Thread: X-ray of shot deer

Originally Posted by No.3

Lead is not something that migrates easily - or in practical terms if you eat it as fairly sizeable chunks, it tends to go straight through with minimal absorbed into the blood stream.

If you inhale it (powder/primer dust residues) it will get absorbed much more readily than if you eat chunks.

If you ingest it as a liquid form, it's even more readily absorbed - which is why plumbing components are getting such a bad rep at the mo.

What we really need to be concerned about is not just bullet lead contamination, but the overall exposure we have from all sources. If we can minimise lead ingestion from all sources by changing a few things what's the harm?

People saying we don't have to be worried about a single source of contamination in isolation from wild shot game are correct, but if you step back and look at the bigger picture of "all source" contamination then there are bigger worries from lead of which one source may be wild shot meat.

Other sources of lead that are more prevalent include dust from paint (old houses are really bad for this), plumbing (old brass fittings and leaded solder pipework, some sealants) and chemicals that might be ingested accidentally or via food. As someone noted, it's kids, pregnant women and the elderly that are particularly affected by excess lead, if you want a good example of what excess lead can do google up the issues in areas of africa where lead has been mined and the dust from the abandoned workings is blowing over the nearby villages. The documented health effects are quite scary. Extreme case, but if you aren't aware of it and how to avoid it...

And these are the sorts of conditions (zero ppe or risk mitigation for that matter) that result in abt 1.5ml deaths globally.
Not consuming a few particles when consuming meat. Very little is absorbed into the blood in this manner.
It's breathing in microscopic dust or vapours that are risky.

Get the blood test if your worried.

But I won't be. I'll spend that money on more cup and core bullets.

Originally Posted by Oldbloke

And these are the sorts of conditions (zero ppe or risk mitigation for that matter) that result in abt 1.5ml deaths globally.
Not consuming a few particles when consuming meat. Very little is absorbed into the blood in this manner.
It's breathing in microscopic dust or vapours that are risky.

Get the blood test if your worried.

But I won't be. I'll spend that money on more cup and core bullets.

In petrochems, working with old tanks requires blood lead tests. One guy resulted in sky-high levels, which resulted in stop work and full panic stations during the project. Finally tracked down the source after a pretty thorough investigation, sanding down an old house with minimal PPE (only a dust mask) and also working on classic cars. So you can pick up concerning levels of blood lead from commonly done work in NZ...