It was 1991 when lead shot was banned for all waterfowl hunting in the U.S. and by now, most hunters have grudgingly come to accept non-toxic alternatives.

The ban was instituted after years of investigation yielded strong evidence that spent lead shot was the cause of significant mortality in waterfowl that ingested it while feeding. Raptors that fed on waterfowl carcasses containing lead shot also were falling victim to lead poisoning.

Now there is increasing concern over the danger of lead in most other kinds of hunting where lead bullets and lead shot are used as well.

In California, the death of condors has been linked to lead bullet fragments from the gut piles of big game left by hunters, which the birds then fed on.

Closer to home, both in North Dakota and in Minnesota, venison donation programs were suspended and donated meat thrown away earlier this year after lead fragments were found in many of the packages.

Research now reveals that lead poisoning extends well beyond the scope of waterfowl, affecting upland species and even those of us who consume wild game taken with lead materials.

But none of this is really new.

In fact, evidence of lead poisoning in pheasants was documented more than 100 years ago, said Dick Kimmel, group leader at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Farmland Wildlife Research Center near Madelia.

“There were reports of pheasants and lead poisoning back in the 1870’s,” he said.

Kimmel, along with DNR biologist Molly Tranel, authored a paper documenting the lead poisoning research conducted by biologists over the years on more than 100 species of birds and game, as well as the humans that consume them.

Their compilation of the studies conducted over decades was prompted in part by claims extended by major gun lobbies that no real evidence exists to indicate that lead bullets or lead shot are responsible.

Instead, in the California case, for example, efforts to ban lead bullets or shot have been painted as an anti-hunting ploy rather than an environmental and health issue.

In Minnesota and other states, federal regulations already ban lead shot on all Federal Waterfowl Production Areas.

And there are clear indications that in Minnesota as in other states, hunters can expect more lead shot restrictions.

As a result of a Wildlife Roundtable initiative, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources formed an advisory council in 2006 to study the issue.