| Senate committee discusses lead in venison |
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By T.W. Budig ECM Capitol reporter Sen. Satveer Chaudhary likes to hunt, eats wild game, and heard nothing during his Senate committee’s hearing Jan. 28 on lead in venison to make him reconsider his habits. “To be honest with you, I’m more concerned about the lead coming through my water pipes,” said Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley. “Will I continue to serve venison at the table to my kids? — absolutely,” said Chaudhary, who chairs the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee. The issue of lead in venison — tainted venison finding its way into food shelf freezers — broke some months ago when a doctor in North Dakota had donated venison in that state X-rayed to reveal lead fragments. The national news eventually had state officials in Minnesota pulling donated venison out of food shelf freezers — in 2007 some 78,000 pounds of venison was donated through a fledging state venison donation program. Testing of 239 samples by state officials showed 32 percent of the meat contained with lead fragments. State officials launched studies, an informational campaign, and took other steps of making people aware that bullets fragment striking a deer. Indeed, one Department of Natural Resources (DNR) official told the committee lead fragments can travel as far as 16-inches from a wound path in a deer. Cutting the meat out that far isn’t realistic, opined DNR Big Game Program Coordinator Lou Cornicelli. “Or you’re left with a head and a tail,” he quipped. According to Dr. Heidi Kassenborg of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, last year some 700 deer were donated by hunters to the program. About 20,000 pounds of venison was processed by about 35 meat processors active in the program — the cost is covered by surcharges on some deer licenses and hunter donations. Kassenborg said all the donated venison is now X-rayed before being distributed to foodshelves. This was not the case before. But the precaution has driven up costs. Before the X-ray screening protocol, it cost the program about $1.78 to process a pound of venison, she explained. Now it costs $2.45 a pound. Some senators questioned whether the cost increase was making the program cost prohibitive. Others indicated that the safeguards were excessive. Sen. Jim Vickerman, DFL-Tracy, said that he had been eating venison since he was ten-years-old. “I’ve never been sick in my life,” he said. “We have to start using some common sense around this place,” said Vickerman. A study conducted last year by the National Center of Environmental Health on wild game consumption and blood lead levels in North Dakota concluded that those subjects who ate wild game had higher lead levels in comparison to those who did not. But John Stine of the Minnesota Department of Health characterized the lead levels in the North Dakota study as low — similar to national standards. None of the blood levels found were at the level that protocol would call for intervention by officials, he explained. The health department warns against the consumption of venison by pregnant women and small children. But the warning is not on the same level as those for fish consumption, Stine indicated. “No — we’re not there,” he said. Dr. Erik Zabel, a lead expert with the health department, said in adults lead exposure can cause high blood pressure, kidney ailments, and other symptoms. X-raying had discovered that about six percent of the 2008 processed venison contained lead fragments, said Kassenborg. This meat was destroyed, though the processors were paid for the processing, she explained. Chaudhary, speaking after the committee hearing, questioned paying for rejected venison, suggesting not paying could have processors being more careful. Based on what he had heard during the hearing, Chaudhary indicated that he believed venison consumption was safe. But he also thought the donation program needed to fine tune the venison processing. There are still wrinkles to be ironed out, said Chaudhary. Comments (0)
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