Lawrence G. Keane’s Dec. 13 letter correctly identifies America’s sportsmen and women as active and ardent conservationists. But it dramatically underestimates the importance of replacing lead ammunition with non-toxic alternatives.

We’ve known that lead is poisonous for hundreds of years and have removed it from many products. We eliminated lead shot for hunting waterfowl nearly 30 years ago and yet people still hunt successfully.

When venison in people’s freezers is X-rayed, it is common to find lead fragments. To protect human health, more and more states are requiring that game meat donated to food banks be X-rayed to prevent poisonings that can damage critical organs like the brain, heart and kidneys in people and other species.

Here in Maine large numbers of bald eagles, loons and other species die annually from lead ingestion. These deaths are slow, agonizing and totally preventable. All we need to do is replace the toxic metal lead with non-toxic alternatives for all sporting uses. Such products are more and more readily available and reasonably priced.

Advocates for adopting non-toxic materials are not anti-hunting or fishing. Adopting non-toxic materials for hunting, fishing and the shooting sports will have none of the negative economic consequences that Mr. Keane suggests, but will provide many benefits.

For those interested in the science, look online at the September 2019 special issue of the journal Ambio.

Look into the North American Non-Lead Partnership; many sportsmen and women are already behind efforts to protect human health, wildlife health and the environment.

Mark Pokras, DVM
Scarborough

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