Lead Contaminated Deer Common In North Dakota on KFYR-TV North Dakota's NBC News Leader

Lead Contaminated Deer Common In North Dakota |

Video

Kevin Gribble

3/26/2008

Lead can be deadly. It was banned from paint decades ago because of the risk of brain damage in children. More recently, Americans became aware of lead contamination in certain toys and started avoiding them, too. But lead may actually be in your house right now, in something you never expected.

If you`ve ever eaten venison or any other type of big game that was hunted with a high velocity bullet, a new study by Bismarck Doctors William Cornatzer and Ted Fogarty concludes there`s a good chance you ingested lead.

Doctors say deer meat has a lot of benefits. It`s lean and low in cholesterol. But something deadly could be hiding within. Dr. William Cornatzer conducted CT scans on 100 pounds of venison collected from dozens of different sources and was shocked to find high levels of lead in about 60% of the meat.

"I was actually expecting probably very little or none in there, maybe a copper fragment, and I about fell off my chair when I saw this first CT scan," says Cornatzer.

You can see the findings of the scan as plain as day. The bright white specks represent the deadly lead. It got there via high velocity lead-tipped bullets.

"When it hits the deer, it sends little bits of schrapnel-type lead that are almost liquid at that point because of the speed the bullet is going," explains Cornatzer.

The impact is enough to scatter the deadly toxin throughout the entire animal. Luckily, not all bullets are the same. Dr. Cornatzer says you should avoid bullets that have lead in them that fragment when they hit deer. Instead, you should choose something that`s lead free that mushrooms.

Lead can cause all sorts of disorders, even death. It`s not something that`s meant to go in our bodies, not even in miniscule amounts.

Cornatzer notes, "It`s been shown that children under five that ingest even small amount of lead will have permanent brain damage."

He says it`s possible that lead-tainted game has been causing health problems for decades. To avoid any future problems, you may just want to throw away any remaining deer meat from last season and make a few changes next hunting season.

If you`re concerned that you or someone you know has ingested lead, see a doctor and have them test your blood for lead. There are drugs available to help treat exposure.

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