Many people don't take lead poisoning seriously unless they've been affected by it. If you draw a dot on a piece of paper, that's how much lead it takes to poison a child. Many associate lead poisoning with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders. But it's also linked to many other conditions and illnesses, some of which don't show up until later in life.
Although not from lead ammo, my family has been harmed by the metal. Our source was lead contaminated water. When my first born, Chris (6), had his first birthday doctor checkup, his blood lead level came back so high that the doctor reassured us not to worry, that it had to be a lab error. After more intravenous samples, we learned it wasn't a mistake. We moved out of our house that very day, and after sampling for two weeks everything we owned, we discovered the cause. His levels were in the eighties, which are bordering on fatal. We had been thawing frozen breast milk that my wife pumped for him in hot tap water. Holes in the bags allowed the water to blend. That, added on to his level being the same as my wife's from in utero, made it pretty bad. He had two rounds of chelation, and today he's a growing boy with a high IQ and a lust for life. His teeth have problems from lack of enamel formation. Otherwise we hold out hope that any attitude problems he sometimes graces us with, are just typical 6 year old boy traits. My wife still worries a lot, because we know that some things may not show up until later on in his life.
My wife was pregnant with Henry when we learned of the issue. She was tested immediately and scored "only" in the twenties. His would've been exactly the same, as they shared the same blood. Lead affects everyone differently. We may never know if Henry was hurt worse by it than Chris. They are very different from each other. He's in kindergarten now, and we're pleased to say he was dismissed from the IEP plan he was on. Personally, I would say he's just onto the autism spectrum. Due to lead?
In any event, I stopped using lead shot. Tomorrow I need to buy new slugs for Friday's opener. They'll be copper. Sighting in today, I had a catastrophe with my scope mounts and shot through $45 worth of shells. Dug into the safe for a backup, just that it's been so long and I can't remember what shot well out of it! This is a whole different story.
We are very cautions about all things lead. Using lead-free ammo seems easy.
