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

pfas.report

111–120 of 155 posts

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

#111
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought the global lead poisoning hypothesis that was popularized by Neil DeGrasse Tyson's remake of Cosmos was determined to be based on extremely scant evidence and may have been outright false

A recent study in New Zealand found that blood lead levels of 3.5 micrograms / dL, which is the lowest easily detectable level, were associated with a drop of 1 IQ. People during the times of lead paint and leaded gasoline often had levels of 80 micrograms / dL. It seriously messed them up.

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

#112

Maybe the heart was in the right place, but yet another test that consumers pay for is not really the solution to the PFAS problem. The solution is holding polluters accountable. Until that happens, the test is simply a luxury that allows you to put distance between you and this worldwide problem.

Even if 3M/Dow etc paid out a trillion dollars tomorrow, we'd still have the health problems to deal with.

And those are managed by quantifying your risk and taking steps, if necessary.

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

#113
post #89

Here's the test on NMS: https://www.nmslabs.com/tests/3427SP NMS does not list consumers as their customers, and none of their customers make medical decisions based on their lab work. NMS claims CLIA certification. This is the older law where labs self-certify compliance. Congress left CLIA in place alongside FDA IVD regulations to protect small pharmacists, but obviously Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp run fleets thr…

[deleted]

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

#114
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought the global lead poisoning hypothesis that was popularized by Neil DeGrasse Tyson's remake of Cosmos was determined to be based on extremely scant evidence and may have been outright false

A recent study in New Zealand found that blood lead levels of 3.5 micrograms / dL, which is the lowest easily detectable level, were associated with a drop of 1 IQ. People during the times of lead paint and leaded gasoline often had levels of 80 micrograms / dL. It seriously messed them up.

Our first version of the site was PFAS.wtf but that didn't test well

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

#115
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up (and still live in) the House Street Disposal Site that has very high PFAS contamination from 3M/Wolverine leather treatment. There's a whole saga of testing involved: https://www.michigan.gov/pfasresponse/investigations/sites-a... https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/safety-injury-prev/environmen... I ended up receiving a few complete blood surveys in the process - comprehensive metabolic panel, hematocrit, chol…

My level is 10.86 ng/mL Your level was 9.8 ug/mL ? If so thats way way higher. I'm sorry. Edit: grammer

No, ug/L, not ug/mL - sorry, my report gives units of 10^-6 grams per 10^0 liters, yours gives results in 10^-9 grams per 10^-3 liters; we have very similar levels.

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

#116
Quest Diagnostics is pretty sketchy. They've been busted for fraud, illegal kickbacks, inaccurate tests, privacy violations, etc. They sell every scrap of data they can get away with to third parties including marketers and it's a lot of data (https://www.questdiagnostics.com/our-company/privacy/privacy...) which includes: Professional/employment-related information, products or services purchased/obtained/considered, consumer’s preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes. driver’s license/national or state ID number, citizenship status, immigration status, race, national origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, sex life, precise geolocation, information concerning your health, and genetic information.

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

#117
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

pfas are estrogenic. And yes, it explains a few things.

What does it explain?

We know that PFAS poisoning reduces sexual dimorphism (the difference between male and female physicality) and in animal studies it even affects dimorphic behavior. I.e. male and female animals in most species behave differently from each other, and when poisoned, they behave more similarly to each other.

The bush that people are beating around is the question as to whether this stuff is affecting sexual expression of humans en masse.

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

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Donating blood or plasma has evidence of reducing pfas. If I knew I had high measured levels, I'd certainly think about doing it more. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8994130/

Are you giving someone bad blood in that case?

If you're donating because you know your levels are elevated then I'd agree with this thought.

(While also agreeing with those in the thread saying that high-PFAS donations are likely often better than no donations)

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

#119
post #102
post #89

Here's the test on NMS: https://www.nmslabs.com/tests/3427SP NMS does not list consumers as their customers, and none of their customers make medical decisions based on their lab work. NMS claims CLIA certification. This is the older law where labs self-certify compliance. Congress left CLIA in place alongside FDA IVD regulations to protect small pharmacists, but obviously Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp run fleets thr…

Ok, a few thoughts. Direct to consumer lab testing is offered in ~47 states in the country. It has been available for years with thousands of tests available. To date, there has been no apocalypse from empowering consumers to know about their own personal health. NMS is one of the preeminent toxicology labs in the country. This test is Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry which is known, quantifiable, extremely ac…

I don't think the previous commenter was saying "don't test people" but there are a few comments on here about how sketchy this website/company looks.

So instead, the question is, if I pay $400 what meaning/value am I getting from this. And what can I get above and beyond the given 98% certainty I have that I've already ingested one of these chemicals?

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

#120

Quest Diagnostics is pretty sketchy. They've been busted for fraud, illegal kickbacks, inaccurate tests, privacy violations, etc. They sell every scrap of data they can get away with to third parties including marketers and it's a lot of data ( https://www.questdiagnostics.com/our-company/privacy/privacy... ) which includes: Professional/employment-related information, products or services purchased/obtained/consider…

The only information we use to generate your lab req in Quest is: name dob biological sex phone number
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