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Data quality & audit
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34% of U.S. children with elevated blood lead live in homes that passed visual inspection. The source is usually a dish, a painted surface, or a handed-down toy. Confirm it in 30 seconds.
Tap an answer and it advances. We tell you which of the 6 vectors apply to YOUR family and which kit covers them.
Each 1 µg/dL of blood lead in young children costs roughly 1 IQ point. The effect doesn't reverse. The dose-response is steepest from 0-10 µg/dL, i.e. exactly where most modern kids live, per the Lanphear 2005 pooled analysis.
The CDC has had to keep moving the "safe" threshold down because every time they move it, new evidence of harm shows up at the new level. 1971 threshold: 40 µg/dL. Today: 3.5 µg/dL.
Pre-industrial human lead levels were 100-1,000× lower than modern US children's. Most of what we call "normal" is the residue of a century of leaded everything. The specific exposures your baby can have are almost all removable, you just have to know where to look.
If your home was built before 1986, lead solder and lead service lines are still legal residue. Here's where to test on the line itself, plus 5 real glow shots from copper-joint solder failures.
33 MILLION U.S. HOMES STILL HAVE LEAD-BASED PAINT. PRE-1978? COULD BE YOURS. WINDOWS, DOORS, AND FRICTION SURFACES GENERATE FINE LEAD DUST CONSTANTLY. CRAWL-LEVEL DUST IS THE #1 INFANT-EXPOSURE ROUTE ON RECORD.
Pre-1940 , very high likelihood. 1940-1959 , high. 1960-1977 , moderate. Post-1978 , unlikely (verify any pre-1978 additions or renovations).
Spray test · trim · sills · baseboards · floor edges
CRAWL-LEVEL DUST IS THE #1 DOCUMENTED ROUTE FOR INFANT LEAD EXPOSURE. EVEN POST-1978 HOMES ACCUMULATE TRACKED-IN DUST FROM RENOVATIONS, SHOES, AND OUTDOOR SOIL.
Wet-cloth dust the same lines a crawling baby uses. Spray any visible patch where dust collects , under furniture, in closet thresholds, along baseboards.
Spray test · floors · baseboards · dust patches
DECORATED GLASS BABY BOTTLES. VINTAGE SIPPY CUPS. THRIFTED CERAMIC PLATES. THE PAINT ON THE OUTSIDE IS WHERE THE LEAD LIVES. 15 SECONDS PER PIECE.
The food-contact rim is what matters most. Test the painted decoration on the exterior, the rim, and the inside of the cup.
Drip test · one drop on every painted decoration
FAMILY HEIRLOOM RATTLES. ETSY WOODEN TOYS. DOLLAR-STORE PLASTIC. THE 1984 MATTEL RATTLE TESTED POSITIVE. DO NOT PASS DOWN PRE-1990 BABY TOYS WITHOUT VERIFYING.
We have personally scanned thousands of items , check the Leaducational database before buying used.
Drip test · painted surfaces · joints · seams
LEAD SOLDER ON COPPER WAS LEGAL UNTIL 1986. LEAD SERVICE LINES WERE COMMON BEFORE 1950. YOUR BATH WATER, YOUR DRINKING WATER, YOUR FORMULA WATER ALL ROUTE THROUGH THE SAME PIPE.
Your water utility can tell you what kind of service line you have. Until you confirm, use NSF-53 filtered water for formula and drinking.
Third-party water test · check service line · NSF-53 filter
ATMOSPHERIC DEPOSITION FROM LEADED GASOLINE (1923-1996) SETTLED INTO THE TOP 2-4 INCHES OF EVERY RESIDENTIAL LAWN IN THE U.S. BARE SOIL NEXT TO A PRE-1978 HOUSE IS THE HIGHEST-EXPOSURE RESIDENTIAL SOIL THERE IS.
Mulch, grass, or 4 inches of clean imported topsoil cover the highest-risk strips. The dripline along the foundation is always the worst.
Spray test on dry sample · soil-lab confirmation for high reads
CERTAIN HOBBIES AND OCCUPATIONS BRING LEAD HOME ON CLOTHING, SKIN, AND GEAR. EVEN WHEN THE WORK HAPPENS OFFSITE. THIS IS SECONDARY EXPOSURE. CHILDREN UNDER 6 ARE THE MOST AT RISK.
High-risk activities: shooting ranges (lead-primer vapor) · bullet reloading · stained-glass work · fishing weights · automotive brake work · radiator repair · renovation and demolition · working with lead-based paint.
