The evidence of poisoning by lead shot from shotgun or fishing-weight split-shot is questionable.

Of course lead is a poison, but it's very hard to absorb it from occasional pellets in a gut. Looking at the issue fairly is leading the Norwegians to reverse the lead-shot ban. On a personal real-world basis, I have breathed smoke, fumes, smelted, fluxed, cast-with and handled lead for over 30 years, and for a while I was even careless, but blood tests showed not so much as a trace in my system.

There are real anti-gun agendas behind this. Anything to reduce gun ownership, or make ammunition ineffective, will always get the 'right' scientific evidence, especially if you pay them for it sorry, I meant give them a grant - just like 'Man-Made' Global Warming did... like that, there will always be equally qualified scientists of conscience who say, hang on a minute... They are trying to ban lead in handgun and rifle ammo. The idea any creature will be affected by such bullets is a nonsense. This is a mantra.

100% lead-shot recycling is achievable for the Clay-Pigeon grounds. Many of the long established grounds have literally, many hundreds of thousands of pounds of reclaimable shot in the upper soil. Even hiring the big machines that dig the soil, and reclaim it, would leave a massive, healthy profit on today's scrap lead market.