I went to a fishing expo with my dad a few weeks ago and showed him a lure I was about to buy. He showed the the warning about lead and birth defects in california that is on just about every product in every tackle store. I told him this but then thought "am i crazy for using this stuff and not even thinking about lead poisoning or birth defects." what do you guys think?

I think you will be okay as long as you're not chewing on them or ingesting small pieces from the bait.  I think most baits today have some form of lead or lead paint in them.  I used to put split shot on with my teeth when I was younger and I cun steal speell jus fin.   ;D

As you can see by the newer products that comes out ever year in the areas of weight.    

   just like the ban on lead with migratory birds, don't know when, but someday, there will be ban on use of lead in fishing products as well.

Its coming.     Most of us older fellows have grown up around lead paints and such most of our lives.

When I joined the navy, we still had ships in the late 70's that weren't asbestos free, and lead was just coming up on the horizon at that time.

yea i read the same labels   but my family has been using there teeth there entire lives to clamp on slpitshots and nothing has ever happened  i use my teeth as well but after reading the label i always spit after i clamped it

Yeah that only happens in California.  There are alot of birth defects out there and not all derived from lead.  Just look at how they picked Arnold............. ;D

Anyway just keep it out of your mouth and wash your hands and you will be fine.

You want to know what's really funny about the lead ban on migratory bird hunting.

I grow up in Southwest Louisiana which has some of the best duck hunting in America and all of us Cajuns died laughing when we heard about the proposal of banning lead. The supposed Biologist said that the ducks in the marsh feeding on the bottom would accidentally eat the lead causing lead poisoning or if you ate the duck you could get lead poisoning. Well the truth of the matter is most ducks feed in rice fields not in the marsh and these are the same rice fields we hunt doves which by the way are hunted with lead shot; the supposed Biologist have not banned lead shot in the rice fields for dove hunting. So where do you think the ducks have a better chance of eating lead in the rice field or in the marsh?

This same way of thinking is behind the ban on lead in fishing lures; this supposed Biologist believes that fish will scour the bottom accidentally eating lead. Now I ask how many fish actually feed on the bottom.

You can thank Commiefornia for those warning labels. :-X

Having just moved across the country from California and running a sporting goods store I can tell you that most of the products with those warning stickers don't actually have lead in them.  NOt very suprising that theres is actually a law in California that states that even if there is no lead in a product, if it is manufactured in a factory that has any lead products being produced there has to be a warning sticker on the products.

You can get led in through a two ways...

By inhaling/ingesting it

I do not believe that touching lead weights will have any affect on your brain/body

The warning label doesn't hurt any thing so if any one was to complain about it, it would be a waste of there breath...

Lead is used in many things for example

Enamels

Glass such as some light bulbs

Rubber

Solder

Paint (usually steel bridges other steel structures)

Though you should be safe, just dont put it into your mouth

Don't let the loonies get to you.

No problem using lead.

As the guys said, don't eat it.

I should have some serious reproductive problems if I ever choose to have kids; I bet I have bitten closed thousands of lead split shots for Crappie and Catfish.  As a kid, crimping them on your line by biting them is just what you did...finding the needlenose wasn't necessary.  I'll say I wouldn't do it today I guess, but it was habit in the '80s.

I should have some serious reproductive problems if I ever choose to have kids; I bet I have bitten closed thousands of lead split shots for Crappie and Catfish. As a kid, crimping them on your line by biting them is just what you did...finding the needlenose wasn't necessary. I'll say I wouldn't do it today I guess, but it was habit in the '80s.

I had lead poisoning, as well as arsenic and cadmium for over two years. Myself (and my coworkers) were required to submit to blood testing every 6 months for various heavy metals. Before my wife and I decided it was time to have a baby, we asked the doctors about this, and they all said we would be fine, because I had been welding in powerplants 6 years previously. Our son will be two in September and he is well ahead of the class at daycare.

Over time, the body gets rid of the lead through the kidneys. I'm talking about real honest to goodness lead poisoning here, not just small scale exposure to tire weights and split shots.