The Issues

Lead is a neurotoxin that poses significant health risks, particularly to vulnerable populations such as children and pregnant women. Even low levels of exposure can result in severe long-term health issues, as lead accumulates in the body over time.

Consuming even tiny amounts of lead regularly will lead to long-term health problems. There is no safe level of lead for people, and as a result, strict regulations on lead in paint, fuel, fertilisers and other goods have been introduced. However, lead bullets and sinkers continue to be discharged into the environment, threatening wildlife and ultimately people too.

South Africans enjoy eating game meat, which is largely still shot with lead ammunition. This represents a considerable threat to our health, given the wide consumption and availability of game meat. When these bullets strike their targets, they fragment into tiny pieces that can contaminate game meat. While these fragments may be invisible to the naked eye, they pose a significant risk when consumed, and ultimately leads to lead poisoning in humans.

Lead is also an environmental hazard, and there are no safe lead levels for any biological organism to consume. There are multiple potential sources of lead to wildlife. 

While most lead sources of lead (paints, fuel, toys, cosmetics, fertilisers, pipes) have been strictly regulated in South Africa due to their known harm to human health, two sources remain essentially unregulated and have significant environmental and human health implications, bullets and fishing sinkers. Both are used for outdoor activities and therefore inevitably land up in the environment. In Europe and North America, scientific studies have highlighted the detrimental effects of lead poisoning through bullet fragment consumption by scavenging bird species, as it threatens their health and reproduction.

Additionally, the implementation of regulations to manage lead from industrial sources and mining remains a significant challenge.

Recent studies from South Africa and Botswana have shown that white-backed vultures (adults, juveniles, and chicks) had blood lead levels higher than expected from background exposure. Chronic lead exposure destroys the neurological system and vultures with high levels of lead in their bodies can be lethargic, anorexic, and weak, among other things.

Ground-hornbills are also severely at risk from consuming contaminated meat as they have an even lower tolerance to traces of lead than vultures. Even if the bird does not die due to lead itself, these symptoms reduce its reproductive success and could make it more vulnerable to other causes of death.