Examination of lead concentrations in new decorative enamel paints in four countries with different histories of activity in lead paint regulation.

Paints with high lead concentrations (ppm) continue to be sold around the world in many developing countries and those with economies in transition representing a major preventable environmental health hazard that is being increased as the economies expand and paint consumption is increasing. Prior lead paint testing had been performed in Brazil and India and these countries were selected to examine the impact of a new regulatory limit in Brazil and the impact of efforts of non-governmental organizations and others to stop the use of lead compounds in manufacturing paints. Armenia and Kazakhstan, in Central Asia, were selected because no information on lead concentration in those regions was available, no regulatory activities were evident and non-governmental organizations in the IPEN network were available to participate.

[Determining the biological activity of levorin by the international standard of candicidin].

Levorin and candicidin represent close mixtures of heptaenic components. Their physicochemical and biological properties were also close. The antibiotics showed similar diffusive properties in their assay by the agar diffusion method.

[Antibiotic sensitivity of an Escherichia coli strain used for preparing colibacterin].

Sensitivity of a E. coli strain and commercial colibacterins prepared with its use to 18 antibiotics was tested. The MIC was determined by the method of serial dilutions.

[Nutrient medium for determining the biological activity of heliomycin].

It was shown that a nutrient medium containing only salt components except agar-agar could be used for assay of the biological activity of heliomycin. The optimal results were observed on the medium containing ammonium chloride, urea, disubstituted sodium phosphate, glucose and agar-agar. The medium provided satisfactory growth of Bac.

[Basic principles of developing national standards for antibiotics].

The main principles in preparation of national standards of the antibiotics manufacture in the USSR are compared with those of the World Health Organization. The characteristics of preparing standards of mono- and multicomponent antibiotics, as well as the requirements for optimal packing of the standards are presented.