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VPC - Poisonous Pastime - Section One <br />Page 2 of 16 <br />Smith & Wesson Catalog, 1992, pp. 29, 30 <br />Lead poisoning has long been known to cause terribly debilitating and sometimes fatal effects on <br />one's body. But there is a growing body of evidence that the neurological damage that lead causes <br />also helps cause violent criminal behavior, perhaps even "rampage" killings.5 Ironically, <br />overexposure to lead at shooting ranges may therefore cause some violent gun crime. <br />Lawsuits and regulatory action already have closed some shooting ranges because of the health <br />risks and environmental pollution problems they pose.6 Nevertheless, many ranges continue to <br />operate as silent hazards, with little or no health and environmental protection measures. Their <br />owners and operators are either ignorant of the effects of their businesses, or simply hoping that <br />their users, their neighbors, and their employees will remain ignorant of the threat to their health. <br />Lead —An Extraordinarily Toxic Element <br />Effects on Human Beings. Lead is a highly potent toxic element that attacks many different body <br />organs and systems, including the blood -forming, nervous, urinary, and reproductive systems. It is <br />especially dangerous to fetuses and young children. Unlike other metals such as zinc or iron, lead <br />has no known useful function in the body. Lead taken in large enough doses can cause brain <br />damage —leading to seizures, coma, and death in a matter of days. Although the good news is that <br />such short-term, extreme overdoses are rare, the bad news is that chronic overexposure to lower <br />levels of lead simply causes these and other serious health impairments to develop over a longer <br />period of time. <br />http://www.vpc.org/studies/leadone.htm 2/5/2014 <br />