In December 2024, long-delayed recommendations by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) for restrictions to be placed on the use of lead ammunition in the UK were finally published.
A press release issued by the HSE at the time of publication stated that under the new proposals the use of lead shot for live quarry shooting and target shooting would be prohibited.
Dr Richard Daniels, HSE’s Director of Chemicals Regulation Division was quoted:
“Following a comprehensive analysis of the evidence, we propose new restrictions to protect wildlife, particularly wildfowl and birds of prey, from lead poisoning. They would prevent an estimated 7,000 tonnes of lead entering the environment each year.
“The final agency opinion follows significant responses to two public consultations. We worked through nearly 11,000 responses – dwarfing the recent exercise in the EU.
“This detailed work, carried out under our UK REACH obligations, sets out the necessary balance we have struck to protect the environment and minimise disruption to those who shoot.
“Currently, the risks of lead shot to the wider environment are not adequately controlled. While there are already legally binding measures in place to protect Britain’s wildlife in designated wetlands from the use of lead shot, our analysis has demonstrated the need for further restrictions.
“People will still be able to continue to shoot, but we are proposing that for some outdoor uses in the future, alternatives to lead ammunition would need to be used.”
For those who want to read the detailed proposals, here’s the document:
This issue has dragged on for far too long in the UK (e.g. see here) but now the recommendations have been published, the Governments in England, Wales and Scotland have a limited time period to respond.
A consortium of wildlife and environmental organisations has now written an open letter to the Secretary of State at DEFRA and his colleagues in the devolved Governments, urging them to use this opportunity to finally bring an end to the use of toxic lead ammunition, removing this pollutant from our environment and protecting the health of wildlife and human populations alike. Here’s the letter:
The same campaigners have also set up an e-action that provides an opportunity for you to contact Minister Steve Reed MP at DEFRA, urging him to implement a swift and full ban on the use of lead ammunition. If you’d like to participate (it only takes a couple of minutes), please click here.
For blog readers in Scotland I’d encourage you to email Minister Gillian Martin MSP, the Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy (contact details here).
For blog readers in Wales, I’d encourage you to email Minister Huw Irranca-Davies MS, Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs (and also Deputy First Minister), whose contact details are here.
Don’t be under any illusion that the shooting industry will be rolling over and taking this lying down. They won’t. They’ll be lobbying hard to introduce further delays and to minimise the impacts of the proposed restrictions. It’s what they’ve been doing for years (e.g. here), whilst simultaneously claiming to be undertaking a five-year so-called ‘voluntary transition’ to using non-lead ammunition but failing miserably (see here), and failing to comply with current regulations on using lead ammunition in sensitive environments in England (here) and Scotland (here).
It’s important that Ministers hear from a wider section of society than those with vested interests in maintaining the status quo. Please do make use of the e-action and/or email Ministers in Scotland and Wales. For blog readers with a special interest in birds of prey, this article and the linked scientific paper from researchers at the University of Cambridge should provide all the motivation you need.
To make sure the DEFRA Secretary of State meets the legal requirements for responding to the HSE recommendations within three months of receiving them, lawyers representing conservation campaign group Wild Justice have written to him with the intention of holding him to that deadline. You can read the letter here.
UPDATE 18 March 2025: UK Governments miss deadline for responding to recommendations for restrictions on use of toxic lead ammunition (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
Cannot share this on FB
Sent from my Galaxy
[Ed: Thanks, Keith, noted. The usual suspects are at work, which is why I’m not publishing your comment]
Its so bloody obvious that only politicians cannot see the damage being done to the environment. Apart of course from the weekend warriors out there enjoying killing our wildlife.
Wow! I didn’t expect this. I made quite an angry response to the HSE consultation… If I remember correctly.
I will certainly be in contact with DEFRA, but I will also make sure my MP also gets a copy, and – maybe – my local Press, too.
Thanks for the ‘heads up’.
It might be interesting to map the results obtained from The Private Water Supply Regulations (Risk Assessments and Chemical Parameters) from across the UK, and in particular across Scotland, where there is a high number of private water supplies sourced from surface waters (e.g burns, lochs, rivers, ground water drainage ). Local Authorities should have kept records from risk assessments including chemical parameters taken from sampling for Pb since 2006. Although many supplies in and around shooting estates may not be categorised as Class ‘A’ supplies (where the LA has a statutory duty to risk assess and sample), there may have been sufficient data recorded from from Class A and from Class B supplies in and around shooting estates showing the Pb levels. Some sampling and risk assessments have never determined the specific source of lead contaminating a supply and where this is the case (particularly in an area of acidic soil used for shooting over a long period) the risk of lead contaminating soil and surface water may be higher. Pb samples taken from sitting/still water on these estates would also be interesting.
[Ed: Andrew, please stop posting off-topic comments with links to shooting organisations’ websites]
I’ve used the link provided to email Steve Reed. I wonder if it would be worth people contacting their MP. Most people will be fobbed of but if 1 or 2 MPs take a strong interest in this issue and pressure the government to enact meaningful changes in the law this might be a way forward.