Lead Test Kits

With the recent stories about lead tainted toys from China, over 3.5 million toys have been recalled.

With lead poisoning in children potentially a cause of neurological problems resulting in learning disabilities, the presence of lead in so many toys is disturbing. All year reports have been flooding the news of more and more lead-tainted products aimed at children. The effects of so much lead in the environments of young children could have terrible future consequences. Parents are, understandably, looking for some assurances that the toys they buy their children this Christmas aren't poison disguised as fun. This has brought a slew of new lead test kits to the market.

Consumer Reports is issuing a report this month rating the lead test kits for efficacy. The Consumer Products Safety Commission recently came out with a report stating that the lead test kits were "unreliable." It turns out that both may be correct, depending on what exactly you expect from a lead test kit.

There are five test kits that Consumer Reports is recommending the top being the Homax Lead Check ($8 for two swabs) and Lead Check Household Lead Test Kit, ($18.45 for eight swabs). They are both made by the same company and basically the same product excepting quantity. They were found to be the best value and the easiest to use. Both involve swabbing whatever you are testing and seeing if the swab changes color indicating lead. These products didn't produce any false negatives and were simple. One other did pass muster: Lead Inspector ($13 for eight tests). Researchers noted that the Lead Inspector might be more reliable on red or pink items than the other kits.

Two lead test kits not recommended were: First Alert ($13) which provided some false negatives, and Pro-Lab Lead Surface which had design problems.