mdrew

Wow I hadn't thought about that. Really puts it into perspective.

You'd want a good reason to test

I would also say this attitude was pervasive when we used leaded gasoline, which widely contaminated the biosphere, roads and people.

It's everywhere. We all have it. Why bother.

I think we now know there's no safe level of lead in the blood. If you have suspected exposure in 2023, doctors quantify your lead level through a blood test and if it's elevated, recommend a medical procedure called chelation to remove it.

With PFAS, the medicine is just starting to catch up to the horrors of the news cycle.

But I think in the future, PFAS contamination is going to be treated in a similar way to lead exposure. That is, medically.

But right now, it's easy to throw up ones hands and say, it's all fucked. Why bother doing anything.

I think for certain high risk populations, specifically pregnant women or women planning on becoming pregnant, it makes sense.

Based on the new clinical recommendations, my 10.86 ng/mL level puts me at elevated risk for preeclampsia (if I were a women/pregnant). Knowing that could mean my BP during pregnancy is more closely monitored, with a BP cuff for example.

We're working on a way users can submit their lab req for reimbursement but it's complicated because America

lol totally

In regards to the data collection, we thought about that but don't want to scare people off. Maybe zipcode is enough? We already added a small option dropdown for occupation.

We're working on it

I would say it could be an issue, but is controlled for. The Quest Interface has a special cautionary statement for phlebotomists collecting samples for this test that says; "Note: Sample collection devices coated with PTFE/Teflon® and PVDF should be avoided because of potential specimen contamination."

Edit: grammer

Honestly it's super hard. And weird.

It reminds me of leaded gasoline in the 50s. It's everywhere. Everyone has it in their bodies. What now.

New regulations in California are banning this stuff in food packaging. And EPA just has new limits for tap water that are really aggressive.

So I think it's moving in a good direction.

Since my tap water isn't the issue, and I don't have any obvious other source of exposure, I'm currently focused on how to get out what's already in there.

I'm not exactly sure.

My levels of PFOS was the highest, that's "Scotchgard". The house I live in has a very expensive reverse osmosis water filter on the tap so I don't think it's that.

I eat a ton of fish (like everyday) and recently read they are a significant source of PFOS exposure: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36584847/

Some of the limitations of the test are you can't tell if this is past or ongoing exposure. Hence my desire to investigate phlebotomy.

PFOS has a half life of ~2.7 years so it could have been there for a while. Source: https://oem.bmj.com/content/75/1/46