By Patrick Durkin

July 3, 2008

Count my family among those unworried about getting lead poisoning from deer we’ve shot and processed.

After all, history suggests lead poisoning from venison isn’t a problem, at least not for people. Whether it’s Myles Standish, Daniel Boone, Teddy Roosevelt or Brett Favre, millions of people have shot deer with lead projectiles. Whether we used musket-balls, shotgun slugs or rifle bullets, we ate the venison and lived to tell the tale.

In contrast, we’re continually warned about beef, poultry, tomatoes or spinach after bacteria kill people or put them on the brink. And who hasn’t heard about mercury in tuna or PCBs in salmon?

Therefore, even with recent findings of lead particles in some food-pantry venison, most of us think it remains the healthy red meat. It’s lean, protein rich and 100 percent free range.

Besides, Wisconsinites have some practice with venison scares. We’re only six years removed from finding chronic wasting disease in our deer. Since, we’ve mostly overcome irrational fears that venison would turn every brain into sponge cake.

Maybe that’s why Wisconsin officials took a measured response after North Dakota physician William Cornatzer reported in March that he found lead in 60 percent of the ground venison tested in that state’s food pantries. North Dakota responded by telling food pantries to dump their venison, 5,000 pounds of it, meant for needy families. Minnesota followed by dumping 12,000 pounds.

Meanwhile, Iowa and Wisconsin put their food-pantry programs on hold pending tests. Iowa resumed its programs after finding no lead in eight randomly selected packages of ground venison, and two packages with insignificant amounts of lead.

Wisconsin’s tests found lead in 4 percent of the 200 venison packages it tested, most of which was ground meat. It also tested samples of venison processed by individual hunters and commercial operations. Although the results are being analyzed, it appears venison processed individually is least likely to contain lead particles.

Either way, Wisconsin instructed food pantries not to distribute their venison before having it checked, and encourages them to contact veterinarians for X-raying. The state also is preparing guidelines to help hunters, commercial processors and food pantries ensure future venison is as lead-free as possible. With a little more planning, the venison supply to food pantries shouldn’t be interrupted.

In other words, Wisconsin officials are confident we have the skills and knowledge to keep the lead out of venison. Hunters will be encouraged to use copper or “bonded” bullets, which mushroom after impact but remain almost fully intact. Traditional copper-jacketed lead bullets shed more lead in the wound channel.

Hunters also should avoid shots at running deer and aim for the rib cage, not the spinal column or large bones. Some lighter bullet designs nearly disintegrate against heavy bone.

Everyone also should be more careful while processing venison. Although we discard bloodshot meat around the wound and take special care with roasts, tenderloins and back-straps, we’re usually less fussy about “scrap” meat destined for grinding or sausage-making.

If you’re still fretting, contrast those self-controls with fish-eating precautions. Unlike bloodshot venison, we can’t see evidence of PCBs, mercury and other contaminants in fish. We can remove the skin, stomach meat and blood-line to shed some bad stuff, but not mercury, which collects throughout the body.

Therefore, we must trust the state to determine how much fish we can safely consume based on its size, species and home water, as well as our sex and age. Our responsibility is to read enough information to ensure the health benefits of fish outweigh its possible detriments to us and our children.

Whether it’s fish or venison, it’s also up to us to keep risks in perspective. Some folks will shun both, then hop on a motorcycle or snowmobile, then smoke cigarettes and eat pork rinds at each rest stop.

So be it.

The state is obligated only to point out risks we can’t easily detect. It’s purposely powerless to prevent risks we’re determined to ignore.

Patrick Durkin is a freelance writer who covers outdoors for the Press-Gazette. E-mail him at patrickdurkin@charter.net