Can you get lead poisoning from a bullet?

Most people associate lead poisoning with paint chips and toxic dust. But in a case report published last week, doctors identified a more unusual source of exposure, gunshot wounds. The article, about a 32-year-old Chicago man who had lead poisoning from a gunshot wound to his elbow, appears in the latest issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. read more

Lead poisoning from lead bullets or fragments that are not removed rarely occurs. There is one situation where it can, when a lead bullet or fragment is lodged in, or close enough to, a joint that the synovial fluid there can, much like a solvent, break down the lead enough that it can begin to migrate into the bloodstream. read more