Repeated testing

To protect everyone, many companies have moved to mandating the COVID shots.  Those employees whom for whatever reason do not want to get the shot (if that is even an option offered by some companies!) are then told they must get weekly testing. OSHA’s mandate to vaccinate or test is just the latest in the mandates surrounding health in our nation.

Seems simple enough: get the shot.  If you don’t, get tested weekly to show you are not sick.

However, questions have begun to be raised about what exactly are in these COVID tests.  Many of those tests have not even been evaluated for safety beyond “occasional” use. 

For obvious reasons, the swabs used in these tests are sterilized.  The sterilized nasal swabs use ethylene oxide.  According to the CDC and EPA, there are some side effects when using ethylene oxide.  It is even claimed that “Major effects observed in workers exposed to ethylene oxide at low levels for several years are irritation of the eyes, skin, and respiratory passages and effects to the nervous system (e.g., headache, nausea, memory loss, numbness).”  What is even more interesting is that as of December 2018 there were no established reference doses or concentration for using ethylene oxide-so how can we be assured this is safe for these weekly tests?

Back in 1981 the CDC showed that “ethylene oxide is carcinogenic in experimental analysis.”  Further reading of that study says “carcinogenic mutagenic and reproductive hazards” have been associated with ethylene oxide exposure.

Currently, testing is being done at unprecedented levels, so the exposure levels are unprecedented.  Although it is medically common to perform routine screenings such as X-rays, the tradeoff with using testing that contains carcinogens is considered favorable because of the rare cases in which this is used.  But now, we are mandating weekly testing.  To what end?

In toxicology, one of the basic foundations is to remember that the dose makes the poison.  However, never before have doses of this extreme been tested for safety! 

Instead of forcing people to choose between their job and the mandated shot, let us support one another in making the health decisions that are best for us individually.