The Standard – December 2023

Welcome to the December 2023 edition of “The Standard,″ CIL’s newsletter for issues related to environmental, food, water, and human exposure testing. In this issue we highlight CIL’s dioxin food and feed standards for GC-MS/MS analysis, an update on 6PPD-quinone testing, VOCs in wildfires, PFAS standards to support UCMR 5 testing, chlorates and bromates in food, and the US EPA’s latest mitigation measures for malathion. We hope you enjoy this issue, and be sure to visit isotope.com to view our complete selection of stable isotope-labeled and native standards!

Dioxin and Furan Standard Mixtures Made for GC-MS/MS Methods

Dioxins and furans are a class of strictly regulated toxic compounds that have historically been analyzed using high-resolution GC-MS (HRGC-MS). With recent improvements to technology, methodologies using GC-MS/MS have become more commonly used for dioxin and furan testing, notably with the European Union approving the use of GC-MS/MS for confirmatory analysis of dioxins and furans in food and feed, and more recently the development of Method 16130 as an alternative to the traditional HRGC-MS Method 1613.

6PPD-Quinone

6PPD-quinone made a major impact in the world of environmental analysis in 2021 when it was identified as the primary cause of death to Coho salmon in the Pacific

Volatile Organic Compounds in Wildfire Smoke

Wildfires occur worldwide, typically during the summer and fall seasons when temperatures are higher as well as during periods of drought. Changes in climate and increased global temperatures have resulted in more intense and severe wildfire seasons in recent years.

29 PFAS Compounds Being Monitored in Public Water Systems Under UCMR 5

Every five years, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) issues a new list of unregulated chemicals to be monitored by public water systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).

Chlorates and Bromates in Food and Water

Potassium bromate is a controversial food additive used mainly in baked goods as a flour improver. Many countries, including the European Union, Canada, United Kingdom, Brazil, and China have banned the use of potassium bromate in food due to its potential harms to human health, including carcinogenicity.

Mitigation Measures for Malathion

Malathion is an organophosphate insecticide that is mostly used to control foliage and soil insects. Recently, the US EPA implemented the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s nationwide final biological opinion (BiOp) to protect endangered and threatened species from malathion.