Groups hopes to force the government to force manufacturers to quit manufacturing lead sinkers, and all other sources of lead fishermen and hunters use.
photo by Richard Simms
A coalition of groups lead by the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to ban "Lead Shot, Bullets and Fishing Sinkers" under the Toxic Substances Control Act.
Their formal petition gives the EPA 90 days to decide whether or not to ban the "manufacture, professing and distribution in commerce of lead shot, bullets and fishing sinkers." The petition says that while the government has implemented regulations to reduce exposure of human beings to lead in a variety of applications, lead ammunition and lost lead fishing tackle are "uncontrolled and lead remains widely encountered and distributed in the environment from these sources." The petition lists "significant" amounts of lead that end up in aquatic environments from lost or discarded fishing tackle, including lures, sinkers, lead core fishing line, downrigger cannonballs, weights, and a variety of fishing traps and nets that employ the use of lead.
With the wide variety of non-lead, nontoxic replacements for fishing tackle and firearms projectiles, the petition asks that the EPA mandate the removal of lead from those applications.
In a teleconference regarding their petition yesterday, representatives from the two groups stressed that their petition was not anti-hunting or fishing. Rather, they characterized their action as purely environmental.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation has taken exception with that characterization, calling the petition another assault on traditional ammo and fishing tackle.
You can read the petition to the EPA in its entirety by clicking here.