Emergency analysis of paraquat in biological fluids

A variety of spectrophotometric, gas and liquid chromatographic and radioimmunoassay techniques have been applied to the measurement of paraquat in biological fluids. A brief review of these techniques is presented. The majority of described methods are far from suitable in the provision of an accurate and reliable quantitative result in an emergency situation and the further development of suitable 'rapid' techniques is desirable. The preparation and characterisation of internal accuracy control materials and the introduction of an external quality assessment scheme would be valuable in the improvement of laboratory investigations of paraquat poisoning.