All the Hacks · Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Dom Franks advocates for the precautionary principle in home health, suggesting that individuals should aim to limit exposure to substances like PFOA in water even without definitive dose-response data. He believes the burden of proof for safety should lie with demonstrating safety, not for removal.
“So rather than putting the burden of proof for every new chemical or compound or exposure to us, for the scientific community to demonstrate safety, before it is removed from our environment.”
“I, like to think about placing the burden of proof on the scientific community to demonstrate safety.”
“So in the example of PFOA's, yes, it is absolutely true that we don't know the specifics of the dose and the response and how problematic for human health over a long-term time horizon, specific quantities of PFOA in water going to be.”
“However, we don't need that level of data to decide for individuals.”