Bring Back the Ban on Lead-Based Ammo

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Lead has proven to be a toxic threat not only to humans \[1\], but to animals as well.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, **as many as 20 million birds and animals die every year from lead poisoning** as a result of nearly 100,000 tons of lead that hunters, fishers, and other sportsmen use \[2\].

The conservationist group The Peregrine Fund contends that lead poisoning is a contributing factor to California condors being on the endangered species list \[3\]. Bald eagles and other birds of prey are being horrifically paralyzed and poisoned after scavenging the carcasses of other animals killed with lead-based ammunition \[4\]. Ducks, swans, geese and other waterfowl are ingesting lead fishing sinkers lost in lakes and rivers every year, which can prove fatal \[5\].

And the birds are not alone: a 2009 study from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine showed that people who consume animals killed by lead bullets are also at risk of lead poisoning \[6\].

Time and time again, scientific evidence shows there is no place for the use of lead-based ammunition due to the health and safety risks it poses. Yet a previous administration repealed a ban on the use of lead-based ammunition in national parks and wildlife refuges \[7\].

**It's time to demand that the Department of the Interior pay attention to the surmounting evidence against the use of lead-based ammunition.** A 2013 statement from 30 scientists, doctors, and public-health experts from Harvard, Cornell, Rutgers, and other universities supported eliminating its use \[8\]. Join them and **call upon Interior Secretary Zinke to immediately reinstate the ban on lead-based ammunition and fishing tackle.**