At a glance
CDC’s Lead and Multi-element Proficiency program is a voluntary laboratory standardization program that focuses on whole blood multi-analyte quality-assurance.
Overview
More than 240 laboratories, including 120 international labs, participate in CDC's Lead and Multi-element Proficiency program. Each quarter, they are required to analyze a CDC-provided set of blood samples and return their results to CDC. We provide detailed reports to the labs about how well they performed their analyses.
Program results are not used for accreditation or certification. However, the program does improve the precision and accuracy of blood lead, cadmium, and mercury measurements. In the future, the program will add arsenic, selenium, and uranium measurements.
Mission Unleaded
Watch this new video on reducing the risk of contamination during blood collection for lead testing.
Mission Unleaded: How to test children for lead with maximum accuracy [YouTube Video]