Getting the lead out.

• Author: Shinkle, Doug
• Position: TRENDS & TRANSITIONS - Legislation

California has bagged another legislative first: a ban on lead in hunting ammunition. The legislation seeks to reduce the potential harm lead shot poses to animal and human health. Conservationists have long supported the ban to protect America's largest flying bird: the eponymous condor (it's depicted on the California quarter), whose population dwindled to 22 three decades ago. Strong conservation efforts have increased its population to 424 in Arizona and California, although only half are in the wild.

Condors can be poisoned when they scavenge carcasses containing lead-bullet fragments, left by hunters. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, lead caused 34 percent of the 123 California Condor deaths from 1992 to 2012. California banned lead shot in eight counties in 2007, but the condors' range is so big it was largely ineffective. The statewide ban will likely also benefit scavengers such as bald eagles, golden eagles and other raptors.

A national ban already exists on lead shot for waterfowl hunting, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates saves more than 1 million ducks a year by reducing the spent bullets on the ground they mistake for food and eat.

Critics of California's new law say lead shot's impact on the birds has not been scientifically proved. They point out that condors may be ingesting lead from other sources. Sportsmen also worry the ban will make ammunition more expensive and keep more would-be hunters at home. Ultimately, they say...