Chemistry

State Public Health Laboratory

The State Public Health Laboratory protects the public health of Missourians by providing both accurate, timely, and beneficial analytical services as they relate to environmental and clinical chemistry.
The chemistry laboratory:

• Conducts Lead analysis of blood samples collected from children
• Conducts various inorganic and organic chemical analyses on private water supplies that impact public health
• Conducts heavy metal analyses on samples obtained from household plumbing supplied by public water
• Conducts radiological analyses on water and various food materials
• Conducts Lead analysis on soil, water, paint samples, and dust wipes collected from homes of children with elevated blood Lead levels
• Conducts analyses of human clinical serum samples for various chemicals collected in response to a chemical terrorism event
• Conducts biomonitoring analyses and studies of various chemicals resulting from human chemical exposures
• Conducts metal analysis on wipe and soil samples
• Conducts analysis of unknown powders

Chemistry, study of the composition, structure, properties, and interactions of matter. Chemistry arose from attempts by people to transform metals into gold beginning about ad 100, an effort that became known as alchemy (see Chemistry, History of). Modern chemistry was established in the late 18th century, as scientists began identifying and verifying through scientific experimentation the elemental processes and interactions that create the gases, liquids, and solids that compose our physical world. As the field of chemistry developed in the 19th and 20th centuries, chemists learned how to create new substances that have many important applications in our lives.¹