High human exposure to lead through consumption of birds hunted with lead shot.
We assess lead contamination of Greenland seabirds killed with lead shot having studied thick-billed murre and common eider, the two most important species in the diet. The lead concentration is very high in meat of eiders killed with lead shot (mean 6.1 microg/g-wet wt, 95% CL 2.1-12). This level is about 44 times higher than in drowned eiders and eight times higher than in shot murres. Analyzing whole breasts instead of sub-samples reveals about seven times higher lead levels in birds' meat. We conclude that in some cases the lead intake by Greenland bird eaters will largely exceed the FAO/WHO tolerable lead intake guideline and that lead shot is a more important source of lead in the diet than previously estimated.
Johansen
P
P
National Environmental Research Institute, Department of Arctic Environment, Frederiksborgvej 399, DK-4000, Roskilde, Denmark. poj@dmu.dk
Asmund
G
G
Riget
F
F
D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D001717:Birds; D004372:Ducks; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D006116:Greenland; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead; D007855:Lead Poisoning / Q000209:etiology*; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*
D007854:Lead