Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

High blood lead levels in recreational indoor-shooters

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

Recreational shooting in indoor firing ranges is very popular in Germany. Lead-containing ammunition is still in use. Therefore we checked the blood lead levels (BLL) from 129 subjects doing several types of shooting disciplines.

Methods

In total, BLLs of 129 shooters (nine female) from 11 different shooting ranges with a mean age of 49 years were measured. The blood samples were taken after the volunteers had given written informed consent. Determination of lead was carried out by graphite furnace atomic absorption (GF-AAS) under strict internal and external quality control schemes.

Results

While individuals shooting only with airguns (n = 20) showed a median BLL of 33 μg/l (range 18–127 μg/l), those who were also users of .22 lr weapons (n = 15) turned out to have a median of 87 μg/l (range 14–172 μg/l). Shooters of .22 lr and large calibre handguns (9 mm or larger) (n = 51) had median 107 μg/l (range 27–375 μg/l) and those only using large calibre handguns (n = 32) had median 100 μg/l (range 28–326 μg/l). The IPSC-group (n = 11) had the highest median with 192 μg/l (range 32–521 μg/l).

Conclusion

Our results show clearly that many shooters have high blood levels; some of them are still exceeding threshold limit values (TLVs) for lead exposed workers. Especially for younger women there is a high potential risk if they become pregnant. So there is a clear need for improving the situation whether by use of lead-free ammunition or by better ventilation systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

References

  • Becker K, Kaus S, Krause C, Lepom P, Schulz C, Seiwert M, Seifert B (1998) Human-Biomonitoring–Stoffgehalte in Blut und Urin der Bevölkerung in Deutschland. Umwelt-Survey 1998 Band III

  • Centers for Disease Control, Prevention–CDC (2005a) Lead exposure from indoor firing ranges among students on shooting teams–Alaska, 2002–2004. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 54(23):577–579. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5423a1.htm. Accessed 31 Aug 2006

  • Centers for Disease Control, Prevention–CDC (2005b) Blood lead levels–United States, 1999–2002. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 54(20):513–516. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5420a5.htm.Accessed 7 Dec 2006

  • Gulson BL, Palmer JM, Bryce A (2002) Changes in blood lead of a recreational shooter. Sci Total Environ 293:143–150

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Löfstedt H, Seldén A, Storéus L, Bodin L (1999) Blood lead in Swedish police officers. Am J Ind Med 35:519–522

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schulz C, Conrad A, Becker K, Kolossa-Gehring M, Seiwert M, Seifert B (2007) Twenty years of the German environmental survey (GerES): human biomonitoring–temporal and spatial (West Germany/East Germany) differences in population exposure. Int J Hyg Environ-Health 210:271–297

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Svensson BG, Schütz A, Nilsson A, Skerfving S (1992) Lead exposure in indoor firing ranges. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 64:219–221

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wiesmüller G, Eckard R, Dobler L, Günsel A, Oganowski M, Schröter-Kermani C, Schlüter C, Gies A, Kemper F (2007) The environmental specimen bank for human tissues as part of the German environmental specimen bank. Int J Hyg Environ-Health 210:299–305

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wurster U, Ebert H, Fleig E, Ott G (2006) Reduzierung der Gefahrstoffbelastung in Raumschießanlagen durch Verwendung bleifreier Trainingsmunition. Gefahrstoffe–Reinhaltung der Luft 66(7/8):295–299

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the Bavarian shooting association (BSSB e.V.), participating shooting clubs and all the shooters who were involved in this study. We thank Stefan Gröbmair for excellent blood lead analyses. We also thank Dr. Simon Ogston, University of Dundee, for checking the English grammar. Data published here are part of the doctoral thesis of Matthias Demmeler at LMU.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, University Munich, Munich, Germany

    Matthias Demmeler, Dennis Nowak & Rudolf Schierl

Authors
  1. Matthias Demmeler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dennis Nowak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rudolf Schierl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rudolf Schierl.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Demmeler, M., Nowak, D. & Schierl, R. High blood lead levels in recreational indoor-shooters. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 82, 539–542 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-008-0348-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-008-0348-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation