What the literature actually says.

We won't run a test that doesn't have an accredited lab method, a defensible action level, and a clinical literature base. The deep dives below walk through each test's science in plain English, with citations you can follow. Read what's relevant to your situation; skip what isn't.

Deep dives

Mold + indoor air quality

Why "all mold is everywhere" is true but unhelpful; why indoor:outdoor ratios matter more than total counts; what Stachybotrys and Chaetomium mean; why mold fragments may matter more than spores; when to test, when not to.

Lead in paint, dust, and water

The threshold history (the CDC reference level has dropped from 60 µg/dL in 1978 to 3.5 µg/dL today — and there is no safe level for children); how XRF and dust-wipe sampling work; what a positive result means and what it doesn't.

Drinking water quality

The lead-and-copper rule, why first-draw matters more than flushed, the new (2024) EPA PFAS NPDWR, what total-coliform means, why nitrate matters in pregnancy.

Air quality: VOCs + particulate matter

Why "new house smell" is a measurable thing; formaldehyde sources you don't expect; the cardiopulmonary evidence for PM2.5 even at "moderate" AQI levels; gas-stove particulates.

Allergens: cat, dog, dust mite, mouse, cockroach

The Inner-City Asthma Study (NIH); why pet-allergen levels often correlate poorly with current pet ownership; how sensitization thresholds work; why bedroom sampling is what usually drives the result.

How we keep this current

Every science page on this site is reviewed once per year by Canary's clinical advisory board against the latest published guidance. We version each page; the version of the action level that applied at the time of your report is preserved on the report itself. Full methodology →

What's NOT on this site

We have intentionally not written deep dives for areas where the clinical literature doesn't support a Canary-style structured intervention: EMF, geopathic stress, "biotoxin" panels outside accredited lab methods, energy-balance audits unrelated to air quality. That doesn't mean those areas are unimportant to the patients who care about them; it means Canary isn't the right tool for those conversations today.