Analytical chemistry-toxicity testing

Panel Discussion Analytical Chemistry-Toxicity Testing Interface... 

Some of these government agencies and private companies, because of the nature of their business, will utilize the services of an analytical chemistry laboratory as part of their overall need to assure the required quality operation. For example, municipal governments will employ the use of an analytical chemistry laboratory to test their water supply on a regular basis to make sure it is free of toxic chemicals. The pharmaceutical company will house an analytical chemistry laboratory within its facility to routinely test the products it produces and the raw materials that go into these products to make certain that they meet the required specifications. A fertilizer plant will utilize an analytical chemistry laboratory to confirm that the composition of its product meets the specifications indicated on the individual bags of fertilizer. Companies that produce a food product, such as snack chips, cheese, cereal, or meat products, will have an analytical chemistry laboratory as part of their operation because they want to have the assurance that the... 

Suffet has coauthored more than 80 research papers and monograph chapters on environmental and analytical chemistry. His research expertise is the field of environmental chemistry and focuses on phase equilibria and transfer of hazardous chemicals. This expertise allows him to work on the analysis, fate, and treatment of hazardous chemicals and has led to his current studies on the isolation of chemicals for toxicity testing. 

You know already that all this work, clearly part of the toxicity test itself, must be conducted under the relevant sections of the GLP regulations. So what is there that is different about analytical chemistry related to tests other than these traditional toxicity tests ... 

Gagne F, Blaise C. 2004. Review of biomarkers and new techniques for in-situ aquatic studies with bivalves. In Thompson KC, Wadhia, K, Loibner A, editors, Environmental toxicity testing. Sheffield Analytical Chemistry Series. Oxford (UK) Blackwell Publishing, Chap 7. 

If a zero tolerance is mandated, then there is no need for toxicity testing. Only the techniques of analytical chemistry need be applied to determine whether a substance is present or not, and therefore, whether its use is permissible or not. Such an approach however, runs the risk of becoming a reductio ad absur-dum, as analytical techniques become more refined and sensitive. 

Nevertheless, despite the high variability of our analytical chemistry values at trace levels, they are infinitely better and more stable than the results of our biological tests. Therefore both Dr. Cairns and Dr. McKinney aspire to be able to predict biological properties from chemical structure. This is an aspiration we hope can be accomplished. But the basic data for such a deduction will have to be reliable and accurate biological measures of toxicity for correlation purposes. 

When your blood is drawn, for example, the doctors use techniques borrowed from analytical chemistry to determine levels of several analytes in your body, including cholesterol, vitamins, glucose, and white blood cells. Analysis of tissue samples and other biological fluids is also based on analytical techniques. Other examples of medically related applications include tests for illegal drugs and steroids, glucose sensors used by diabetic patients, or to check for toxic substances in your body if you are exposed to hazardous chemicals. 

This meeting was not a discussion of the toxicity of lead, nor a congress in analytical chemistry, or lung cancer epidemiology, nor a confrontation of the possible or needed refinements of the Ames test. Other recent meetings have been organized on these subjects and we are happy that several of the participants actively participated to those discussions, for example ... 

Parte M and Barcelo D (2003) Toxicity testing of waste-water and sewage sludge by biosensors, bioassays and chemical analysis. Trends in Analytical Chemistry 22 299-310. 

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