The proposed EPA ban on lead sinkers has been brought up here a
few times before. It will save several lives of loons, swans, and
other bottom-feeding waterfowl that ingest lead sinkers and are
poisoned. Someone on this group once suggested that there is little
or no opposition to the ban and that therefore there might not be
such a strong need to write the EPA.

I wish that that were so, but here in Idaho, the state Fish and
Game Dept. has just this week issued formal statements and twice been
quoted in front page newspaper articles as opposing the ban. They
have said that this is an unfair imposition on fishermen, and that
the problem is very limited in scope. As you have already read here,
there are inexpensive alternatives to lead sinkers, and the problem
is actually quite broad in scope. But Idaho Fish and Game has asked
Idaho fishermen to write EPA in opposition to the ban. If you haven't
already written in support of the ban, I strongly encourage you to do
so. There are a lot of fishermen in Idaho. I'll repost the address
in a minute.

Peter Whitlock
Boise State University

==============================
From: "WHITLOCK. PETER L." <WHIT0522 at VARNEY.IDBSU.EDU>

This is the original post and includes the address. I'm posting it
again because as I said earlier today there's been some pretty vocal
opposition from the state government here in Idaho.
Peter Whitlock

HELP SAVE OUR LOONS!

The Problem:

A five year study of New England loons conducted by Tufts
University School of Veterinary Medicine has found that 30-80%
of breeding adult loon mortality is caused by lead poisoning.
This lead poisoning is a direct result of the ingestion of lead
sinkers, jigs, and other fishing weights. As a result of this and
similar studies in Michigan and Minnesota, the EPA has proposed
a regulation banning the manufacture, importation, and
distribution of lead fishing sinkers less than 1" (40 CFR Part
745). However, due to opposition from some fishing groups, and
lack of support from environmental groups, this proposal is now
in jeopardy.

What You Can Do To Help:

Write! The EPA has recently extended the comment period on
this issue to July 8th, 1994. All it takes is a quick letter stating
your support for the EPA's ban. Send (3) copies of your letter to:
TSCA, Document Receipts 7407, Room G-009, EPA, 401 M St. SW,
Washington DC 20460, Docket No. OPPTS-62133. And please, tell
your friends about the of the urgency of this issue, and ask them
to write a letter as well.

Points to Consider:

Points you might consider making in your letter include:
(1) praising the proposed regulation. (2) asking that fishing
jigs also be included in the ban. Nearly a third (10 of 33) of
the lead-poisoned loons we examined had ingested lead jigs.
(3) asking that the export of lead sinkers and jigs not be per-
mitted to our NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico. A large
portion of America's birds spend summers and/or winters in
Canada and/or Mexico. A Canadian study on loon mortality
conducted by the Avian Care and Research Foundation found
that at least 18% of loons were being killed by lead poisoning
from ingested sinkers and jigs.

Please be assured that our aim in this endeavor is not to
oppose fishing per se. Rather, we wish to encourage the fishing
industry to find nontoxic alternatives to lead. In addition, this
proposal would reduce the risk of lead exposure to the
individuals who manufacture lead sinkers in their home.
Human exposure to lead may cause learning disabilities in
children and hypertension and miscarriages in adults.

Mark Pokras, DVM
North Grafton, Massachusetts