Million Marker
Million Marker is a direct-to-consumer health technology company that sells mail-in urine testing for endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs).[1] Headquartered in Berkeley, California, the company is described as “23andMe for environmental exposures.”[2]
History
The company was founded in Berkeley, California, by Jenna Hua, an environmental health scientist and registered dietitian, as part of Y Combinator's Summer 2019 batch.[2] Hua says she founded Million Marker after experiencing fertility struggles and finding there was no easy way to measure her exposure to chemicals that can affect reproductive health.[3] It has since received several Small Business Innovation Research grants from the National Institutes of Health.[4]
Products and services
The company's main product is a mail-in urine test kit that measures 13 biomarkers of EDC exposure, including metabolites of bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, parabens, and oxybenzone, using high-performance liquid chromatography.[5] After sending in a sample, customers receive a personalized report showing their levels, how they compare to the general population, what health problems those chemicals are linked to, and steps they can take to lower their exposure. For example, Daily Mail journalists who took the test received individual reports advising them to take actions like switching to fragrance-free shampoos and storing food in glass instead of plastic containers.[6]
Research
In 2024, the company's researchers published a study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health evaluating whether personalized reporting of urinary EDC biomarkers influenced participant knowledge and behavior.[7] They reported increased "environmental health literacy" and significant reductions in urinary concentrations of monobutyl phthalate, a phthalate metabolite, among participants receiving report-back. In a 2025 study, the research team found that higher use of personal care products was associated with urinary metabolites of phthalates and self-ratings of poor health.[8] The results also suggested women and people who take supplements were at greater risk of EDC exposures.
The company is conducting the Reducing Exposures to Endocrine Disruptors (REED) study in partnership with the Healthy Nevada Project, a 600-participant clinical trial examining the effectiveness of EDC testing and intervention services.[9]
Media coverage
The company was featured in TIME Magazine in April 2024 in an article titled "A Test Told Me I’m Basically Made of Plastic. You Probably Are Too" by journalist Jeffrey Kluger.[10] In January 2025, Stanford Medicine News highlighted Million Marker in its article on microplastics, describing it as one of the few companies offering people a way to measure their microplastic exposure.[11]
In the 2026 Netflix documentary The Plastic Detox, six couples experiencing unexplained fertility problems use Million Marker test kits to measure chemical exposures before and after interventions guided by environmental and reproductive epidemiologist Shanna Swan.[12][13]
References
- ↑ "PEPH Newsletter - October 2024". National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Retrieved 2026-02-16.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Million Marker: 23andMe for environmental exposures". Y Combinator. Retrieved 2026-02-16.
- ↑ "How Much Plastic is in Your Products? An Interview with Million Marker's Jenna Hua". Whole Bunch Club. Retrieved 2026-02-16.
- ↑ "Firm | SBIR". www.sbir.gov. Retrieved 2026-02-16.
- ↑ "Doctors advocate for treating obesity as an environmental problem - EHN". www.ehn.org. Retrieved 2026-02-16.
- ↑ U.S, Alexa Lardieri (2024-09-29). "Daily Mail Health team tests for forever chemicals and left shocked". Mail Online. Retrieved 2026-02-16.
- ↑ Rochester, Johanna R.; Kwiatkowski, Carol F.; Neveux, Iva; Dabe, Shaun; Hatcher, Katherine M.; Lathrop, Michael Kupec; Daza, Eric J.; Eskenazi, Brenda; Grzymski, Joseph J.; Hua, Jenna (2024-07-11). "A Personalized Intervention to Increase Environmental Health Literacy and Readiness to Change in a Northern Nevada Population: Effects of Environmental Chemical Exposure Report-Back". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 21 (7): 905. doi:10.3390/ijerph21070905. ISSN 1660-4601. PMC 11277309 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 39063482 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ Foley, Jayne Marie; Kwiatkowski, Carol F.; Rochester, Johanna R.; Neveux, Iva; Dabe, Shaun; Lathrop, Michael Kupec; Daza, Eric J.; Grzymski, Joseph J.; Greenfield, Ben K.; Hua, Jenna (2025-01-13). "Associations Between Daily-Use Products and Urinary Biomarkers of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals in Adults of Reproductive Age". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 22 (1): 99. doi:10.3390/ijerph22010099. ISSN 1660-4601. PMC 11764522 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 39857552 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ Rochester, Johanna R.; Kwiatkowski, Carol F.; Lathrop, Michael Kupec; Neveux, Iva; Daza, Eric J.; Grzymski, Joseph; Hua, Jenna (2024-11-25). "Reducing Exposures to Endocrine Disruptors (REED) study, a personalized at-home intervention program to reduce exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals among a child-bearing age cohort: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial". Trials. 25 (1): 793. doi:10.1186/s13063-024-08627-3. ISSN 1745-6215. PMC 11587698 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 39587613 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ Kluger, Jeffrey. "A Test Told Me I'm Basically Made of Plastic. You Probably Are Too". TIME. Archived from the original on 2025-11-15. Retrieved 2026-02-16.
- ↑ "What's the deal with microplastics, the material that 'never goes away'?". news.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2026-02-16.
- ↑ Swan, Shanna. "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2026-02-16.
- ↑ Shultz, Cara Lynn (2026-02-12). "Can Giving Up Plastic Improve Your Fertility? A New Documentary Aims to Find Out (Exclusive)". People.
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