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Comment by code_biologist | Hacker News Reader

Blood donation. Menstruating women get some level of this for free. Not much otherwise.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8994130/

So those bloodletting docs from the 1700's were really ahead of their time then

That can dilute what's circulating in your bloodstream, but not what's already accumulated in your brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, and probably some other organs that weren't studied yet.

Does it accumulate in organs, or would it go back into the bloodstream eventually?

Thousand dollar idea: plasma donation center where they throw the plasma away.

(Ten thousand dollar idea: technology that cleans up the area where they dump the plasma).

Why not clean the plasma of PFAS and put it back? Like dialysis but for biotoxins. (Actually, would the current dialysis process do this?)

You’re definitely hired.

So leeches?

You’re definitely not hired. (But you’re not wrong, unless you were wondering who is going to clean the leeches).

You burn the leeches. And it's not an evil spell.

You pee it out, too, but slowly.

Giving blood is also a great way to get rid of heavy metals like mercury.

Wait. Doesn’t this mean you’re just giving PFAS to the blood recipient?

He/she has probably lost some PFAS recently, if in need of a transfusion.

Yes, but their blood/plasma PFA concentration won't change at all unless your blood has extremely high PFA concentrations.

Even if it did, the average blood/plasma recipient is more concerned about "not dying of blood loss" than PFAs.

Not necessarily. I visit our local medical vampire every 3 months to drain a pint due to high levels of ferritin (hemochromatosis issues). I asked what they do with the blood. They destroy it by ashing it. The tech said they do this with any blood drawn from someone with a known disease state. So if phlebotomy becomes a common treatment for PFAS loads, I'd guess the draws would be destroyed. I hope.

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