By James MacPherson, Associated Press
Published Thursday, March 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.
