Know your exposures wristband

[KT2000]

Researchers at Oregon State University have developed a silicone wristband that can detect thousands of chemicals the person wearing it is exposed to. This differs from workplace badges that detect just a few.
The subjects wore the wristbands for 30 days, 24 hours a day so it covered work environment and off hours.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es405022f

[Scuba]

1. Wish I'd had one of these in 1972-74. Or maybe I'm better off not knowing.

[KT2000]

2. what happened 1972-1974? n/t

[Scuba]

3. I was exposed to Agent Orange, and other hazards.

[KT2000]

4. I hope

you are up to date on the damages caused by Agent Orange while in the military. You probably already know this but if you have one or more of the VA's listed conditions you can be compensated. Of course that doesn't replace good health but it's something that should be utilized.

[Scuba]

5. I know more about this than I wish I did. But thanks.

[KT2000]

6. OK -

My best to you.
I know some guys who suffered from that - not good.

[JoeyT]

7. The badges are usually sufficient,

since the badges you're given are tailored to the chemicals you'll be working around. Most plants/factories/etc aren't going to have more than five or six different really dangerous chemicals around. (H2S, ClO2, etc.)

I think it's a good thing, I just don't know how much of a market they'll find, since companies tend to go the cheapest route.

[KT2000]

8. this is for all exposures

one would experience in their life - not just work. (The list of exposures in the study was very revealing) This is to determine what chemicals people are actually being exposed to in their lives, so its purpose is research. Studies of this sort that have been planned by the US government have been cancelled so this is a work-around to find out. And as I recall they were going to use monitors one would wear like a backpack. So the possibilities are amazing, such as:

A groups of pregnant women could wear the wristbands that would keep track of their exposures. A longitudinal study could be done of the health of their offspring.

Residents in a neighborhood could wear the wristbands during the spring and summer to actually track the exposures from lawn care products.

We could use them to find out what exposures babies and children are experiencing and determine if any health problems are related.