Looking for lead

The Globe tested samples of artificial turf from several schools in the region and found lead, in varying levels, at each. The schools included Charlestown High School in Boston, Concord-Carlisle High School in Concord, Saunders Stadium in Boston, Lincoln-Sudbury High School, and Wayland High School.

Sia Afshari, a scientist at RMD Instruments in Watertown, a company that manufactures lead testing devices, found the presence of lead in the green-colored artificial turf at Concord-Carlisle High School. He also found lead in the yellow-colored boundary lines on the fields at each of the schools. Concord-Carlisle was the only field tested where lead was found in the carpet of green.

To determine the amount of lead in the turf at Concord-Carlisle High School, the Globe sent a sample of the green artificial grass to AmeriSci Boston, a laboratory with offices in Weymouth. For $40, AmeriSci used the Inductively Coupled Plasma test to determine the lead content of the artificial grass. Test results showed 294 parts per million lead.

MEGAN WOOLHOUSE