Current status and future needs for biological and environmental reference materials certified for methylmercury...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Toxicology

Background:

• Accurate quantification of mercury compounds, particularly monomethylmercury (MeHg), is vital for environmental and health studies.
• Existing certified reference materials (CRMs) primarily focus on marine environments, leaving gaps for terrestrial and freshwater research.
• CRMs for human exposure assessment in matrices like blood, urine, and hair are also limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the importance of quality control and assurance programs in mercury and MeHg studies.
• To identify limitations in current CRMs and propose additional quality assurance measures.
• To review challenges in MeHg determination and assess data comparability.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of certified reference materials (CRMs) from various international producers.
• Participation in interlaboratory studies and proficiency testing.
• Review of analytical methods for MeHg determination in environmental samples.

Main Results:

• Current CRMs do not fully meet the needs for diverse environmental research (terrestrial, freshwater).
• MeHg determination in soil, sediment, and water is challenging and method-dependent.
• Some analytical methods can lead to spurious MeHg formation, questioning previous data.
• Results from different laboratories using various techniques show good agreement with certified values for MeHg in RMs.

Conclusions:

• Enhanced quality control measures, including interlaboratory comparisons and laboratory-produced reference materials, are necessary.
• Comparability of MeHg data can be achieved, but it does not guarantee accuracy.
• Further research and development of CRMs for various matrices and environments are essential for reliable mercury monitoring.