Robert, good post! Here's what the report of the MN Nontoxic Shot Advisory Committee says:
First, they start with a set of seven principles as the focus of their report. Two of them are:
"Lead is toxic to both humans and wildlife and simply is not required for life."
"It is inevitable that lead shot will have to be restricted for all shotgun hunting at some future time."
Sort of sets the tone for the entire report, doesn't it?
In the report, the committee admits that there is no evidence of harmful effects of lead on upland game, other than doves:
"Conclusive proof regarding the effects of lead shot on other (than doves) upland game populations is lacking, but the topic has received little study to date."
The ban on lead for waterfowl came about for two reasons. First, there were studies of waterfowl that had ingested lead shot. Second, there was a lawsuit focusing on bald eagles eating crippled game birds, thus ingesting lead shot and dying. What's interesting to note here is what has happened to eagles in the interim. There's been a virtual population explosion . . . which shows that as far as eagles go, either there wasn't a significant problem in the first place, or the current restrictions are sufficient to solve the eagle issue.
So . . . we don't have any good science to go on where upland birds (other than doves) are concerned, and we no longer have a problem with eagles. But we're going to push for further lead shot bans anyhow.
Makes sense to me.
