Show HN: PFAS.report – Measure the forever chemicals in your blood via Quest • Hacker News Board

Show HN: PFAS.report – Measure the forever chemicals in your blood via Quest

#1

Post by mdrew » Wed, Jun 28, 2023, 5:32 PM UTC

Hey HN

We made a site that let's anyone measure the forever chemicals in their blood with the gold standard LC-MS/MS blood serum test at Quest Diagnostics.

If you're a firefighter, plant worker, planning to become pregnant or just someone who lives in an area with contaminated drinking water, check it out.

I live in Santa Cruz. Here are my results:

My lab findings: https://res.cloudinary.com/mpsh87/image/upload/v1687923285/l...

My total PFAS calculation: https://res.cloudinary.com/mpsh87/image/upload/v1687923482/p...

NASEM clinical recommendations based on Total PFAS: https://res.cloudinary.com/mpsh87/image/upload/c_scale,dpr_2...

The goal is to be under 2 ng/mL. I'm 10.86.

Honestly I was a bit surprised by my result and am currently deciding what to do next.

There's some research out of Australia indicating blood donation/phlebotomy is effective at removing it (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...) from the body. Fluorochemicals seem to bind to the albumin in the blood. I might try that.

Right now the site only works at Quest locations in California, but we're looking to expand to other states soon.

If you're local, the site is live and you can order the test right now. Results are currently taking between 11 and 18 days.

Thanks for reading my post.

Show HN: PFAS.report – Measure the forever chemicals in your blood via Quest
pfas.report

Re: Show HN: PFAS.report – Measure the forever chemicals in your blood via Quest

#2

Post by DantesKite » Wed, Jun 28, 2023, 6:15 PM UTC

This is really cool.

Just being able to take blood tests in general to get a better sense of what might be going on can be so informative.

Re: Show HN: PFAS.report – Measure the forever chemicals in your blood via Quest

#3

Post by jrmski » Wed, Jun 28, 2023, 6:17 PM UTC

Any thoughts on where your personal exposure came from?

Also, I would love to see a histogram of results among the general population, if that can be found in the literature anywhere. I think it would be helpful context for result interpretation and a useful addition to your FAQ.

Re: Show HN: PFAS.report – Measure the forever chemicals in your blood via Quest

#4

Post by toomuchtodo » Wed, Jun 28, 2023, 6:20 PM UTC

This is awesome. Looking forward to your expansion beyond California and efforts to have insurance cover this diagnostic test.

Would also be cool to have an opt-in for folks to share their report, location, etc for research purposes.

Re: Show HN: PFAS.report – Measure the forever chemicals in your blood via Quest

#5

Post by sschueller » Wed, Jun 28, 2023, 6:20 PM UTC

jrmski wrote: post #3

Any thoughts on where your personal exposure came from? Also, I would love to see a histogram of results among the general population, if that can be found in the literature anywhere. I think it would be helpful context for result interpretation and a useful addition to your FAQ.

Clothing, food containers and cooking utensils would be my guess.

Remember the cool ads in the 90s for pants that would repell water and dirt?

Re: Show HN: PFAS.report – Measure the forever chemicals in your blood via Quest

#6

Post by Johnny555 » Wed, Jun 28, 2023, 6:22 PM UTC

am currently deciding what to do next.

That's what I was wondering, what do you do with this information? How do you narrow down where your exposure came from?

Re: Show HN: PFAS.report – Measure the forever chemicals in your blood via Quest

#7

Post by mdrew » Wed, Jun 28, 2023, 6:24 PM UTC

jrmski wrote: post #3

Any thoughts on where your personal exposure came from? Also, I would love to see a histogram of results among the general population, if that can be found in the literature anywhere. I think it would be helpful context for result interpretation and a useful addition to your FAQ.

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

Re: Show HN: PFAS.report – Measure the forever chemicals in your blood via Quest

#8

Post by bauruine » Wed, Jun 28, 2023, 6:26 PM UTC

>There's some research out of Australia indicating blood donation is effective at removing it from the body.

Great. Another reason to regularly donate blood. And you don't even have to pay 399$!

Re: Show HN: PFAS.report – Measure the forever chemicals in your blood via Quest

#9

Post by JeremyBarbosa » Wed, Jun 28, 2023, 6:27 PM UTC

This is a great idea and I hope one day you can expand to the east coast so I can take the test myself. However, the price tag of $399 is pretty steep for something that just feeds my curiosity and can't be covered by insurance.

Re: Show HN: PFAS.report – Measure the forever chemicals in your blood via Quest

#10

Post by cmbuck » Wed, Jun 28, 2023, 6:29 PM UTC

I've previously been advised by my doctor that PFAS tests are of limited utility due to the lack of process controls which could introduce contamination. Given how novel this area of testing is and the prevalence of PFAS in all types of materials, you can't know whether any detection of PFAS in your blood sample is due to presence in your body or presence in the lab + testing equipment. How does your solution through Quest address this issue?