HUMAN
HAIR ANALYSIS
Also known as HTMA or HMA

Human Hair Testing

Setting a new Global Standard with our Australian Laboratory

Toxicity from heavy metals disrupts and alters important activity at the cellular level by interfering with membrane integrity, enzyme function, impaired DNA repair mechanisms, messaging and hormone function; this in-turn can translate to a myriad of conditions like elevated blood pressure, fatigue, impaired cognition, developmental delays and latter life chronic illness.

Off course there are many potentially toxic substances we can be exposed to. And we test for many of them in our Soil and Water Tests. However, heavy metals are becoming more pervasive in our environments and they can persist.

Examples: Lead is prevalent in higher than background levels in the soil around many suburban homes in our capital cities due to legacy leaded petrol and paint; Around 2/3 of the Mercury in our oceans comes from burning coal in last few hundred years (coal smoke contains Mercury, Uranium and many other toxic substances) ; Arsenic and Antimony residual contamination is often associated with legacy Gold Mining areas in Australia.

And the World Health Organisation (WHO) list Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium and Mercury in the top ten of the most important substances of concern to human health and the environment.

Evidence indicates that hair analysis is well suited to identify even low dose exposure to metals, heavy metals and minerals.

Ref: Determinants of Hair Manganese, Lead, Cadmium and Arsenic Levels in Environmentally Exposed Children, Jursa et al, 2018

Any toxic metal may be called a heavy metal, irrespective of its' atomic mass or density, although generally, heavy metals have densities above 5g/cm3 and as part of Earth's Elements, they cannot be degraded or destroyed.

Fifty three of the ninety naturally occurring Earth's Elements are heavy metals and those of highest concern to human, animal and environmental health include arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, mercury, manganese, nickel, lead, tin, and thallium.

Metal "heaviness" and toxicity are often inter-related with heavy metals & metalloids like arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and lead able to induce toxicity even at low levels of exposure, accentuated by the fact that heavy metals persist in all parts of the environment - Water, Soil and indeed, Human Bone.

Ref: Environmental Pollution by Heavy Metal: An Overview, 2019

Antimony (Sb), Silver (Ag), Arsenic (As), Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), Manganese (Mn), Nickel (Ni), Selenium (Se), Zinc (Zn), Mercury (Hg), Iron (Fe), Aluminium (Al), Lithium (Li), Beryllium (Be), Boron (B), Vanadium (V), Cobalt (Co), Strontium (Sr), Molybdenum (Mo), Barium (Ba), Thallium (TL), Bismuth (Bi), Thorium (Th), Uranium (U), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Potassium (K), Sodium (Na), Sulphur (S), Phosphorus (P)

All sample collection details, payment, Laboratory address and phone numbers are on the order form that can be downloaded here. You need to send in the form with your sample hair.

Additional elements can also be ordered on the form if needed. These include the Rare Earth Elements and others: Caesium (Cs), Cerium (Ce), Dysprosium (Dy), Erbium (Er), Europium (Eu), Gadolinium (Gd), Germanium (Ge), Gold (Au), Holmium (Ho), Lanthanum (La), Lutetium (Lu), Neodymium (Nd), Palladium (Pd), Platinum (Pt), Praseodymium (Pr), Rubidium (Rb), Samarium (Sm), Scandium (Sc), Tantalum (Ta), Terbium (Tb), Thulium (Tm), Tin (Sn), Titanium (Ti), Tungsten (W), Ytterbium (Yb), Yttrium (Y), Zirconium (Zr).

We are calling for Global Transparency, Collaboration, Standardisation of Procedures, Increasing detection Sensitivity of some particularly toxic elements, Prioritising children, expectant and breast feeding mothers, Data Sharing to enhance research with a view to establish more accurate population reference ranges and averages and Constant iteration of how results are presented to clients with a view to maximise action and optimise health
What Toxtest and EAL are already doing is...

