Lead ingestion health risks

[Southern Lights]

The point they’re likely making is it’s WELL KNOWN that if you eat a chunk of lead it will pass through and be expelled out the old shoot. Your body isn’t dissolving and absorbing a lead bullet anymore than it would a rock you ate. Now factor in the chunks of lead you may eat in game meat are 1. small and 2. not a daily occurrence the risk of increased blood lead levels is nill. So no harm done in eating a lead bullet fragment. No one is likely arguing eating lead is good for you.

Now, if you’re eating or breathing lead dust or lead paint which is highly digestible you’re going to be in trouble. Lead bullets aren’t exceptionally digestible. This topic is consistently WAY overblown.

Again I state there are two primary lead contamination areas hunters need to think about:

1) Lead in game meat. (low)
2) Lead in primers. (high)

Lead in primers is by far the bigger issue and likely where most lead exposure will happen. It is in a form that can be easily absorbed and many shooters handling spent cases, etc. are doing it. If I could source lead free primers here I'd have switched already. That would be a good place for shooters to start if they are concerned with lead is to get rid of the primer residue exposure.

Lead in meat is lower exposure risk, but I'm certainly not going to go out of my way to eat it and neither is anyone else if they know it's present in their food.

The main issue I have had with lead bullets is the amount of meat I need to throw out due to damaged tissue and likely lead presence. So again I say, if I have an alternative that doesn't use lead why would I not want to try it?

EDIT: Fiocchi makes lead free primers and I see CCI is doing it as well. I use some of the Fiocchi lead free 223 ammo with my kids as I don't want them handling lead residue. If you are in the US, you can probably source lead free primers for reloading and it would eliminate major lead exposure risk for shooters.