Analytical methods, quality assurance and quality control used in the Greenland AMAP programme

The majority of analytical results in the Greenland AMAP (Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme) have been produced by laboratories that participate regularly in performance studies. This makes it possible to judge the quality of the results based on objective measurements made by independent assessors. AMAP laboratories participated while analysing the AMAP samples in the QUASIMEME laboratory performance study programme, in the 'Interlaboratory Comparison Program' organised by Le Centre de Toxicologie du Québec, in a toxaphene intercomparison study organised by The Food Research Division of Health Canada, and in an International Atomic Energy Agency Intercomparison exercise. The relative errors of the trace analyses, i.e. the relative deviation of the result obtained by the AMAP laboratory from the assigned value, are in most cases less than the 25% which is regarded as acceptable by QUASIMEME. Usually the errors, especially for trace elements, are less than 12.5%, while errors for trace organics below 1 microgram kg-1 may rise to 50% or more. This study covers the period 1993 to 1998 for trace elements and one or more years from the period 1994-1996 for trace organics.