Case study · 2025
Her son was eighteen months old. His blood lead came back at 3.3 micrograms per deciliter. Elevated, but not elevated enough to qualify for a free home inspection from her local health department. So she did it herself.
This is the email she sent us in March 2025. Used with permission. Her name is withheld at her request.
Dear Eric and company,
Thank you so much for your product! I was able to find lead in the plates my family uses everyday. Unfortunately my 1.5 year old was the first test. His levels were 3.3, so elevated but not quite high enough to qualify for a free house inspection from the local health department.
That's when I looked into different home tests I could conduct myself and found yours! The dish set that was positive was one I bought back when I was in middle school at a garage sale. I'm 27 now so I had been waiting quite a few years to use this dish set as an adult. We've been using it for about 2 years now. I usually clean them with the dishwasher so some plates have faded more than others. I'm attaching some pictures and a video that shows the plate that is more worn has much much lead available on the surface.
Thanks again for everything!
— Customer, March 13, 2025
A vintage china plate she had been waiting fifteen years to use. Cream body, hand painted pink rose at the center, gold filigree, gold crown medallions on the rim. The decoration is the lead. The dishwasher wore the glaze thin enough that the lead pigment underneath became surface available.
Daylight. Looks like a plate.
UV + FluoroSpec. The decoration glows.
"Queen Esther. Warranted 22 karat gold design." Mid century American gold overlay china. Plenty of these sets still in cabinets and at garage sales. They look fine. The gold parts are the problem.
Queen Esther · 22 karat gold design · maker mark on back of plate
Thirty one seconds. She sprays the FluoroSpec reagent on the plate, shines the UV, the decoration goes green. No interpretation, no swab color chart, no lab.
Customer submitted · used with permission
The CDC's blood lead reference value is 3.5 micrograms per deciliter. It is an action level. It is not a safe level. There is no safe level. At 3.3, the pediatrician usually says recheck later. The health department usually says you do not qualify. The family is left holding the question of where it came from.
Every microgram of lead in a young child's blood comes with measurable cost. About one IQ point per microgram. Lower reading scores at age three. Lower SAT scores. Lower lifetime earnings. Higher rates of ADHD, anxiety, depression. None of those outcomes are inevitable. They are the cost of kids who stayed exposed because nobody found the source in time.
In her case the source was a plate set that looked completely normal. She replaced the set and removed the exposure. The half life of lead in blood once the source is gone is about thirty days.
Find the source before the blood test does. One drop of FluoroSpec on a dish, sill, frame, or trim. UV light. If it has surface available lead, it glows green. If it does not, it does not.
Case study published with the customer's consent. Identifying details withheld at her request. FluoroSpec detects surface-reactive lead pigment. It does not diagnose or treat lead poisoning. For medical questions, consult your doctor.
