Being new here I have been doing a lot of reading to get up to speed on the issues that are of concern to this community & what projects members of the forum are working on. One of the main reasons I joined is because it seems that ensuring quality and safety of gear is very high on the agenda. Much more than any other board I have read.
I am a bit on the paranoid side when it comes to products that I will be injecting into my body, & many of us that have limited cycles under our belt don't have the knowledge to determine the quality of a product from the results, or how it makes us feel alone. For this reason what you are doing with bloodwork is very valuable and exciting. Have any members of the board considered taking this one step further with GC-MS? I did see testing mentioned several times in this post, but what I am asking about is a little different. Please keep in mind I am new so If others are doing something similar to what I am asking about I mean no offense. I may have just missed the post or misunderstood.
All of the threads I have read on Mass Spec seem to mention that it is very difficult to find a lab that is willing to perform the analysis. It also seems to me that often times the posts turn into back and forth battles questioning the motives of the person offering the testing, or the intentions of the lab facility itself. Given what I have learned from reading this forum about how some sources try to manipulate members and the board I guess I understand the skepticism... Even though I have no idea whether it is warranted or not.
I used to work for a medical device manufacturer and am quite familiar with the secondary market for used and demonstration medical & research equipment. Often times recent lightly used equipment sells for between 10-30%. Buying the equipment necessary to test gear is a bit out of my income bracket individually, but it is not out of this world expensive. If I could afford it, I would probably consider it seriously as the thought of injecting dirty gear or heavy metals scares the shit out of me (Not implying anything about Mike Strong... Just in general).
Has a group of people on this board ever considered getting together and collectively purchasing the equipment to do this? It seems like something members on the board would benefit from, as well as many sources. The process for allowing new sources on the board could then include a rule that samples from every batch must be submitted for testing and the info could be made public. Members of the board could also submit samples of their own gear for analysis for a fee. The fee could be used to pay for upkeep on the equipment and might eventually amount to enough to repay the members that originally purchased the equipment. At that point the equipment would belong to "the board". I really haven't thoroughly thought this out & wanted to write it more as an example. Like I said I am new & for all I know something like this might present numerous legal issues or even violate board rules, but it seems like with the cost of the equipment dropping, there must be a way for a strong forum like Meso to work together and ensure accurate and regular analysis can be done for the well being of the members of the board as a whole.