In 2010, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) invited key organisations to form an independent strategic group to advise Government on the impacts of lead ammunition on wildlife and human health.

The purpose of the Lead Ammunition Group (the Group) was to bring together relevant stakeholders and experts to advise Defra and the FSA on:

(a) the key risks to wildlife from lead ammunition, the respective levels of those risks and to explore possible solutions to any significant threats;

(b) possible options for managing the risk to human health from the increased exposure to lead as a result of using lead ammunition.

The Group was established in April 2010, holding regular meetings. The members of the Group’s Primary Evidence and Risk Assessment Subgroup, chaired by Prof Len Levy of the Institute of Environment and Health, conducted their work between 2010 and 2014. The members of the Group’s Mitigation Subgroup, chaired by Sir Barney White-Spunner, conducted their work between 2014 and 2015.

Since submission of the Group’s report to Defra in 2015 the Group, with some changed members, has continued to review new evidence and developments of relevance to the conclusions of the report.