Waitrose slipping on its lead-free promise

This blog has praised Waitrose for its stance on lead in game meat – see here and here very recently for examples. But some blog readers, obviously Waitrose customers, have suggested that the game meat on sale is not lead free. One, at least, has questioned Waitrose on this and received the reply below which…

The RSPB and lead ammunition

The RSPB’s statements at the weekend have wrapped up within them a return to a publicly prominent position on lead ammunition. This must partly be because Debbie Pain is now an RSPB Council member. Since Debbie and I (in our previous existences) wrote to the Labour ministers in 2009 calling for a review of the…

An interesting paper – Pb in Buzzards

This is an interesting paper. Here is the Abstract; Ingestion of lead (Pb) derived from ammunition used in the hunting of game animals is recognised to be a significant potential source of Pb exposure of wild birds, including birds of prey. However, there are only limited data for birds of prey in Europe regarding tissue…

Letter in Guardian

In Europe most lead exposure is via the diet, and one source that can be readily eliminated is lead fragments from ammunition used to shoot wild game. …in 2018 the UK National Screening Committee (NSC) recommended against screening for elevated blood lead levels in young children, so the extent of children’s exposure is unknown, and…