“For over a century, hundreds of millions of Americans have safely consumed game harvested using traditional hunting ammunition,” he stated.

The Iowa Department of Public Health, a state agency that has been conducting lead-testing for more than 15 years, summarizes the debate. “We maintain that if lead in venison were a serious health risk, it would likely have surfaced within extensive blood-lead testing since 1992 with 500,000 youth under 6 and 25,000 adults having been screened. It has not.”

-- E-mail comments to owcam@verizon.net.

____________________________________

Facts about venison

Information that hunters should know from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Study:

*** Consuming game harvested using traditional hunting ammunition does not pose a human health risk.

*** Study participants had readings lower than the national average and well below the level the CDC considers to be a concern.

*** Hunters are asked continue to donate venison to food pantries.

*** Since 1991, Pennsylvania’s Hunters Sharing the Harvest (HSH) has channeled hunter’s donations of venison to local food banks, soup kitchens and needy families via an integrated network of local contacts and cooperating butcher shops. These donations have literally provided hundreds of thousands of meals to needy Pennsylvanians.

*** Last year, more than 100,000 pounds of venison was donated through HSH, and at least 200,000 meals of venison were delivered. Information taken from HSH website: http://www.sharedeer.org/

*** Anyone interested in donating venison through HSH should contact Gary Lewis of Danville at 271-6415 or Bob Garrett of New Berlin at 966-9253.

____________________________________