Testing Your Home for Health Hazards

For many Americans, pollution is a problem that begins at home. Reports of health hazards from common substances such as radon, asbestos, lead and formaldehyde have fueled homeowners’ concerns about the quality of the environment within their own four walls.

In response, numerous small companies are promoting home test kits for consumers to measure these toxic substances.

Some, like radon kits, have been on the market a long time. Others, like lead test kits, are relatively new, and still others, like a Radio Shack microwave-radiation detector, have been taken off the market.

“Buyer beware” should be the watchword in deciding whether to use these home test kits, which are available through mail-order catalogues and some stores.

There is little government oversight and regulation, and it is scattered among several agencies. Some of the kits have been tested by government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration or Environmental Protection Agency, but many have not.

Experts in the field of environmental testing said these kits can be effective as initial screening devices. If a test shows a high level of a pollutant, it should be followed up with a more-accurate test by a certified professional, they said.

There are two types of errors a home test kit could make--a “false positive” and a “false negative,” explained Brian Lee, a toxicologist with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. “If you get a false positive, you might end up doing abatement you didn’t need.” With a false negative, “you might be exposing yourself to a hazard you thought didn’t exist.”

The accompanying assessments of the major types of home test kits are based on interviews with officials of federal agencies involved in testing and oversight, local consumer offices, industrial hygienists and representatives of the companies distributing the kits. Independent tests were not conducted in the preparation of these articles.

Testing for Radon

The most common and readily available type of home test kit is for radon, the invisible, odorless gas believed to cause lung cancer.

The EPA recommends that “the lowest lived-in level of the home,” including the basement if it is frequently used, be tested for radon. The agency estimates that one in 15 American homes has levels of radon high enough to pose a health risk. A survey last year by the American Lung Assn. found that only 11% of Americans had tested their homes for radon.

There are two types of kits. Carbon kits, which use carbon to trap the radon gas, take a week or two to work. Alpha-track monitors measure the alpha particles emitted by radon decay and must be left in place one to three months. Both kinds can be installed by a consumer but must be sent to a lab for analysis. They cost $15 to $25 each.

“Both (types) are accurate enough for any homeowner’s purposes,” said Dan Agopsowicz, former chair of the American Industrial Hygiene Assn.’s ionizing-radiation committee.

Kits that have been evaluated and approved by the Environmental Protection Agency are marked “EPA-approved” on the package.

Testing Indoor Air

Another type of home test kit is used to test for indoor air pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, other volatile organic compounds and biological contaminants, which include mold and dust mites.

The most dangerous of these pollutants is carbon monoxide, which the CPSC says causes about 200 deaths a year in the United States. Dangerous levels of the odorless gas can be caused by automobile exhaust and improperly installed or vented appliances.

Some kits that test for carbon monoxide are small badges or strips that change color when exposed to a dangerous level of the gas. But the CPSC now recommends that all homes be equipped with carbon-monoxide detectors, similar to smoke detectors, that will sound an alarm when the gas reaches a dangerous level.

These detectors are not yet available, but Underwriters Laboratories is in the process of evaluating the first ones under standards UL and the CPSC developed in May. The detectors, which should be installed outside the sleeping area, will be priced under $100, the CPSC said.

The agency also plans to test the accuracy and reliability of kits designed to detect volatile organic compounds and other gases such as nitrogen dioxide.

Test kits for many air pollutants are controversial and hard to find. There are no government standards for these home test kits, and the companies that market them disagree on what types are effective.

There are several devices available to test the level of formaldehyde, a gas often emitted by new building materials. Some people are sensitive to formaldehyde and similar chemicals that give them headaches, respiratory problems and other symptoms.

There are also tests to measure mold or dust mites in the air, which can cause respiratory problems for people who are susceptible. None of these tests has been evaluated by any government agency, so the burden is on the consumer to do research about the product and the company that sells it.

Testing for Lead

Test kits for lead in paint, ceramics and other substances make up one of the fastest-growing segments of the test-kit business. Lead is a toxic heavy metal outlawed in many products in the late 1970s, but which is still found in water, dust, plumbing pipes and fixtures and old paint, as well as some ceramics and food containers.

