Setting all the emotion aside; as I recall the only remotely scientific evidence that was ever published tying lead to waterfowl mortality had to do specifically with Mallards [only Mallards] ingesting corn when lead shot was present in their gizzards. Its been a long while since I was looking into all of that, but that was the the only ref that I EVER saw or was aware of that made any remotely scientific connective link. I remember opening the gizzards of some several hundred assorted ducks taken in N. TX over several seasons. I found 67 that had lead pellets in their gizzards. All were healthy when taken and in full flight and were subsequently retreived to bag, cleaned and consumed. One must remember that one does NOT become 'mad as a hatter' by rolling a few drops of Mercury around in their hand from a broken thermometer. In today's world of misinformed & idiots, an emergency response TEAM is needed to even begin to fathom the evil from such an incident. Misinformation has always been around, but it travels faster today and is given more weight when it is repeated by pretty people and given even further creedence through tort law decisions.

edit: Please, this is not meant to call any participants here idiots, nor is in intended to deny that lead & a number of other elements can cause certain types of poisoning if absorbed [that being the more appropriete term, since there is a distinct dif between consumption and absorbsion] in sufficient quantity. This issue is primarily one of objectivity getting in the way of the objective .. and it ain't remotely about saving wildlife, just as the legislation that created the EPA wasn't about protecting the environment. Grow up, people.

Nonetheless, there is good that comes from dialogue and discussion and from honest research and discovery. Its the classic insitu of, " .. whose ox is being gored?"

Me? I'm making another contribution directly to the NRA-ILA. The waterfowl issue is a dead duck here already, sanity sat aside and let it happen. Lets not stay the same path for upland game.