Lead Ban On All Fishing Tackle

[fishinwrench]

Wow. I have definitely observed some mistrust and cynicism evolve into paranoia and hysteria, here.

You ain't seen nuthin' yet...stick around until about mid-February.

[exiledguide]

I'm sorry to keep picking on you gotmuddy, but you keep posting inaccurate comments. The Center for Biological Diversity is NOT funded by the government, but rather by 255,000 members who donate to their causes. You should do some research before you make assumptions.

You should also check out their website...you might actually enjoy it. A couple stories right on their homepage are about things you might support...protecting Montana grayling, and another one about what they're doing to protect a steelhead fishery on the 8,000 acre Stanford University campus.

http://www.biologica....org/index.html

Whats wrong with you Eric don't cloud the issue with truth.

[Outside Bend]

Wayne, how exactly would a loon or swan or smallmouth understand how to safely handle lead?

Surely you guys are smart enough to realize a compound containing 2% lead would be far less toxic than a compound containing 96% Lead. And I'm hoping you guys are smart enough to realize Zarraspook's article regarding brass clearly states it can be manufactured without lead entirely. IMO, that makes it a non-issue.

We can't ban lead because not enough studies have been done (thousands are apparently not enough), but we know enough from the handful of inconclusive studies done regarding tungsten to determine it's not a viable option for fishing tackle? Surely you guys recognize the idiocy of that argument.

[denjac]

Look at my post under conservation issuses. It is a letter to me from Roy Blunt. Some good stats in there concerning this issue.

[jdmidwest]

That's it! Ban fishing! There is nothing we can use that is safe!

Come on, this is getting ridiculous. No matter what is suggested as an alternative, someone else will find something wrong with it.

This is a no win argument. Neither side will give in. So ENOUGH already.

What about dry flies?

[Wayne SW/MO]

Wayne, how exactly would a loon or swan or smallmouth understand how to safely handle lead?

Is that a question about one of my statements?? Did I say they understand how to handle lead?

You keep changing your approach OB, every time I say I understand and don't refute that ingested or injected or inhaled lead is bad, you ignore it and want to debate whether we should throw up our hands and invoke a blanket ban. If we're going to do that then I would think brass beads and rattles would be fair game. We have many other threats to the environment, many worse than lead and we weigh they consequences. Why can't we do that with lead? Identify the levels of toxic effects by the various items.

The petition asks for a blanket ban, and points out that brass could be a culprit, yet you want to hedge and say that's not necessary. So they can ban anything you have a ready substitute for?

[Outside Bend]

I'm not changing my approach, I'm just trying to understand your logic. You realize that lead is harmful if handled or ingested, but you don't understand why you wouldn't want people throwing lead products in places they can be handled or ingested by wildlife?

As for brass, I'm not hedging. I was simply stating that an item containing 2% lead would have less lead toxicity than an item containing 96% lead- I figured that was a pretty reasonable assumption. If they want to ban brass too that's fine by me, as I stated, there are ways to produce brass without using lead.

[grizwilson]

What about dry flies?

Well we just as well light the fire, How about gigging, no lead needed..... then we have ma bell... and Dupont spinners.... oh man Redneck Fishin is good.

[Ann]

What about dry flies?

Nope no dry flies either. PETA will make sure they are banned also because you need feathers and animal hairs!

[Quillback]

Yeah OB, lead is evil, but yet other suspect metals (brass, tungsten) which are suspect are OK by you. I think it's an idiotic assumption to assume that tungsten is OK. Better to err on the side of safety.