The transition to non-lead rifle ammunition in Denmark: National obligations and policy considerations

Abstract

The issue of Denmark regulating use of leadfree rifle ammunition because of potential risks of lead exposure in wildlife and humans was examined from a scientific and objective policy perspective. The consequences of adopting or rejecting such regulation were identified. Denmark is obliged to examine this topic because of its national policy on lead reduction, its being a Party to the UN Bonn Convention on Migratory Species, and its role in protecting White-tailed Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla), a species prone to lead poisoning from lead ingestion. Lead-free bullets suited for deer hunting are available at comparable cost to lead bullets, and have been demonstrated to be as effective. National adoption of lead-free bullets would complete the Danish transition to lead-free ammunition use. It would reduce the risk of lead exposure to scavenging wildlife, and humans who might eat lead-contaminated wild game meat. Opposition from hunting organizations would be expected.

Heads in the sand: public health and ecological risks of lead-based bullets for wildlife shooting in Australia

“…Growing scientific evidence indicates that a transition to Pb-free rifle bullets is advisable to reduce Pb exposure in wildlife and humans from ingesting bullet-derived Pb (Fachehoun et al 2015;Arnemo et al 2016;Kanstrup et al 2016bKanstrup et al , 2018. There is compelling evidence that continued use of Pb-based rifle bullets threatens the sustainability and social licence of hunting (Kanstrup et al 2018).…”

La contaminación por munición de plomo en Europa: el plumbismo aviar y las implicaciones en la seguridad de la carne de caza

“…Sin embargo, algunos de los participantes con un alto consumo de carne de caza presentaron concentraciones de plomo bajas (Meltzer et al 2013). En Dinamarca, Kanstrup et al (2016) resaltan la necesidad de informar sobre los riesgos de consumir carne de caza abatida con munición de plomo para la salud pública, haciendo hincapié en las mujeres embarazadas y los niños, ya que el riesgo es mayor en estos grupos de población. Además, proponen que como Dinamarca es miembro de la UE podría sugerir un cambio en las regulaciones sobre el nivel de plomo permisible en la carne de caza, mediante la modificación del Reglamento (CE) nº 1881/2006 de la Comisión (Kanstrup et al 2016).…”

Hunting with lead ammunition is not sustainable: European perspectives

“…Lead toxicity has been recognised for thousands of years (Stroud 2015), and there is a large body of scientific literature on ammunition lead's impacts on wildlife as well as on human health (Arnemo et al 2016). Non-toxic alternatives to lead exist for most hunting applications, and regulatory options through legislation are straightforward (Thomas et al 2015;Kanstrup et al 2016). Indeed, some countries with strong hunting traditions, e.g.…”