Green
Bullets Bill Misses Target
By TIM
FAULKNER/ecoRI.org News staff
PROVIDENCE — A bill that would take the lead out of
hunting ammunition was effectively shot down during its first Statehouse
hearing. “I don’t
think we are particularly ready for this particular bill at this time,” said
Rep. Donna Walsh, D-Charlestown, a member of the House Committee on the
Environment and Natural Resources.
From the
start of the April 17 House hearing, Walsh questioned the ban, noting that
alternative ammunition such as tungsten and bismuth are no safer than lead. She
also questioned whether animals killed by lead bullets pose a risk to humans.
“I’ve
eaten a lot of game pheasants, rabbits, deer, the whole thing and I think my
brain is still pretty good. I’m OK," she said.
The bill 7838 seeks
to remove all lead hunting ammunition in Rhode Island by 2017. It mimics a
California law, the only full ban on lead ammunition in the country, passed in
2013. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service banned lead from waterfowl hunting
in 1991. Lead is allowed for land-based hunting, sport shooting and fishing
tackle.
“There’s
really no suitable alternative,” he said.
The
Department of Environmental Management (DEM) also questioned the bill. Scott
Marshall, DEM’s state veterinarian, said the agency is concerned that non-toxic
ammunition will maim animals. “We think there is potential for more wounding
from this inferior ammunition than from possible toxicity if they were
ingested," he said.
Marshall
said DEM would like to see a study showing the risks of lead ammunition used in
upland hunting in Rhode Island. The department also lacks money for a provision
of the bill that would designate the DEM to run a coupon system to give hunters
a discount for non-toxic ammunition.
On its
website the National Rifle Association (NRA) called the Rhode Island bill
“nothing more than a backdoor attempt to target hunters and shooters.” At the
April 17 hearing, Derek Gomes, an NRA lobbyist, said lead used in ammunition is
unlike lead found in paint chips and toys. “That lead is different, so it’s
absorbed different," he said.
Meredith
Bird, president of the Wildlife
Rehabilitation Association of Rhode Island, said she treats cats
that have ingested pellets of lead ammunition and animals shot by lead ammo. A
bottle of medication to treat an animal poisoned by lead costs $800, she said,
noting that there is no money to study the impacts of lead ammo in Rhode
Island. “I’ve looked at tons of studies looking at lead," she said.
"I don’t know much about it; I know when the animals are coming in and
dying from it.”
Gary
Block, a veterinarian and co-owner of Ocean State Veterinary Specialists, said
lead is especially dangerous to children. Game meat donated to food banks can
contain lead. A ban on lead ammunition, he said, “seems like a small sacrifice
for gun owners when compared to the potential benefits to animals and human
health and the ability to decrease lead in the environment."
At the
end of the hearing, Rep. Art Handy, D-Cranston, and other supporters of the
bill suggested that it would likely need to be vetted, rewritten and submitted
later in the legislative session or next year.
The bill
was held for further study. The Senate bill (S2628) hasn't yet been scheduled a
hearing.