BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) — Education could be a key to reducing any dangers from lead in venison — as well as to calming public fears — officials from seven Midwestern states agreed Wednesday.

Among the ideas floated at a conference are that hunters could be taught about how to best shoot deer to minimize the risk, how to field dress a carcass to reduce lead residues and what kinds of bullets to use.
Meat processors could be shown how to remove lead from carcasses and how ground meat could pose more of a hazard than other cuts. And the public could be taught how to spot lead in meat and avoid it.

Lead is left behind in meat as bullets travel through deer and can be toxic to humans. Children younger than age 6 and pregnant women are at highest risk from lead exposure.

The meeting brought together wildlife, health and agriculture officials and hunting community leaders from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and Missouri. They agreed to work together so hunters and consumers hear the same message.

Fears about lead in venison surfaced in March when a Bismarck, N.D., doctor contacted the North Dakota Health Department with concerns about lead fragments he found in ground deer meat. The doctor took X-rays of 95 ground venison samples from food shelves. Fifty-three showed signs of the heavy metal.

The doctor's findings convinced most Midwest food shelves to halt venison distribution, and nearly a third of the food pantry venison samples then checked by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture were found to contain lead.

The findings sent shock waves through the hunting community, both because of food safety concerns and fears that it would discourage people from hunting.

``We have until November to figure out the ramifications of it,'' said Mark Johnson of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association.

State officials need to decide before this fall's hunt whether to continue programs that encourage hunters to donate venison to food shelves, which provide food to needy families.

Dave Schad, director of the division of fish and wildlife at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, said there is little information about the dangers of lead in meat. The DNR plans to conduct tests this summer to see how much lead is spread by bullets when deer are shot.

In North Dakota, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are testing blood in 700 people to see if those who eat meat from deer shot with lead bullets show higher concentrations of lead.

George Vandel of the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department suggested that hunters be trained to take better shots so they hit deer in places where bullets are less likely to fragment.

``Don't shoot a running deer,'' he said.

Sandi Washek of the North Dakota Health Department said even veteran hunters, who say they never have become ill from eating venison, could be educated about what lead can do to them.

Stacy Eberl, also of the North Dakota Health Department, said many venison eaters never have bitten into a bullet fragment. But bullets may disintegrate upon hitting bone and go unnoticed, she said.

No one at the meeting appeared to lean toward banning lead bullets, although Schad said he expects there will be talk of that in the Minnesota Legislature.

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