that pheasant and dove eaters know to watch for, and so casually spit out. But evidence is now mounting that those who consume wild game (a group that includes my own family) do have higher blood-lead levels. Not fatal levels, but measurably higher.
No matter how careful one is with cleaning the game, ingesting some lead cannot be avoided. Controlled experiments in England with lead-shot game birds, and in Idaho with lead-shot deer, make clear that the ammunition tends to fragment more than previously thought, and cannot be reliably cleaned from the meat.
As a hunter myself, once I realized the connection, I immediately switched to copper slugs for deer hunting and steel shot for pheasant hunting. Why take the risk with my health and that of my children?
Unfortunately, the use of lead ammunition year after year has been spreading this toxic element throughout the countryside. Every gut pile left behind, and every shotgun blast, is another source of lead entering the environment. Dabbling birds and ground feeders such as doves are the birds most likely to ingest this poison.
There is also harm to scavengers, such as bald eagles. As millions are transfixed by the Decorah eagle cam, my local wildlife rehabilitator just had three eagles die slow, gruesome deaths right in her hands. Eagles eat deer-gut piles and unretrievable deer carcasses, ingesting fatal lead levels. Since lead mimics calcium in the blood, it disproportionately kills the female birds. Not a pretty sight!
The Iowa Natural Resource Commission just proposed a pilot program to designate some state public hunting areas as lead-free-ammo zones. This is a long overdue measure that deserves public support. Once the governor certifies this rule, public comment can be sent to Dale.Garner
dnr.iowa.gov.
In fact, the Iowa Legislature should go further and issue a statewide ban on lead ammo use. All those I hunt with are fine with paying a few cents more for non-toxic ammo to help protect both human health and the life of our national bird.
The National Rifle Association (NRA), however, just issued an all-points alert on the proposed DNR rule, denouncing those concerned about lead toxicity in ammunition as "anti-hunting extremists, anti-gunners, and radical environmentalists."
The NRA equates wanting to require lead-free ammunition with being anti-hunting. That is like saying those who want lead-free gasoline are "anti-driving," or those who want lead-free paint are "anti-painting."
With the ban on dove hunting being lifted, it is more important than ever to make sure that our ammunition is not toxic. That is not anti-hunting, it is just common sense.
