Get a Test Kit

Click the button below to order a simple arsenic home test kit.

This will open a new window with a secure order form located on our colleagues’ (EWG) website. The Center for Environmental Health’s Safe Playgrounds Project and EWG are both working closely with the University of North Carolina Asheville’s Environmental Quality Institute (EQI). The EQI laboratory has been conducting national studies of public exposure to arsenic from water and from CCA pressure-treated lumber. Your home test kit samples will be included in their national research efforts.

Once you are at the order page, please place your order by credit card or personal check. Arsenic test kits (except for the "detailed" soil test kit) cost $20 each.

Detailed instructions will be included with each type of test kit. The following information is provided to give you a general idea of what to expect.

If you are interested in testing a particular wood surface for arsenic levels, order the wood wipe kit.

Included with each wood wipe kit are the following items:

• 1 clear plastic template with stickers
• 1 pair laboratory gloves
• 1 pre-moistened wipe
• 1 plastic vial for completed sample
• 1 research questionnaire
• 1 return address label

The wood wipe test essentially requires you to pick a wood surface that you would like to test, and tape the provided template to this surface. You will then use the provided wipe to sample the surface three times, folding the wipe as you proceed. This wipe technique is intended to simulate typical hand contact with CCA wood surfaces and will indicate how much arsenic is being released by that particular wood surface. You will then place the wipe in the plastic vial and mail it in the provided return envelope (with the questionnaire) to the Environmental Quality Institute’s laboratory. You should expect to receive test results and an explanation of your results within approximately three weeks.

Since there may be different levels of arsenic residue on each wood surface, you may want to focus on testing surfaces that are touched most frequently. If you would like to test more than one surface, you will need more than one test kit. Also, if you are coating or “sealing” a CCA-structure, you may be interested in testing your structure both before and after sealing. (Note that horizontal surfaces can be expected to need recoating most frequently, tilted surfaces next, and vertical surfaces least frequently.)

If you are interested in testing the soil near or under an arsenic-treated wood structure, order the soil test kit.

Included with each soil sampling kit are the following items:

• 1 pair laboratory gloves
• 1 soil sampling cup in a labeled bag
• 1 research questionnaire
• 1 return address label

Note: You will need a gardening tool which is not included with the kit.

There are two basic types of soil tests. You may want to test the soil near where your kids play or where your pets may come into contact with it.

• Choose a “Hot spot” kit to test soil near or underneath your wood structure. This test can identify high or medium levels of arsenic contamination in soil.
• Choose a "Detailed" kit to test soil near or underneath your wood structure as well as soil from another location in your yard. This extra sample will help to correct for “background” levels of arsenic contamination in the soil and identify low levels of arsenic in the soil underneath your wood structure. By taking a soil sample in another location of your yard (at least 10 feet away and not downhill from the wood structure), you can identify the “background” level of arsenic that is naturally present in the soil. This will give you an indication of how much arsenic contamination the particular wood structure has contributed to the soil below the structure.

The soil test essentially requires you to pick and measure out an area of soil you would like to sample underneath your wood structure (or at another location). You may need to remove a very shallow layer of grass or vegetation, then mix up the soil, collect a cupful and place it into the labeled bag. Mail the sample in the provided return envelope (with the research questionnaire) to the Environmental Quality Institute’s laboratory. You should expect to receive test results and an explanation of your results within approximately three weeks.