how do you prevent getting lead poisoning from meat you shot? does cooking it eliminate the lead?
2007-12-27 17:00:23 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Outdoor Recreation ➔ Hunting
Unless you are eating the lead itself, you have nothing to worry about. The animal doesn't have time to absorb any significant amount of lead into its system from the time it is shot until it dies. The animal lives for a very small amount of time after being shot. The lead cannot work its way into the animals blood stream and then into the muscles and organs in a matter of a few seconds, or even minutes or hours, in the case of a poorly placed shot. Just make sure to pick out the bird shot or buckshot before eating. If your using a rifle or slug, no worries! By the way, I do not believe cooking has any effect on lead whatsoever.
2007-12-27 17:40:25 · answer #1 · answered by Stocky 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
JD called it right. There have been studies that show no measureable level of lead has ever been transferred to any person who eats meat shot with a lead projectile. The funny part of that is, the federal Government banned the use of lead shot on any federal preservesor waterways They cited the "fact" that fish could ingest the lead pellets and that bald eagles that feed on the fish would die of lead poisoning. This, even though there has never been a bald eagle that died of lead poisoning, or even had a high level of lead in it's system. Considering that man has been shooting lead shot over and into the waterway for a few hundred years, makes their argument sound like the normal government double talk doesn't it?
2007-12-28 04:59:23 · answer #2 · answered by randy 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
About the only danger you have from eating game meat is possibly biting down on a shred of bullet or a shot pellet, and breaking a tooth.
My husband sometimes says, "that deer died of lead poisoning' when he really means that the deer died when he shot it. I don't know if that expression is used anywhere but around North Texas and the Panhandle.
If you use a processor to process your game, he/she will remove any blood-shot meat, and will hopefully also remove any parts of the bullet that came off. If you process it yourself, just make sure you get all of the bullet.
2007-12-28 04:12:28 · answer #3 · answered by Lora W 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Certainly, lead is a known toxic substance but it will be impossible to get enough lead from an animal that has been shot bu a lead bullet. Even accidently swallowing bird shot will not be a problem unless you eat an awful lot of birdshot. The occasional pellet is not a problem. Enjoy your game meat, it is not a lead hazard.
2007-12-28 00:33:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
You really must spend nights up figuring out new things to worry about. I promise you we in emergency medicine don't even bother trying to remove bullets/pellets when people are shot, unless there's some other reason to be in there. Lead poisoning just isn't that big a risk.
2007-12-28 04:45:18 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
You can't get lead poisoning from eating game shot with lead shot or bullets, even if you swallowed some. The lead levels would be so small they would be harmless if injested. You have nothing to be concerned about. *Cooking also has no effect on lead levels anyway......
2007-12-27 17:22:08 · answer #6 · answered by JD 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