Poisoning people and wildlife with lead ammunition: time to stop

Abstract

The high toxicity of lead has been well-known for centuries, however it continues to threaten wildlife and humans (1). Although several countries have banned the use of different forms of this metal (e.g., in gasoline, paint, etc.) to protect human lives (1, 2), lead ammunition continues to impact wildlife, mainly affecting waterfowl, which ingest lead pellets, causing thousands of deaths annually, and threatening endangered species (1). While several countries of the European Union and EU members have banned the use of lead ammunition in wetlands, similar restrictions are rarely applied in terrestrial ecosystems (3) where avian scavengers, some of them critically endangered, are now menaced by lead toxicity (4).