Lead is a heavy metal that is common in our everyday environment. Historically it has been used in paints, pipes (including connectors/fittings), and gasoline among other places. Today, most industrial uses are limited to lead-acid batteries, a growing market.

Lead is known toxin. There are no safe levels of lead for humans; any amount is a bad amount. 

Health effects range from mild health irritations and decreased fertility at low amounts, lower IQ and emotional/behavioral issues in milder amounts, and seizures, coma, and even death at higher amounts. 

### Top exposure pathways (aka: sources of lead) include:

- Paint 
- Soil
- Dust, created by soil or paint
- Water / Plumbing

Lead may be in toys, cosmetics, food containers, and other places, but the above are the top 4 pathways. Paint is generally recognized as the primary source of lead. People talk quite a bit about lead in water, in part because of the crisis in Flint Michigan. Soil is a pathway that gets less attention; however, there is growing evidence that soil -- and in particular the dust that gets kicked up -- is a significant source of lead.

### How to test for lead in your home or community

**Test it yourself: Buy a product off the shelf**
- pros: This is probably the quickest path to testing.
- cons: The results may not be reliable.

**Test it yourself: DIY / Hacker methods**
- pros: Good for citizen scientists and teachers.
- cons: Actually these don’t exist yet :( Help us create them!

**Get a professional to do it**
- pros: Gets the most reliable results.
- cons: can be slow/annoying if you’re working with your local gov’t or expensive if you’re paying a private company)

**[Partner with a local college / university](https://publiclab.org/notes/read_holman/12-17-2018/partnering-with-a-local-college-for-environmental-testing)**
- pros: Can be low-cost, allow for bulk testing, and help build important relationships
- cons: Takes time to build relationships

**Use a mail-in service**
- pros: Uses reliable testing methods done by professionals
- cons: May not be as fast as testing yourself, costs money

### Science / Regulations + Addressing the Issue

- [List of Methods for Lead Detection & Monitoring](https://publiclab.org/notes/read_holman/12-12-2018/list-of-methods-for-lead-detection-monitoring)
- Regulatory overview: What gov’t agencies are involved with this issue? (TBD)
- [The Lead Data Initiative - A Public Lab effort.](https://publiclab.org/wiki/the-lead-data-collaborative-overview).

### Research Notes on PublicLab.org Related to this Topic

[notes:lead!question:lead]

### Questions posted on PublicLab.org Related to this Topic

[questions:lead]