The challenge comes as lawmakers prepare key votes this week
This week will see a decisive test of the European Commission’s plan to ban the use of highly toxic lead shot in hunting and fishing, as Italian MEP Pietro Fiocchi mounts a last-ditch challenge to restrictions he argues unfairly target traditional hunting and fishing practices.
The European Parliament will vote on Tuesday on Fiocchi’s proposal to reject a ban on lead fishing tackle, while national delegates will decide behind closed doors two days later whether to endorse a separate ban on lead shot used for hunting.
The Commission published two proposals in 2025 aimed at reducing lead pollution, with an estimated 44,000 tonnes per year being fired into or discarded in the environment. Sport shooting accounts for over half of the pollution, hunting for just under a third, and anglers and commercial fishers for the remaining 11% in the form of weights and pellets.
The first restriction, dealing specifically with fishing tackle, was adopted in April following approval by national delegates on a committee tasked with examining proposals to control substances under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.
