How long have hunters and fishermen been using lead shot and sinkers?
Barnett Rattner: Well, the use of lead ammunition dates back to the 14th century and parallels development of gunpowder, while lead fishing weights and hooks date back even further, perhaps to the Bronze Age. In the 1870s we began to realize that ingestion of spent lead shot by ducks could poison and kill them. About a hundred years later, we realized that fishing tackle could also pose a serious hazard when ingested by some species of water birds like loons. Sarah Gerould: Perhaps you could give us some background about the current production of lead ammunition and lead sinkers. Barnett Rattner: Well, a number of studies tried to get a handle on this issue. Global estimates of ammunition production in the year 2000 were about 195,000 metric tons. As you can see from the graph, the USGS estimates that lead use in ammunition has fluctuated between about 45,000 metric tons and 70,000 metric tons per year since 1975. This number includes types of ammunition other than shot. The U.S. EPA b
