[AOAC/EURACHEM symposium "Development in chemical analysis of environmental samples at the edge of the 21st century"]

Information on the International Symposium on "Development in Chemical Analysis of Environmental Samples at the Edge of 21st Century" which was organized in Warsaw (21-22 Nov. 1996) by the AOAC International Central Europe Subsection in cooperation with National Section of Eurachem-Pl/Pollab-Chem was provided. The following national organizations/institutions also participated in the organization of the conference: the Committee of Analytical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences, Meat and Fat Research Institute, Institute of Agricultural and Food Biotechnology, National Institute of Hygiene and Central Chemical Laboratory "Polcargo". It was the third Symposium organized annually by this AOAC Subsection since it was established. The first meeting was in Smolenice, Slovakia (1994), the second in Budapest, Hungary (1995), the third one in Warsaw, Poland (1996). In the Symposium attended the representatives from AOAC Int. (L. Kurtyka (USA), M. Lauwaars (The Netherlands) and from Eurachem-M. Walsh (Ireland) and also invited speakers from universities, research and testing institutes as well as from government authorities who presented the best knowledge coming from their experience. During two days of Symposium 11 plenary lectures and 4 short communications were presented. There were two main topic related groups of the lectures: (1) Analytical quality assurance with regard to the problems of accreditation, certification and quality control. (2) New methods and their applicability for the instrumental analysis and monitoring. In the opinion of the participants, the lectures and the following discussion provided many useful and updated information on development in analytical chemistry. The participants pointed out the need of the organisation of similar meetings aimed at the exchange of the views on the particular aspects of the chemical analysis and quality assurance in the laboratory.