The CPSC and EPA have conducted studies on methods to detect lead. The FDA was involved in developing tests for lead in ceramics and provides consumers with names of three companies that distribute test kits for ceramics. They are Frandon Enterprises, HybriVet Systems and Michigan Ceramic Supplies.

The first consumer test kit to detect lead in ceramics was invented in 1987 by Don Wallace, a retired Air Force officer, after he and his wife, Fran, became ill from drinking coffee out of mugs that had lead in the glaze.

Wallace’s company, Frandon Enterprises, now manufactures the Frandon Lead Alert kit for use on various surfaces and a kit for use on ceramics. The company is now owned by Pace Environs in Carey, N.C., which is working with the EPA to develop kits that will detect lead in other materials.

Users of the Frandon kit have to mix two substances and use the mixture promptly. A newer kit called LeadCheck consists of a swab in a small glass vial encased in cardboard. The consumer squeezes the cardboard to break the vial and mix the chemicals, which then soak the swab. The swab is rubbed on a surface believed to have lead. If lead is present, the swab turns red.

The CPSC has tested three kits for home use: the Frandon Lead Alert kit; Plumbtesmo Test Papers, made in Germany; and the Lead and Solder Test Kit, made by LaMotte Chemical Products Co. in Chestertown, Md. All three are “relatively sensitive but can be made more sensitive,” according to Brian Lee of the commission.

Consumers Union, a nonprofit information group that publishes Consumer Reports, tested LeadCheck Swabs and the Frandon Lead Alert kit in 1990 and found that both “could detect high lead levels in paint samples, ceramics and lead-soldered cans.” But it warned that “neither can detect lower--though still possibly hazardous--lead levels, especially in paint.”

An additional problem for consumers is the number of possible sources of lead in most homes.

“If you’re looking to get a totally lead-free environment, there are 50 to 60 tests you have to do,” said Edward Prifogle, an engineer who heads HomeTest, a company that makes tests for water filters. “Lead is all over the place in many houses.”

Testing Your Microwave

While many home test kits give at least a rough idea of whether a particular object poses a hazard, one type--a microwave test kit--does not, according to government tests and experts in the field.

Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration have tested about a dozen kits designed to measure radiation leakage from microwave ovens, and determined that they are of little or no value. The kits ranged in price from $10 to $50.

One of the kits, marketed by Radio Shack under its trade name Micronta, has been removed from this year’s Radio Shack catalogue and from its stores because of an action taken by the Montgomery County (Md.) Consumer Affairs Office in 1985.

Eric Friedman, an investigator for the office, said he looked into the effectiveness of the test kit after a consumer complained she had bought one that indicated falsely that her microwave oven was leaking. After some digging, Friedman found a report by FDA physicist Donald M. Witters Jr. which stated that the device could give either a “false negative” or a “false positive.”

Witters, of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, published the test results of nine inexpensive devices in 1984. He said in a recent interview that these tests and subsequent ones revealed that inexpensive microwave detection devices are “for the most part inaccurate and unreliable.”

At Friedman’s request, Radio Shack agreed in 1985 not to sell the devices in Montgomery County, he said, and several mail-order companies also agreed not to sell them to customers with Montgomery County Zip codes. Robert B. Miller, vice president for merchandising of Radio Shack, said his company has since stopped selling the product altogether because of the Montgomery County action.

Microwave test kits are still sold through catalogues.

Otto White, an industrial hygienist at Brookhaven National Laboratories, said, “My concern about the (inexpensive) devices is that you need someone to understand how to take the measurements and how to interpret the results. The key is that you need a calibrated device.” He recommended calling a service person if a microwave oven is damaged.

Scientific studies indicate that exposure to high levels of microwave radiation can cause cataracts. There are additional, more-controversial studies indicating that conditions such as skin cancer and birth defects may be linked to this radiation as well.

Witters said the FDA standard for the sale of microwave ovens in the United States is “one of the most stringent and rigorously enforced standards on any product found around the home.” He said a microwave oven manufactured under this standard is not likely to emit dangerous levels of radiation unless it has been damaged in a way that would be obvious to the owner. In that case, he said, it should be checked.