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Firing ranges expose the environment and the ecosystem to lead pollution caused by the presence of lead in ammunition projectiles. This makes lead pollution a major concern for the public. When these bullets are fired, they emit lead particles that are then inhaled, absorbed into the skin or disposed of in community landfill facilities. Currently, very few cities are taking action to reduce the health threat and environmental burden of lead bullets.
Similar to mercury, lead is both a heavy metal and a potent neurotoxin that builds up over time in bones and soft tissue. Lead particles, dust and gases are especially present at shooting ranges because of the lead components contained in most bullets. Unless the ammunition is specifically manufactured to be lead-free, it is always made with lead. Such bullets contain lead, zinc, copper and antimony; the primer is made up of lead antimony, lead styphnate, zinc, copper, barium and tetazene. Lead styphnate and elemental lead dust are able to attach themselves readily to clothes, hair and skin, and can be passed to another person.
Firearm-related activities represent one of the biggest and most preventable sources of lead poisoning in the environment. Airborne residue and gases discharged from lead projectiles are easily absorbed by the body once they enter the atmosphere. Simply inhaling at a local firing range can easily cause lead particles to be inhaled in to the lungs.
Lead poisoning from firearms can be caused by the shaved lead particles that pass through the barrel, from dust and vaporized lead gases in the air surrounding the firing range, or from handling bullets or spent casings. (Simply touching lead bullets causes exposure to lead.)
Firing ranges are technically toxic waste sites"The grounds of some of the nation's 8,000 public and private recreational shooting ranges are contaminated with hundreds of tons of lead from bullets," said Rick Lowden, a metallurgist with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a facility managed by the Department of Energy (DOE), in their Metals and Ceramics Division. Lowden is the chief developer of the ESPTM bullet. "The most contaminated ranges pose a threat to humans and wildlife. Ducks and geese have been found poisoned in lakes polluted by lead shot. Shooting ranges could be declared hazardous waste sites by the Environmental Protection Agency when they are shut down, and it will cost millions of dollars to clean them up. DOE recognizes the contamination problem that exists at its own shooting ranges, which are used by security personnel. So, it plans to switch from lead bullets to ESPTM bullets for training and security."
According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (www.nssf.org), categories of ranges include handgun outdoors, rifle outdoors, skeet shooting, sporting clays, trap shooting, and cowboy action shooting.
Both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) agree that lead harms virtually every system in the body -- physiologically and psychologically. Lead exposure has been recognized as a health hazard for over 2,000 years and can be of particular danger to small children and fetuses, as even the smallest amount can cause irreversible harm.
While lead poisoning usually takes a good deal of time to work its way through the body and cause symptoms, exposure from firing ranges may cause symptoms to appear within a matter of days or weeks. In fact, according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), if the lead contained in a single bullet were totally dissolved in the water supply it could contaminate enough water to affect hundreds of thousands of people. Lead accumulates easily in the human body, since it is one of the few elements not eliminated by the kidneys, liver or skin.
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