Home Lead-Testing Kits

Consumer Reports recently tested five home lead-testing kits and concluded that three of the five kits tested were useful though limited screening tools for consumers concerned about lead levels in the products in their homes.

In Consumer Reports tests, the Homax Lead Check ($8) and the Lead Check Household Lead Test Kit ($18.45) were the easiest to use and identified accessible lead in toys, ceramic dishware, and vinyl or plastic. Consumer Reports notes that the Lead Inspector ($13) test kit might be superior for pink or red items, because if those shades of paint bled onto a Lead Check swab, it might falsely appear to be positive.

In the Consumer Reports tests, the First Alert ($13) kit indicated some false negatives for accessible lead and the Pro-Lab Lead Surface ($10) test kit was less sensitive and more difficult to use than the others.

Consumerunion.org goes into more detail about the testing of these kits about 2/3 of the way down on the link here.