Lead

Lead Testing Laboratory Services

What is Lead?

Although lead is a naturally occurring element, it is quite toxic to humans and animals when ingested. Lead is especially harmful during infancy and through early childhood development. During these earliest stages of life, lead is more easily absorbed by the body and every effort should be made to avoid exposure. Lead poisoning in children is known to cause nervous system damage, hearing loss, stunted growth, reduced IQ and developmental delays. It is also harmful to adults, and can cause reproductive problems in adult men.

Around 4 million households with children in them have dangerous lead exposure. Consequently, there are over half a million U.S. children under the age of 5 with blood lead levels above 5 µg/dL.

While lead has been known to leach into drinking water from household plumbing fixtures and has been found in children’s products, food and soil, the most common pathway of childhood lead exposure is through ingestion of lead dust through normal hand-to-mouth contact during which children swallow lead dust that has become dislodged from deteriorated paint or lead paint dust generated during remodeling.

Key Regulations

• OSHA standards for the amount of lead allowed in a workplace air at 50 µg/m3 averaged over an 8-hour workday.
• EPA has set a standard for lead in the ambient air of 0.15 µg/m3 averaged over a calendar quarter.
• EPA has established 400 ppm for lead in bare soil in play areas and 1200 ppm for non-play areas for federally-funded projects. This may be used as a guidance level elsewhere.
• EPA’s action level for lead in water delivered to users of public drinking water systems is 15 µg/L. Its goal for lead is zero.
• FDA has set various action levels regarding lead in food items. Use of lead-soldered food cans is now banned.
• Today, paint intended for residential use is limited to 0.06% lead content.

EHS Laboratories’ Lead Lab supports a wide variety of projects, regardless of size, scope or complexity. Our list of accreditations provides nationwide coverage to meet compliance requirements to support all of your lead investigative needs.

Our facility, our equipment and most importantly our technical expertise allow us to streamline sample flow through our lab. The result is increased productivity coupled with high quality services that allow us to efficiently process projects per your specific requirements.