....They got the waterfowl ban because they showed ducks that had died from lead poisoning. So it's only "fair and balanced" to expect them to produce the same kind of evidence they produced back then.
The problem with this is that much of the evidence from "back then" was not properly vetted. It is one thing to show heart wrenching pictures of dying ducks, or eagles for that matter, and quite another to prove that lead poisoning is the cause. And a couple pieces of shot or bullet fragments in a gizzard or digestive system also does not prove that hunters ammunition is the source of the bulk of lead in a birds system. There are many other environmental sources of lead and lead poisoning that are far more efficient at getting elemental lead into vertebrate systems.
Scientific evidence is frequently manufactured. Fudging of data by agenda driven people is much more common than you think. Animal rights groups such as PETA, HSUS, the Audobons, etc., are not beyond littering or cutting farmers fences so that blame will be placed on hunters. We all know, or should know, about the manufactured false data that was used by East Anglia University and Penn State University to support the Global Warming hypothesis. Remember all the hoopla about so-called "Cold Fusion" back in the 1990's that did not stand the test of peer review and replication in the lab?
Every duck or eagle that is alive today will die from something. None are immortal. Pictures of dead or dying birds alone are not proof of lead poisoning, and neither are a couple pieces of lead shot. Especially when that evidence is provided by anti-hunting organizations. Harry Whittington, the man accidentally shot by Dick Cheney, has up to 200 pieces of lead shot remaining in his body without being sickened from lead poisoning. 200 pieces of lead shot has a lot more surface area than a single lodged bullet or a few bullet fragments. Lead poisoning can and does occur from lodged bullets, but it is rare. Lead exposed to digestive acids will dissolve and be absorbed into the bloodstream much more readily, but it will typically just pass through and be excreted before it dissolves enough to cause poisoning. Just some things to think about before you willing give up lead ammunition to agenda driven anti-hunters.