The fix is simple: strip work clothes at the garage door, wash hands before touching kids, and wipe down surfaces in the work area before kids enter.
Spray test · work surfaces · gear bags · vehicle interiors
Type the lot code printed on the package. We pull the exact lab numbers for that exact batch from the California AB 899 disclosure database. 18,124 lots, sortable, free.
Or browse by brand or product if you don't have the lot code handy.
"My 3 year old had to have his lead/hgb test for preschool. His came back high. Fluoro-Spec helped us find the cause, a windowsill we never thought about."
Andrea, parent of a 3-year-old · Aug 2019
"Found cups my kids were using had lead on them. Absolutely not something I could have guessed from looking. 30 seconds per cup."
Jessica DeAngelis · Mar 2026
"Found out my kiddo's toy/book shelf was positive for lead. Took two sprays. My pediatrician said she'd never heard of a faster test for painted surfaces."
Sara · Apr 2026
"Helped us identify that the lead paint was only in one specific area, which meant we could fix it instead of panicking about the whole house."
Emily · Jan 2026
"This method blows all the others out of the water. Lab-grade results in seconds. I have my MS in chemistry and I can't believe this is as cheap as it is."
Andrew · Jun 2025
Half if you want to try one applicator. Full Kit covers the whole house. Double pack if you want to share one, or future-proof.
One applicator + 365 nm UV flashlight + training card. Enough to audit one area. Pick the one that fits your job:
Want both? Full Kit is $75, both applicators, save $25.
Both applicators in one box. Spray for surfaces, paint, tile, sills, trim. Drip for items, dishes, mugs, jewelry, toys. One kit covers the whole house.
+ Free Spray Extender Ring · + Lead Framework PDF (87 pages) bundled free
Get the Full Kit · $75 →Two Full Kits. One for you, one for grandma, your sister, a new-parent friend, the babysitter's house. Lead doesn't stop at your front door. Neither should the kit.
+ 2 Free Spray Extender Rings · + Lead Framework PDF (87 pages) bundled free
Get the Double · $99 →FluoroSpec is a fluorescence reagent that reacts with lead pigment on contact. One drop on a ceramic plate, a painted surface, a hand-me-down toy. Lead glows bright green under UV. Everything else stays dark. No lab. No waiting. Results in the room, in real time, while the baby is napping.
"I tested 14 dishes. Three of them glowed bright green. My daughter's BLL was 3.4 µg/dL. After we retired those dishes, her 6-month recheck came back undetectable."
"Two young kids. We found three separate sources , a vintage lamp, a ceramic bowl from my mother-in-law, and the windowsill above the crib. Both kids came back undetectable at the 8-month recheck."
Baby food, water, bottles, toys, future exposures , there is a free resource for all of it. Not lead-ins for a newsletter. The actual tools.
Each one is a different angle on the same problem. Pick the door that matches your house, or scroll through them on the guided walkthrough after the quiz.
I'm Eric Ritter. I built FluoroSpec because the consumer test market was $11 swabs that turn pink on iron rust and lab tests that take three weeks and cost $200. Neither of those tells a parent if their kid's actual plate is poisoning them right now.
The reagent in this bottle is something I patented at Stony Brook. It bonds to lead and almost nothing else. It turns the lead bright green under UV light. 30 seconds. One drop. No false positives on iron oxide, no babysitting the test, no lab to mail it to.
I've personally scanned 2,165 dishes and 35 baby bottles, indexed 47,802 baby-food lab tests, and pulled 11,683 products into a unified database. I've visited families with lead-poisoned kids mid-renovation. The case studies on this page are real names. The kit is what I wish those parents had had on day one.
Fluoro-Spec Inc. · 9 Technology Drive, East Setauket NY 11733 · EPA TSCA LVE L-25-0206 · eric@fluorospect.com · 631-461-1838
Ask your pediatrician for a blood lead test at the next well visit. Then test your home. Both take under five minutes.
30-second test. Costs less than a baby gate. Spray, drip, shine UV. If it glows, you know.
Take the quiz Skip to Full Kit · $75Fluoro-Spec Inc. · East Setauket, NY · TSCA LVE L-25-0206 · eric@detectlead.com
This is not opinion. These numbers come from NHANES, the largest ongoing health survey in the United States, plus peer-reviewed studies with combined sample sizes over 500,000 people.
