ArticlePloS one2022
Fragmentation of hunting bullets observed with synchrotron radiation: Lighting up the source of a lesser-known lead exposure pathway.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Lead micro- and nanoparticles directly observed within gunshot wounds in hunted game meat.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Unveiling a hidden hazard: lead poisoning from hobbyist activities and its long-term impact.Annals of occupational and environmental medicine · 2025Article
- Rifles and shotguns have similar animal welfare outcomes during aerial culling of non-native fallow deer (Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2025Article
- Hard X-ray imaging and tomography at the Biomedical Imaging and Therapy beamlines of Canadian Light Source.Journal of synchrotron radiation · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Bullet fragments have been previously observed in the remains and edible portions of big game animals that were harvested using rifles. The fragmentation issue has attracted attention because traditional hunting bullets are more than 70% lead, which is toxic to humans and scavengers in the ecosystem. We prepared gunshot wounds in ballistic gelatin blocks, and then applied synchrotron X-ray imaging technology to the bullet fragmentation process for the first time. The K edge subtraction (KES) imaging method allowed a clear separation of lead in an image from false positives, including the other major bullet component, copper, and non-lead objects such as bone fragments. The superior brightness of synchrotron radiation was also harnessed to resolve thousands of embedded sub-10 μm fragments, a size range not previously observed using commonly applied X-ray imaging modalities. The results challenge the current understanding of the maximum extent that fragments may be distributed, and the effectiveness of imaging methods used to screen wild game donations at food banks for lead bullet fragments.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.