High blood lead levels in recreational indoor-shooters

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.

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.

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

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.