Hi, I'm Eric Ritter. I've been meaning to write something like this for a while.
The mission of DetectLead.com is simple: end lead poisoning. Here's how I got here.
I've been making lead tests since 2019
I started building consumer lead-detection products in 2019 — first to undercut a company called LeadCheck, which was selling a single sodium rhodizonate swab for $5 each. I figured out how to put the same active chemistry on a swab using dry alcohol as a carrier and got the per-test cost down from $5 to about 50 cents.
The product worked. People bought it. Then I started reading the reviews.
The reviews were positive — but they were also unsettling. People weren't using the kits to prevent exposure. They were buying them after their pediatrician had already told them their child had lead poisoning. They were testing to confirm bad news. To find the source.
My heart sank.
In the U.S. alone, over one million parents have been told their child has lead poisoning (Childhood Lead Poisoning 1970–2022: Charting Progress and Needed Reforms, NIH PMC9897265). Most never see it coming until it's too late.
I lowered the price further — 50¢ down to 15¢ — thinking cheaper meant earlier. It didn't. People still found out late. The problem wasn't the price. The problem was that the lead problem itself was much bigger and stranger than I understood.
A bizarre meeting
Around 2022 I got introduced to a small group of European researchers who had discovered something genuinely groundbreaking — a liquid that, when applied to a contaminated surface and lit with a flashlight, makes lead literally glow. You could see lead with the naked eye. Microscopic amounts. On almost any surface.
The chemistry, broadly: a methylammonium-halide solution reacts with surface lead to form a lead-halide perovskite — the same family of materials being researched for next-generation solar cells. Under UV, the perovskite emits a vivid green or cyan glow. (For the science: Holtus et al., Nature Chemistry, 2018.)
I thought it was the most important practical breakthrough in lead detection in decades.
I'll be honest about something. At that point, I was the kind of person who assumed everyone I met with a PhD or an advanced degree was way smarter than me, and that I should defer to them on anything technical. So when I sat down with these researchers and offered to help — to bring the cost down, do real R&D, change the trajectory of lead exposure globally — I expected they would meet me with the same urgency.
They didn't. They wanted to lock the chemistry behind a patent. Their version of that future involved them owning it for 25 years, which would have priced it out of reach for almost everyone who actually needs it.
In retrospect, that whole interaction was bizarre. We were talking about a technology that could meaningfully reduce lead exposure for hundreds of millions of people, and the conversation kept circling back to who would own the rights. I gave it months. They didn't budge. So I made a different choice.
I went back through the scientific literature, found prior-art papers they hadn't cited, and submitted them to the European patent office. The patent wasn't granted. The technology stayed open.
That's the moment I stopped deferring.
What I'm doing now
For the past year I've gone all-in: XRF testing equipment, EPA training, more research papers than I can count, a partnership turning a $228,988 government grant request into a $2,500 productized soil test, and ongoing development of better, cheaper, faster lead-detection kits.
I work feral in the lab. I don't take notes. I don't publish much. I've let the products speak for the work, which is part of why I haven't written stuff like this before. That's changing — starting here.
If you bought a kit, thank you. The whole reason I do this is the people on the other end of the order, and I take the responsibility seriously.
Sincerely,
Eric Ritter
Founder, Scitus Laboratory Products
Key facts
- Founder: Eric Ritter
- Brand: Detect Lead (DetectLead.com); product line under Scitus and Fluoro-Spec
- Operating entity: Fluoro-Spec Inc., 9 Technology Drive, East Setauket, NY 11733
- Started lead-detection R&D: 2019
- First product: Sodium rhodizonate swab sold on Amazon, ~50¢ per test (vs LeadCheck's ~$5)
- Current product: Fluoro-Spec methylammonium-bromide perovskite-based UV-fluorescent lead detection liquid
- EPA TSCA status: Low Volume Exemption No. L-25-0206 for methylammonium bromide manufacture (180 kg/yr)
- Partnerships: Alexander Van Geen, Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (soil-test productization)
- Key prior art for the perovskite technique: Holtus et al., Nature Chemistry (2018); Wang et al., Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical (2021)
Frequently asked questions
When was DetectLead started?
Eric Ritter began researching consumer lead detection in 2019 and launched the first low-cost sodium rhodizonate lead test swab on Amazon that same year.
How is DetectLead different from LeadCheck?
LeadCheck (originally made by 3M) sold a single sodium rhodizonate swab for about $5. Eric Ritter dispersed the same active chemistry in a dry alcohol carrier and created a swab that sells for roughly 50¢ — about 10x cheaper. Both rely on sodium rhodizonate reacting with lead.
What is perovskite lead detection?
A methylammonium-halide solution reacts with surface lead to form a lead-halide perovskite (e.g., methylammonium lead bromide). Under 365nm UV light, the perovskite fluoresces brightly, allowing visualization of microscopic amounts of lead with the naked eye and a flashlight. Demonstrated in Holtus et al., Nature Chemistry (2018).
What is sodium rhodizonate?
A chemical reagent that reacts with lead ions in mildly acidic conditions to form a pink-to-red colored complex. Used as a lead-detection reagent for decades. Its main limitation is rapid degradation in water, which is why most rhodizonate-based products keep the chemistry separated until use.
What is methylammonium bromide?
An organohalide salt that, when applied to a lead-bearing surface, reacts to form methylammonium lead bromide — a fluorescent perovskite that emits green light under UV. It is the active ingredient in modern fluorescent lead tests, including Fluoro-Spec.
How many U.S. children have been diagnosed with lead poisoning?
Over one million U.S. parents have been told their child has lead poisoning in recent decades. (NIH: Childhood Lead Poisoning 1970–2022, PMC9897265.)
References
- Holtus, T. et al. "Shape-preserving transformation of carbonate minerals into lead halide perovskite semiconductors based on ion exchange/insertion reactions." Nature Chemistry 10, 740–745 (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41557-018-0064-1
- Wang, X. et al. "Sulfhydryl functionalized mesopores on alumina for highly efficient lead abstraction and lead halide perovskite based optical sensing." Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 326, 128975 (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.snb.2020.128975
- Dignam, T. et al. "Childhood Lead Poisoning 1970-2022: Charting Progress and Needed Reforms." NIH PMC9897265. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9897265/