• Transparency | We publish all results. De-identified of course. People like this. Makes sharing in this age of the technology easy. | We carefully layout our population data to date and how we use this data to arrive at a sample population average. See FAQs for details. FAQs
• Collaboration & Data Sharing | We are happy to share raw data (de-identified off course) with other researchers around the globe. Make Contact
• Standardisation of Procedures | Hair is prepared by acid digest and analysed in a Perkin Elmer Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS). More details upon request.
• Increasing Detection Sensitivity | Currently we can detect some heavy metals down to the parts-per-billion level. In other words around 0.001 microgram of a metal in a gram of hair. We are currently working to make this even more sensitive for some very toxic metals like arsenic and beryllium and others. In the case of Beryllium for instance there is a huge amount of data we are not getting; around 90% of clients have levels of Beryllium below the Labs level of detection (LOD). By decreasing the LOD we can develop more accurate reference ranges and population averages but more importantly reveal to you, the client, even a small exposure to this very toxic substance.
• Prioritising the next Generation | How data is presented deeply affects how people respond to their results. We take this very seriously. A red bar in this example result from a young child, will invoke a call to action (investigate possible sources of exposure) more profoundly than a neutral beige bar. Because children and expectant mothers are particularly sensitive to Mercury, Lead, Arsenic and Cadmium, we make these bars within results turn red earlier than other metals.

First, results are easy to understand and immediately actionable.

Second, many people now know that heavy metals like Lead and Cadmium are toxic, bad for health, particularly children. They are to be avoided. However, unknown yet increasing amounts and variation of these metals are making their way into our work, homes, water, food, soil and children play areas. How much then, are we exposed. The key word is exposure. Hair testing is designed to reveal exposure, even low-dose long-term exposure to heavy metals and minerals. People see results that helps them identify exposures which then allows them to make appropriate changes.

Third, we don’t get into all the other nonsense that has indeed given hair testing a bad reputation. We are not flogging supplements. We are not purporting to make a full health assessment or even a nutritional workup, purely from a hair test. Hair testing is designed to complement medical practices like urine and blood tests, not replace them. Hair testing for heavy metals is all about exposure. Whether indeed you experience symptoms or disease from this exposure will be determined be many other factors at work in your individual life (nutrition for example), your genetics, your ability and determination to make lifestyle changes and your cognitive reserve.

Fourth, we are transparent, evidence based, health focused and open to sharing de-identified data and collaboration so as to progress the science of heavy metal hair testing.

Fifth, results can change people’s lives for the better. We constantly confirm this in peoples results and subsequently investigated exposure sources. We provide details of many possible exposures to all the metals tested. These details are regularly updated as work, food, agriculture and industrial practices change. See in-depth examples of client results.

And finally, it’s affordable for individuals and families (AU$98). Hair testing is being used more and more frequently in medicine, sport, criminology and forensic pathology in order to reveal exposure to a growing number of substances we may be exposed to through food, water, drugs, work or the environment.

We only test hair for metals and minerals at this stage. Why? Metals like Lead, Mercury, Arsenic are known to be toxic, metabolically disruptive, neurologically harmful, particularly for children and indeed are carcinogenic. There is no ambiguity there. Even Gadolinium and Titanium are being used more frequently in medicine and dentistry, yet research shows serious side-effects and indeed legal class actions (Gadolinium) have been instigated as a result.

Toxtest and Environmental Analysis Laboratory (EAL), a NATA certified laboratory (Number:14960) and division of Southern Cross University in Lismore, NSW, Australia, collaborate to provide affordable Hair, Water, Soil and Dust testing for the public. Result presentation is visually rich, informative and prioritises human health. The Hair Test analyses 32 heavy metals & minerals. Our sister site, Toxno, provides extensive exposure route and health effects information for all chemicals tested.

Graham Lancaster
EAL Managing Director

Hartmut Günther
Toxtest Owner

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Large pink salt lake Western Australia - abstract impression

Hair Analysis Results

See what results look like

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If scalp hair not available or known to be contaminated, then beard hair, under-arm or pubic hair is fine.