Wearable Environmental Testing - Silicone Wristband Personal Monitoring Device
Accurately assessing a person’s exposures to possible environmental toxicants is central to the challenge of determining environmental health effects. The lack of low cost, easy-to-use personal sampling technology hinders our ability to understand the effect of the environment on health.
At Oregon State University, Dr. Kim Anderson is addressing this issue. Her lab is developing wristbands to serve as passive samplers that quantitate chemical exposure from our environment. They have shown these simple wristbands, when appropriately prepared provide a simple solution for studies into chemical exposures. With powerful and sensitive analytical techniques refined over two decades, over 1500 common environmental contaminants can be analyzed for low cost.
Her recent research explored the differences and trends in personal chemical exposure from 14 communities in Africa, North America and South America. In this study, wristband extracts were analyzed for 1,530 unique chemicals, with chemical detections ranging from 4 to 43 per wristband. The study detected 13 potential endocrine disrupting chemicals in over 50% of all wristbands and found 36 chemicals in common between chemicals detected in the three geographical wristband groups. Other studies designed and implemented by Dr. Anderson and her staff include assessing chemicals exposures to firefighters during deployment to structural fires, and to individuals living in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
If you would like to know more, please see this Youtube video for a brief introduction - https://youtu.be/Kmw7BCvcck8 and then go to http://fses.oregonstate.edu/wristbands for additional information.
To see a Guardian reporters take on this technology see - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/22/is-modern-life-poisoning-me-i-took-the-tests-to-find-out
Submitted by eClub Rotarian Russ K.
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