Tell the EPA: Get the Lead Out to Save Lives
Help stop the needless lead poisoning of millions of birds each year by asking the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate toxic lead in hunting ammunition. Sign our petition to end the widespread lead poisoning of wildlife and safeguard human health.
Each year, 3,000 tons of lead are shot into the wild. Many of those spent pellets and bullet fragments poison bald and golden eagles, trumpeter swans, endangered California condors and more than 70 other bird species. Lead bullets can also fragment into tiny particles and spread throughout shot game, causing a health risk to humans who eat it.
It's time to switch to a safer, nontoxic alternative. Fortunately, nonleaded bullets and pellets are widely available -- more than a dozen manufacturers market hundreds of varieties and calibers of nonleaded ammunition made of steel, copper and metal alloys.
There is simply no excuse to use toxic lead for hunting -- please sign the petition today.
I strongly urge the Environmental Protection Agency to implement and enforce federal regulations to protect people and wildlife from completely preventable lead poisoning.
[Your comments will be added here]Although environmental lead poisoning has been reduced by removing lead from paint and gasoline, each year thousands of tons of lead are shot into the wild, a half-million lead fishing sinkers are lost or abandoned in aquatic ecosystems and numerous carcasses contaminated with lead fragments are left for scavengers. When this lead enters the food chain the effect on wildlife is staggering. Bald eagles, golden eagles, peregrine falcons, loons, cranes, condors, herons and doves die incredibly painful lead-poisoning deaths. Wolves, bears and panthers are also poisoned.
Today there is simply no reason to continue to use toxic lead materials for hunting or fishing. Effective, nontoxic bullets, shot and fishing weights are widely available and, in many cases, comparable in price to lead.
Toxic lead in ammunition and fishing gear should be regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Please take action to both prevent the annual deaths of millions of wild creatures and to safeguard public health.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
