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PBDE (Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers)
Accu-Chem Laboratories is proud to announce the availability of PBDE (Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers) testing.
Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE’s) are a class of chemicals that have replaced polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated biphenyls as fire retardants. PBDE’s are used in electronics, electrical cables, carpets, furniture and textiles. Because of their widespread use, typical Americans come in contact with them daily. The environmental rate of increase in the concentration of PBDE’s is increasing exponentially, doubling every 2 to 5 years. Researchers in Sweden found a 60 fold increase in the concentrations of PBDE’s in breast milk between 1972 and 1997.
Potential health effects of PBDE’s have only just begun to be studied, but they have been shown to cause permanent brain damage to fetuses exposed in utero and to be thyroid disrupters. Recent animal research has shown that exposure to low levels of PBDE’s can cause permanent neurological and developmental damage including deficits in learning, memory and hearing, changes in behavior, and delays in sensory-motor development.
Blood specimens, because of their availability and probable diagnostic value with regard to extent of chronic and acute exposures to PBDE’s, present a convenient tissue for study, providing meaningful data pertinent to the fields of environmental toxicology and clinical ecology. PBDE’s can also be analyzed in breast milk to determine infant exposure and in adipose tissue to look at body burden. Specimen requirements can be found here.
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Accu-Chem Laboratories now accepts Medicare. Please call our customer service department for the necessary forms. We require that an ABN form be filled out on each Medicare Patient. This form is also available through our customer service department. Call 800-451-0116, ext. 3014 for further information.
The following documents must be included with the samples:
- A copy of the Medicare Card, front and back
- A signed ABN form, *only fully completed ABN forms will be accepted
- If Medicare is secondary, all primary insurance information must be included, along with a copy of the cards, front and back.
- A completed and signed Patient Insurance Billing Agreement Form.
**Please note: Our policy on other insurance will remain the same. For all other insurance, the patient must pay by check or charge, and Accu-Chem will provide a coded receipt for them to file on their own insurance.
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 John L. Laseter, Ph.D. has served as CEO and Laboratory Director of Accu-Chem Laboratories International, Ltd., and its various subsidiaries such as Accu-Chem Laboratories since 1983. Dr. Laseter earned his Ph.D. from the University of Houston in Biochemistry. Regarded as a world expert in the field of analytical chemistry and Biochemistry, Laseter was among the first scientists to evaluate moon rock following U.S. lunar expeditions. He served for ten years on the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and has also served as a consultant to the U.S. Congress' Office of Technology Assessment as well as the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and more than 20 American and foreign companies, including the American Petroleum Institute. Dr. Laseter served as a full professor in the Louisiana State University System for 15 years. He was chairman of the Biological Sciences Department for 5 years.
An author of more than 100 peer reviewed scientific articles which have appeared in journals such as Science, Clinical Chemistry, Journal of Pediatric Research, Clinical Dermatology, Environmental Science & Technology, Journal of Analytical Toxicology, Toxicology & Applied Pharmacology, Energy & Environmental Chemistry, New York Academy of Science Annals, etc. Additionally, Dr. Laseter has lectured worldwide on the subject of chemicals and their impact on human health. He is a Board Certified Forensic Examiner specializing in toxicology as well as a Diplomat of the American Board of Forensic Medicine. He is also an American College of Forensic Examiners International Certified Medical Investigator IV.
These efforts have served as the scientific basis for the toxicology services provided. Accu-Chem offers low cost, rapid screening tests to measure toxic chemicals in body tissues and fluids resulting from environmental exposures as well as screens for drugs and other common substances of abuse. Clients include physicians, clinics, hospitals, state and federal agencies in addition to a wide range of individual accounts. Specimens are shipped to Accu-Chem for analysis from Europe, Australia, Japan, Canada and from across the United States on a regular basis.
Since 1998 Dr. Laseter has received approximately 1000 felony subpoenas to appear in criminal court for the State of Texas in drug and clinical toxicology cases. Sworn testimony has been provided in several hundred of the above cases in addition to numerous Federal hearings.
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