When hunters want ammunition providing deep and effective penetration into the meat of game animals, they logically choose larger shot sizes and bigger heavier bullets. They have chosen lead for centuries because it is relatively inexpensive, and has the density to provide deep penetration and retention of energy. In addition, biting into a small piece of bullet or shot is far less likely to cause a fractured tooth than some of the much harder alternatives like steel or tungsten.
So now you have anti-lead ammo propaganda making the absurd claim that tiny fragments of lead, particles smaller in diameter than a human hair or dust, somehow defies physics and has the ability to penetrate far beyond the wound channel in meat or ballistics gelatin. If you believe this nonsense, maybe you should be loading your shells with lead dust instead of shot or bullets.
A number of guys here actually swallow this bullshit. Of course, any exposure to lead from any source will naturally increase the risk that some minute quantity may enter your system. But "risk" and an actual quantifiable number of hunters being diagnosed and treated for elevated blood lead levels are two dramatically different things. We are all exposed to nanometer sized lead particles across the United States on a daily basis because aviation gas still contains lead. This situation was much worse before the EPA phased out leaded gas for vehicles beginning in the 1970's.
Our ability to detect and our ability to understand her two separate things.
There is no epidemic of lead poisoning among hunters. But they overlook that.
However, there is a difference between outright lead poisoning and subclinical effects: I can't afford to lose any more IQ points than I already have.
Clapper Zapper is correct, there is not any epidemic of lead poisoning among hunters. In fact, it is actually quite rare, and nearly always due to non-ammunition sources of lead, such as old paint, plumbing, pesticides, batteries, industrial processes, etc.
I can also vouch for what LGF is so concerned about. If I had his apparent I.Q. level, I couldn't afford to lose any points either.
