In the event you’re questioning if the perpetually chemical compounds being detected in Maine’s groundwater, soil and wildlife are discovering their manner into your physique, there’s a simple manner so that you can discover out.
The California-based laboratory EmpowerDX affords an at-home screening take a look at designed to measure the degrees of 40 totally different per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances — generally often called PFAS — in human blood.
The checks price $399 and may allegedly detect the chemical compounds with 99 % confidence. If a pattern can’t be examined with that degree of confidence, it is going to be rejected for testing, in response to the corporate’s medical director.
The take a look at isn’t designed to detect any particular well being points. As a substitute, it might be used as a screening or diagnostic software to check a person’s outcomes with median PFAS ranges established by means of U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention sampling. Your well being care supplier can use these outcomes to find out if you’re in danger for any of the ailments which have been linked to PFAS publicity.
Final month, the Environmental Safety Company issued a nonbinding well being advisory stating that ranges thought of protected for human well being are so low, there isn’t any present expertise to measure them.
“There was no regular accepted degree of PFAS set by the CDC,” stated Dr. Travis Wilkes, medical director at EmposerDX. “In actuality, ‘regular’ ought to be zero, so what we use as a benchmark is the median degree of PFAS discovered within the human physique by means of sampling achieved by the CDC.”
These ranges vary from 1.1 micrograms per liter of human blood to 4.3 micrograms per liter, relying on the kind of chemical.
“Our outcomes allow you to examine your self to the median ranges,” Wilkes stated.
Blood testing for PFAS isn’t an everyday take a look at supplied by medical doctors or well being departments. Exams can price as much as $600, in response to the U.S. CDC.
“They are often tough to get since you may’t simply stroll into a physician’s workplace and get one,” Wilkes stated.
The Maine Middle for Illness Management and Prevention declined to touch upon whether or not Mainers ought to contemplate taking an at-home PFAS screening take a look at.
PFAS have been detected in personal wells, on farmland and in groundwater all through Maine, and have been linked to well being issues resembling kidney most cancers and thyroid illness.
Individuals can be uncovered to the poisonous chemical compounds by means of contact with grease-resistant paper used to wrap quick meals, water-proof clothes, cleansing merchandise and stain-resistant supplies.
EmpowerDX’s at-home PFAS take a look at meets requirements established by the CDC, Wilkes stated, and requires pricking your finger to extract a small quantity of capillary blood utilizing a testing equipment from the corporate.
The take a look at equipment supplies themselves are licensed PFAS-free to keep away from any cross-contamination with the submitted blood samples.
That blood is shipped to an EmpowerDX lab and also you obtain the outcomes 10 days later, in response to Wilkes.
These outcomes are additionally helpful in figuring out what it’s best to look out for as regards to your personal well being, very like realizing household historical past of most cancers, he stated.
“We all know there are ailments which have been linked to PFAS publicity and if you have got excessive ranges you may take early motion,” Wilkes stated. “That would imply earlier screenings for several types of most cancers or thyroid situations.”
The sooner these ailments are caught, he stated, the higher the remedy choices and prognosis.
“It’s all about placing these issues on the radar,” Wilkes stated. “You get a greater thought of your personal dangers.”
