Thanks for posting that great article about the lead issue, Bob.
Like you, I feel it's being used as propaganda to fuel the anti angler hunter groups.
The studies are based on bad science and not enough research. There are still large number of articles being written about lead being the number one killer of loons. That's a huge mountain of dog CrrrrrAP!
The biggest killer of loons and other shore birds these days is type e Botulism. Anyone who walks the beaches of any Great Lakes shoreline in the fall will tell you this is a growing disaster that should be scaring the hell out of anyone who cares. THIS should be the focus of saving the planet. Not split shot.
http://www.greatlakesforall.com/2008...dead-loon.html
http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2007...ing_birds.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...51C1A9669C8B63
Now think of your pet consuming some tasty morsel while on a romp along the shoreline.
This makes lead in fishing tackle look like a waste basket fire in the middle of an empty parking lot. Bird (loon) deaths from e botulism is equal to the great Chicago fire by comparison. I guess if the only water supply around is the fellow who just downed a few beers standing nearby, the fire he might be able to put out is the waste basket. It's not very effective in dealing with the real emergency, is it.
I started to notice something was very wrong while walking the beaches in the fall of 99 when I saw hundreds of dead shore birds on the beach by my in laws place. A very large number of them were loons. It's only gotten worse each year since and it's happening all around the Great Lakes. It used to be a periodic natural phenomenon but never in this size, nor did it reoccur, year after year. This is new. The reason is now thought to be an ongoing cylce that has been created by zebra mussels and round gobies. Both, recent invasive species dumped in the Great Lakes by ship ballast.
Now if someone tells me not to buy lead split shot, I tell then to go pee in the wind. Lead in fishing tackle has been used for centuries. The loons are loosing ground for multiple other reasons, the least of which is split shot. Lead is just one HUGE smoke screen to avoid the real costly issues and glorify the anti sportsman campaign.
That's my two cent.