Shelter Island Reporter

Cornell scientist Susan Walker says the new testing method is a further step in determining how safe the 4-poster program is for the community.

Cornell Cooperative Extension is implementing a new procedure to detect whether any permethrin is transferred from deer hides to deer meat when a harvested deer is prepared for consumption by a hunter, Cornell scientist Susan Walker explained at the Deer and Tick Committee's July 21 meeting.


In the past, Cornell scientists performed the actual skinning of the deer and removal of muscle tissue to provide samples to test permethrin levels. The new procedure involves the cooperation of the Shelter Island Venison Donation meat processor, who will be asked to skin, gut and remove muscle samples according to Cornell's White-tailed Deer Harvest and Safe Handling Procedures for hunters.


Cornell scientists will not explain or direct the process, merely provide the meat processor with the sheet of procedures and observe. The meat processor will then give the sample to Cornell Scientists, who will wrap and freeze the sample and submit it to the Cornell Animal Health Diagnostic Center to be tested.


The new test, said Cornell scientist Susan Walker, will “get a better idea of what the residues are like when hunters handle their own deer” which will “reflect more or less what everyone's consuming.” The handling procedures are less technical than those that were used by Cornell scientists to take samples in the laboratory, she said, but if he follows those step by step procedures, “he should be safe as far as transferring residues” from the hide to the meat.


The Deer Harvest and Safe Handling Procedures recommends measures such as: changing one's rubber gloves and knives after each step in the gutting, skinning and dressing process; skinning the deer starting at the tail and moving toward the head, to minimize contact with the fur on the neck, where there may be permethrin on the hide; and avoiding contact between the hide and the meat a hunter wants to consume. Cornell and the Department of Environmental Conservation recommends that these procedures always be used when handling a deer on the Island -- the complete information is available at wildlifecontrol.info/TickStudy/Pages/PermethrinResidueInvestigations.aspx. 


Ms. Walker told the committee, “The first year of sampling said, ‘yes, residue transfer is a possibility,'” referencing the December, 2008 results in which three of 13 deer sampled the previous fall tested positive for permethrin in their neck muscle tissue. Cornell and the DEC suspected that the results reflect cross-contamination between instruments that were used to cut the neck hide and the neck meat.


Nonetheless, a press release from the DEC entitled, “Permethrin test results for Shelter Island announced,” stated that the Department of Health “characterized the concentrations as presenting a very low to negligible health risk from permethrin residues when consuming the venison.”


Ms. Walker went on, “Our next year of sampling said, ‘when we're very careful, you can eliminate it.'” To obtain its 2009 results, Cornell changed its sampling procedures to include skinning the deer before taking muscle samples, which the DEC press release said would “better replicate how hunters would handle the deer, which should also reduce the likelihood of accidental residue transfer from hide to meat.” No permethrin was found in those deer meat samples.


“And now we want to see what our hunters are actually doing,” said Ms. Walker. “Our goal is always trying to answer the question of how this influences the community and hunters and their families.”


The new sampling procedure will not cost any additional money, she said.