Matt Vanderpan
Active member
Lead advisory forces N.D. food pantries to pull venison
By James MacPherson
Associated Press - 03/27/2008
BISMARCK — State health officials have told food pantries in North Dakota to throw out donated venison, saying it may have lead fragments. And the doctor who discovered the fragments is urging hunters who shot deer with high-velocity lead bullets to discard the meat.
Health officials found that samples from vension destined for food pantries tested “strongly positive” for lead, said Sandi Washek, the Health Department’s lead coordinator.
Washek said about 17,000 pounds of venison was donated in North Dakota this year through the Sportsmen Against Hunger program in which hunters donate their deer to the needy.
The venison was given to about 110 pantries in North Dakota, Washek said.
“There are still 4,000 to 5,000 pounds out there in pantries,” she said Wednesday. “We’re asking all the food pantries to throw it out in a landfill and not throw it out on garbage day, so no one will rifle through it.”
Health officials say children age 6 and younger and pregnant women are at greater risk for lead poisoning, which can cause confusion, learning problems and convulsions, and in severe cases can lead to brain damage and death. Washek said Wednesday that no sickness has been reported from potentially lead-tainted venison.
Dr. William Cornatzer, a Bismarck physician and hunter, said he became worried about the potential for lead fragments in venison after seeing a report by The Peregrine Fund of Boise, Idaho. He said the nonprofit group, of which he is a member, studied the effects on birds that ingested bullet fragments left behind in deer carcasses.
Lawmakers in California last year made it illegal for hunters to possess or fire lead ammunition when they are in California condor habitat, to protect North America’s largest flying bird.
“There have been studies about what it does to condors but nothing about humans,” said Cornatzer, a dermatologist and professor at UND medical school.
“Unfortunately, nobody has ever looked at this for humans — I wanted to see what’s in this stuff,” he said.
Cornatzer said he collected about 100, one-pound packages of ground venison from food pantries in December, with the help of health officials.
“Sixty percent of the packages had multiple fragments of lead in them — I about fell out of my chair,” said Cornatzer. He said Bismarck radiologist Ted Fogarty helped run CT scans on the meat.
Many of the fragments are microscopic, but can still cause harm to humans if ingested, Cornatzer said.
“What’s very scary about this is you can’t feel them — they’re like lead dust,” he said.
Cornatzer said he found that microscopic lead fragments can splatter as far away as 2 feet “on either side of the wound” on a deer.
“When a high-velocity bullet hits a deer, it explodes like a grenade,” Cornatzer said.
Cornatzer plans to present his findings at a conference sponsored by The Peregrine Fund in May, at Boise State. He has been hunting deer and he and his family have been eating venison for nearly 40 years, he said.
Solid copper bullets or jacketed lead bullets are available as alternatives to lead, Cornatzer said, and he intends to use that ammunition in the future.
People have been eating game harvested with lead projectiles for hundreds of yrs and all of a sudden we cant do so. Soon we as humans will only be allowed to ingest purified water and vitamin pills. Anything else could pose too large of a hazard. What a joke and a way to ruin a good program. I would like to see some sort of documentatin in regards to the amount of people who has illnesses or ailments related to eating game with microscopic lead particles in it. With the thousands of tons of game consumed yearly over the last few hundred yrs this sounds like another knee jerk reaction that ruins a good program.
By James MacPherson
Associated Press - 03/27/2008
BISMARCK — State health officials have told food pantries in North Dakota to throw out donated venison, saying it may have lead fragments. And the doctor who discovered the fragments is urging hunters who shot deer with high-velocity lead bullets to discard the meat.
Health officials found that samples from vension destined for food pantries tested “strongly positive” for lead, said Sandi Washek, the Health Department’s lead coordinator.
Washek said about 17,000 pounds of venison was donated in North Dakota this year through the Sportsmen Against Hunger program in which hunters donate their deer to the needy.
The venison was given to about 110 pantries in North Dakota, Washek said.
“There are still 4,000 to 5,000 pounds out there in pantries,” she said Wednesday. “We’re asking all the food pantries to throw it out in a landfill and not throw it out on garbage day, so no one will rifle through it.”
Health officials say children age 6 and younger and pregnant women are at greater risk for lead poisoning, which can cause confusion, learning problems and convulsions, and in severe cases can lead to brain damage and death. Washek said Wednesday that no sickness has been reported from potentially lead-tainted venison.
Dr. William Cornatzer, a Bismarck physician and hunter, said he became worried about the potential for lead fragments in venison after seeing a report by The Peregrine Fund of Boise, Idaho. He said the nonprofit group, of which he is a member, studied the effects on birds that ingested bullet fragments left behind in deer carcasses.
Lawmakers in California last year made it illegal for hunters to possess or fire lead ammunition when they are in California condor habitat, to protect North America’s largest flying bird.
“There have been studies about what it does to condors but nothing about humans,” said Cornatzer, a dermatologist and professor at UND medical school.
“Unfortunately, nobody has ever looked at this for humans — I wanted to see what’s in this stuff,” he said.
Cornatzer said he collected about 100, one-pound packages of ground venison from food pantries in December, with the help of health officials.
“Sixty percent of the packages had multiple fragments of lead in them — I about fell out of my chair,” said Cornatzer. He said Bismarck radiologist Ted Fogarty helped run CT scans on the meat.
Many of the fragments are microscopic, but can still cause harm to humans if ingested, Cornatzer said.
“What’s very scary about this is you can’t feel them — they’re like lead dust,” he said.
Cornatzer said he found that microscopic lead fragments can splatter as far away as 2 feet “on either side of the wound” on a deer.
“When a high-velocity bullet hits a deer, it explodes like a grenade,” Cornatzer said.
Cornatzer plans to present his findings at a conference sponsored by The Peregrine Fund in May, at Boise State. He has been hunting deer and he and his family have been eating venison for nearly 40 years, he said.
Solid copper bullets or jacketed lead bullets are available as alternatives to lead, Cornatzer said, and he intends to use that ammunition in the future.
People have been eating game harvested with lead projectiles for hundreds of yrs and all of a sudden we cant do so. Soon we as humans will only be allowed to ingest purified water and vitamin pills. Anything else could pose too large of a hazard. What a joke and a way to ruin a good program. I would like to see some sort of documentatin in regards to the amount of people who has illnesses or ailments related to eating game with microscopic lead particles in it. With the thousands of tons of game consumed yearly over the last few hundred yrs this sounds like another knee jerk reaction that ruins a good program.
