If you are forced to submit to regular COVID-19 testing as a condition of employment, attending a school or other event because you are unvaccinated, we have been recommending to clients that they consider insisting on saliva tests instead of the nasal cotton swab testing for mandatory COVID testing. Here is why.

The cotton swabs may be sterilized with a chemical called ethylene oxide. According to OSHA’s website, where it publishes Safety Data Sheets (SDS, but they were formerly known as MSDS’s or Material Safety Data Sheets), ethylene oxide is toxic and

"…Exposure has also been associated with the occurrence of cancer, reproductive effects, mutagenic changes, neurotoxicity, and sensitization… 1. EtO has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals and has been associated with higher incidences of cancer in humans. Adverse reproductive effects and chromosome damage may also occur from EtO exposure."

OSHA Material Safety Data Sheet, Ethlyene Oxide

Here is a link to the OSHA website where this document may be found.
https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.1047AppA

There are a lot of debunking articles on the internet saying that the cotton swab contains only “negligible” amounts of this chemical. This may be true but if you are tested numerous times on a regular basis for COVID with a cotton swab near your brain, there is no published data that we could find as to when exposure of “negligible” amounts of this chemical over and over become significant and/or toxic.

DOWNLOADS

Here are some helpful downloads to learn more:

Material Safety Data Sheet - OSHA - Ethylene Oxide

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