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If you eat venison or other wild game meat shot with lead bullets, you should be aware there may be significant amounts of lead in it. Health officials are warning pregnant women and children not to eat wild game shot with lead bullets for risk of lead poisoning and subsequent brain damage.

Officials in North Dakota just concluded a study that found residents who ate wild game shot with lead bullets like venison had significantly higher lead levels in their blood than those who ate little or no wild game.



For an adult, lead poisoning isn't that big of a deal, but for pregnant women and children (under 6 especially) it's another story all together. Lead poisoning can lead to brain damage, learning disabilities, convulsions and in some cases even death.

Apparently lead from bullets can spread 18 inches (into the meat) in all directions.

In the article on CNN, Dr. Stephen Pickard, a CDC epidemiolgist, said the study found "the more recent the consumption of wild game harvested with lead bullets, the higher the level of lead in the blood."

The warning was first announced this spring, when a physician using a CT scanner found lead in venison samples. This is the first study that correlates lead levels in blood to lead bullets used to kill wild game.