You would lose the bet... Lead is not "bioavailable" in the form present in the test you propose.
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The problem with banning things or activities without first proving that there is a valid reason for it, is that it then becomes too easy just to ban activities and things just because someone else doesn't like it or thinks there might be a problem with it in the future. I'm not for or against banning lead but I would want it done for good reason. I see too many lobby groups in Canada that get their way just because they know how to make a lot of noise. The spring bear hunt in Ontario is an example. Wether you liked the spring bear hunt or didn't like it was your choice and opinion. However it was banned on wrong information, emotion and statistics (wrongfully used). Those that had an opinion used the system to get something others enjoyed and used properly banned. I am reminded of an article that I read, about a fishing derby (catch and release) that was banned in Germany because it was demeed to be cruel and inhumane to the fish. Start with lead (without cause??) and what's next?? Rant over. Thanks for the ear.
Hap,
I take your answer to mean that unless an animal swallows or otherwise has lead somehow put into it's body no ill effects will be observed. In other words a fish could spawn directly on a pile of old corroded lead sinkers and nothing unusual would happen.
Elemental lead is not an issue with critters. Lead is very stable and usually the elements alloyed with it leave long before lead. It is more noble than most stainless steels, nickle silver, silicon bronze, and lots of other metals we immediately think of as very corrosion resitant. And it does it without issues like the maintaining an oxide coat which allows SS and aluminum to sneak up a few places on the chart.
Fumes given off when melting lead are a different thing and are very dangerous, but not lead in solid form...
Here are the specific gravities of some metals in comparison to lead.
Tungsten 19.0
Tantalum 16.6
Lead 11.342
Silver 10.5
Molybdenum 10.2
Bismuth 9.781
Copper 8.89
Nickel 8.85
Monel 8.80
Cobalt 8.71
Iron 7.87
Tin 7.29
Zinc 7.14
Tin is 2/3 the specific gravity of lead. You would need 50% more tin to equal the weight of lead but you would also have a greater volume that would decrease the sink rate even if the weights were identical. In addition, where density per volume is critical as in wrapping lead wire in fly construction, I have not found anything yet that is the equal of cheap lead wire. Silver wire would be the closest but it is not as malleable.
Tungsten is heavier than lead but it is not malleable and must be compounded with a carrier substance that lower's the net specific gravity if it is to be used as a substitute for split shot. I have seen no comparisons of the net specific gravity of tungsten compounds compared to lead.
I could lose a 1000 lbs a day of split shot and it wouldn't matter one bit!!!! The enviro crowd would count it as that much more lead in the water - only one thing it's tin split shot!!!!! All my sinkers under 1/2 oz are all NON lead!!!! My jig heads I've spent $100's of dollars buying Powder Paint which seals them up and they don't leach any lead.
How many of the recreational anglers gave the enviro's faulty info for the above figures??? or how much did THEY change to suit their needs???Quote:
Anglers in the U.S. reported losing
0.18 sinkers/hour, and 0.23 hooks and lures/hour, with 2% of anglers reporting losing a fish with tackle still attached (Duerr 1999). Radomski et al. (2006) reported average loss rates on Minnesota lakes of 0.0127 lures per hour, 0.0081 large sinkers per hour, 0.0057 split shot sinkers per hour, 0.0247 jigs per hour, and 0.0257 hooks per hour;
for a estimated total of one metric ton of lead lost for 6,000 anglers in 2004.
"The US Government's own study by the U.S. Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center shows lead death rate of 3.5% on a study of over 300 dead loons collected from 9 states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maine, New York, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Florida, California and Alaska."
This looks like the sentence from the original report when it first started!!! What they don't list!! is that this was over an 11 year period - so 3.3 birds a year over 9 states!!!! Lot different than 3.5%.
So yeah figures have been changed to suit peoples reports. They say switch over to other materials - tungsten??? you have a blast furnace that will melt at over 6100 degrees or the molds that won't dis-integrate when you pour into them?? tin - $19 a lb when I checked last week and doesn't weigh as much as lead. The list goes on and on.
I hope they finally pass a law that gives us anglers a fair ruling. Their have been too many lies from the enviro's.
Cycler68 - only one flaw in your test suggestion. Lead is a naturally leaching material in the environment. I find it almost amusiing that they bitch and complain about our lead lures but they want to relax the Clean Air and water act's so that companies can dump even more **** in the rivers and streams - which they've done for years and in quantities MORE THAN ANGLERS WITH LEAD FISHING TACKLE EVER WILL!!!!!! yet we anglers get the blame.
Ponder that thought!!!!
fatman
"Cycler68 - only one flaw in your test suggestion. Lead is a naturally leaching material in the environment."
Actually, I have to disagree... there is a lot more than one single flaw in the test proposed! ;)
I also disagree with the "naturally-leaching" comment. Lead is actually quite stable. It is the alloys in lead that leave long before lead, particularly zinc...
Hap, the major exception to lead's stability is when it becomes lead oxide. This reaction is cataylzed by exposure of the lead to acetic acid, an acid fairly common in the environment. The process is non-consumptive of the catalyst. In other words, over time a teaspoon of acetic acid can turn a ton of lead into crumbly, white, biologically available lead oxide. Under certain conditions, the reaction is rapid. Tons of lead used to be converted in a few day's time back when it was commonly used in paint. If you look at the literature of fine scale and preservation modellers, there is a wealth of information online, along with some tails of woe from museums and collections. If you have ever seen minnie balls covered in whitish powder, that is the reaction in action. That white powder is dangerous. A lot of (American) Civil War buffs don't seem to be aware of that. I came across this because I ussed to do a lot of miniatures wargaming. I have had figures dissolve in piles of dust after being washed in acetic acid to clear mold compound before priming. The figures were set aside for several months and literally dissolved.
Ed
P.S. Lead does leach naturally or unnaturally,in some areas. I might not be able to explain the chemistry of it, but it does happen and it happens a fair amount. Leachate from some of the old, abandoned mines in the western US is a very real problem for some.
My first quarter of calculus taught me a most vaulable lesson on Religion & Philosophy, "Just because I don't understand it, doesn't mean it isn't so."
As another random thought, 2,4-D is also a naturally occurring chemical in parts of the SE US, under very special circumstances. It has been found in nature and the reactions were proven in labs. It is unusual, but it CAN occur naturally. I still call it a pesticide.
Warmest regards from a mostly lead-free angler.
I wouldn't think any of this lead ban talk would bother us. Upstream and dry! Are you guys worm dunkers or what?
Well yes Stevehaun I am a wormdunker and jig fisher as well as a fly fisher!!!! After 2 yrs of medical problems that kept me from tackle making, fishing and hunting, things are under control and I've been given the green light to start playing with my toys again. I've poured jigs, powder painted them, started tying again both flies and jigs, made a bunch of in-line spinners, v spinners like beetle spins. So when spring hits this year I'll be well stocked for whatever fishing I want to do, and I'll enjoy it whatever way I want. And if fishing with anything but a fly rod offends anyone - Well that's their problem not mine.