State of the art in the analysis of brominated flame retardants in biota and sediment: insights from the characterisation of two new certified reference materials.

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission has recently released two new Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) for the analysis of brominated flame retardants (BFRs): the freshwater sediment ERM-CC537a and the fish tissue ERM-CE102. The production of these CRMs responds to the need of expanding the offer of quality assurance/quality control tools for the analysis of BFRs in the fields of environmental analysis and food control, especially for compliance purposes. The sediment ERM-CC537a carries certified values for polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) diastereoisomers in the μg/kg range (dry mass), while the fish tissue ERM-CE102 is certified for PBDEs in the ng/kg range (wet weight).

Development of a new cucumber reference material for pesticide residue analysis: feasibility study for material processing, homogeneity and stability assessment.

The feasibility of the production of a reference material for pesticide residue analysis in a cucumber matrix was investigated. Cucumber was spiked at 0.075 mg/kg with each of the 15 selected pesticides (acetamiprid, azoxystrobin, carbendazim, chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin, diazinon, (α + β)-endosulfan, fenitrothion, imazalil, imidacloprid, iprodione, malathion, methomyl, tebuconazole and thiabendazole) respectively.

Residues of organochlorinated pesticides in soils from the Czech Republic.

National POPs inventories carried out currently in many countries as a part of the implementation of Stockholm Convention revealed the need for detailed information about a distribution of pollutants in various regions. Screening for the residues of selected organochlorinated pesticides (chlordane, heptachlor, dieldrin, aldrin, endrin, isodrin, endosulfan I, endosulfan II, methoxychlor, mirex) in soil and biotic samples from the Czech Republic was performed. Although these pesticides have never been used in large quantities in this region, results indicate that their residues still persist in the top layer soils more than 20 years after they have been banned.