Copper Poisoning

[hm2 clark]

We are all aware that lead can poison us. Lead bullets have been used for hundreds of years to take game,copper only a few decades I know that copper can poison us too. Can anyone show me a site that compares the risk of one to the other when we use all copper bullets vs copper clad or lead SP bullets?

[bwaites]

I know that both are potentially fatal if ingested at high velocity!

If you mean risks associated with simple handling, lead vaporized and inhaled from primer ignition is a much higher risk than anything copper presents. The highest risk is to workers at indoor ranges, which is why air systems there are so critical.

In 20 years in medicine I've never seen a copper poisoning, but have seen multiple lead intoxication cases. All were related to glass industry workers, mostly stained glass. I have talked with doctors who have seen it in older guys who cast a lot of their own bullets.

[bwaites]

If there is a medical study of lead ingestion from game I haven't ever seen it, all I've heard are theoretical arguments.

We've used copper cook ware for 500 years and I've never heard of copper poisoning. I'm fairly positive there are no studies on its use to take game.

[Smud Dude]

With respect, that's not entirely correct. As a dust, exposure is regulated by OSHA, and it's very nasty stuff. In the context of this discussion, maybe. I would google copper poisoning and check out the Wikipedia article. It's toxicity in game? I agree with bwaites, we've been eating game with copper jacketing for multiple decades, and I can't find anything on it. Personally when I used to hunt I may have been a little anal about getting all the bullets bits. Chew it up real good and spit out the crunchy pieces.

[mongoosesnipe]

any kind of dust is a safety concern from a respitory stand point but dangerous copper is not copper your thinking of. It is mostly salts of copper like copper sulfate which is toxic with an ld50 of 30mg/kg, we can be exposed to other dangerous copper salts from cooking in copper but it is pretty much narrows to cooking acidic foods which react with the pan to form toxic salts or from cooking with a heavily corroded pan which has already formed toxic salts

so basically if you shoot an animal with a copper bullet then let said bullet sit in the meat for long enough for it to turn green and then ate said green meat and bullet you would get sick...so don't do that...

and don't forget all those super dangerous copper water pipes, i mean you sharpen one of those thing an it will kill you in an instant

[bwaites]

With respect, that's not entirely correct. As a dust, exposure is regulated by OSHA, and it's very nasty stuff. In the context of this discussion, maybe. I would google copper poisoning and check out the Wikipedia article. It's toxicity in game? I agree with bwaites, we've been eating game with copper jacketing for multiple decades, and I can't find anything on it. Personally when I used to hunt I may have been a little anal about getting all the bullets bits. Chew it up real good and spit out the crunchy pieces.

Now, now, stay in context. No mention of mining or smelting operations! As I tell patients..."Everything is a poison if you get enough exposure. The trick is to avoid too much exposure!" Acute lead or copper poisoning by high velocity injection is hundreds, if not thousands, of times more dangerous and frequent than any other type!

Heck, wheat flour dust is toxic and OSHA regulated too!

[mongoosesnipe]

Now, now, stay in context. No mention of mining or smelting operations! As I tell patients..."Everything is a poison if you get enough exposure. The trick is to avoid too much exposure!" Acute lead or copper poisoning by high velocity injection is hundreds, if not thousands, of times more dangerous and frequent than any other type!

Heck, wheat flour dust is toxic and OSHA regulated too!

Come on now medically speaking copper prevents mrsa growth.... Kills the unkillable.....imagine what it could do if you were to say consume 1000g per kg of body weight death would be over 99%....

Heck even lead in the manner it could be consumed from game is not all that dangourus for humans as pure lead doesn't react very well with HCl, I am not saying its safe but if you were to eat a #6 shot once in a while it wouldn't have any noticeable affect. It is dangerous for birds because of the gastric milling which occurs as part of their digestion

[NugginFutz]

Come on now medically speaking copper prevents mrsa growth.... Kills the unkillable.....imagine what it could do if you were to say consume 1000g per kg of body weight death would be over 99%...

So, you're saying that if I ingested 100% my body weight of anything, it would be fatal. Assuming it is within a 24hr period, then yes, this is true. Over a years time? Not so true. Either way, 1000g is 1 Kg, and I can't voluntarily ingest 100% of my body weight of anything, on a given day.

[mongoosesnipe]

So, you're saying that if I ingested 100% my body weight of anything, it would be fatal. Assuming it is within a 24hr period, then yes, this is true. Over a years time? Not so true. Either way, 1000g is 1 Kg, and I can't voluntarily ingest 100% of my body weight of anything, on a given day.

it was a joke such as to imply it is not significantly toxic sarcasm is hard to convey through text if you actually want to know about the subject here you go http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp132-c3.pdf weening rats feed 300mg/kg in there food died after two weeks basically a human would have to eat and absorb 2-3 bullets a day regularly so get sick

so yes you can get sick from less than your own bodywork worth of copper but you would basically need to try to get sick off it to have any real effect

there is also detailed information about airborne copper exposure in the toxicological profile link