Quote Originally Posted by creeker View Post
I'm going to try to give everyone a quick and simple chemistry lesson. Here goes...elements such as iron, copper, lead, etc are very stable in metallic form. If you combine them with other elements, you affect the degree of stability. Metallic lead, what sinkers are made of, is very, very stable. If you swallow a sinker, it'll pass through you with no ill effects. It is very resistant to acids.
Lead dissolves fairly quickly in acid solutions, including the hydrochloric acid in a person's stomach.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/815399-overview
Now, if you were to swallow a sinker whole, it may well pass through your system before enough is absorbed to cause a problem, but I wouldn't make a habit of it. But again, this is beside the point. What we're talking about is birds, not humans, and in many cases, when a bird swallows a lead weight, it remains in their stomach, and there can be enough of it absorbed to cause death by lead poisoning.