| |
 |  |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
Dear Subscriber !
Welcome to the March issue of EVISA's Speciation Newsletter.
Speciation analysis is a very important topic in nutrition and food science. The reason is very simple: Both the nutritional values of nutrient and trace elements as well as the toxicity of nonessential elements depend on their speciation. Even further, the bioavailability not only depends on the actual species being present but also can be influenced by other components.
With respect to mercury contamination, a nonessential element, this means that the toxicity of mercury and its target organ heavily depends on the mercury species being present. Since mercury is a nonessential element for humans and animals as well as plants, all mercury species are toxic, but some are more toxic than others. Methylmercury is more lipophilic than inorganic mercury, can pass the blood-brain-barrier and therefore is a very potent neurotoxin. Because of its toxicity, some citizen groups recently asked the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States to establish a stricter regulatory limit for methylmercury in commercial fish. However, FDA denied such request by answering that regulation is based on evidence and not on a precautional principle (see the news below).
Another toxic element often being present in foodstuff is arsenic. With respect to arsenic, the current understanding is that inorganic arsenic is more toxic than organic species. Up to now very little regulation is in place for arsenic in food in Europe and the US, however some legislative bodies such as EFSA are discussing to limit inorganic arsenic in food. As a first reaction, the analytical community is asked to develop appropriate methodology for the analysis of inorganic arsenic in food.
The Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) of the
European Joint Research Centre (JRC) now has released a new certified reference material (ERM®-BC211) for the validation and quality assurance of such methodology (see the news below).
Chromium is a very special case with respect to food. While trivalent chromium (Cr(III)) is considered to be essential for the glucose metabolism, hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is cancerogen. A group of researchers from the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana (Slovenia) found that former studies indicating the presence of hexavalent chromium in foodstuffs such as tea or bread based solely on the alkaline extraction of chromium are biased. Using a highly selective approach of the hyphenated technique of LC-ICP-MS they proved that the reported hexavalent chromium is just an artifact of a technique not sufficiently selective to differentiate between trivalent and hexavalent chromium (see the news below).
|
|
| |
|
NEWS
|
| |
| |
EVISA is keeping you updated with what is going on in speciation analysis. In this section you will find news about the most current research results, about trends, legal issues and informations from manufacturers in the field of speciation analysis.
With all the links to further information and publications the News archive is a valuable collection of "hot topics" in speciation analysis. We continuously update even former news with new links and information so that all news are actual all the time.
Chromate in food samples: an artefact of wrongly applied analytical methodology
A group of researchers from the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana (Slovenia) found that former studies indicating the presence of hexavalent chromium in foodstuffs such as tea or bread based solely on the alkaline extraction of chromium are biased. Using a highly selective approach of the hyphenated technique of LC-ICP-MS they proved that the reported hexavalent chromium is just an artifact of a technique not sufficiently selective to differentiate between trivalent and hexavalent chromium.
 more
FDA rejects petition to change methylmercury standard in seafood
FDA recently denied a citizen petition that asked the agency to take numerous actions with respect to mercury in commercial fish. The requested tolerance limit would bring FDA's fish-related standards in harmony with EPA's stricter criteria for mercury in water.
more
JRC-IRMM has released ERM-BC211 certified rice reference material
JRC-IRMM has released a new certified reference material, ERM-BC211 (rice). The certified reference material was prepared from rice destined for human consumption and is certified for total arsenic, the sum of arsenite and arsenate and Dimethylarsinic acid.
more
|
| |
|
EVENTS
|
| |
| |
With a list of about 50 current entries EVISA is informing you about interesting events and keeps you updated with their deadlines. By consulting our list of deadlines you won't miss the opportunity for early registration at reduced fee or the chance to submit your contribution in time.  more infos...
Please recognize the following deadlines:
ElCheMS 2: 2nd International Workshop on Electrochemistry/Mass Spectrometry
Date: May 23,2013 - May 24,2013
Location: Münster, Germany
March 31,2013 Submission of abstracts for poster presentations
CSI 2013: XXXVIII Colloquium Spectroscopicum Internationale
Date: June 16,2013 - June 21,2013
Location: Tromso, Norway
April 2,2013 Submission of abstracts
April 6,2013 Early registration at reduced fee
Spectr’Atom 2013:
Date: June 25,2013 - June 28,2013
Location: Grand Lodge Mont Tremblant, Mont-Tremblant, Québec
April 1,2013 Submission of abstracts
ICCE 2013: 14th EuCheMS International Conference on Chemistry and the Environment
Date: June 25,2013 - June 28,2013
Location: Barcelona, Spain
April 15,2013 Early registration at reduced fee
59th International Conference on Analytical Sciences and Spectroscopy (ICASS 2013)
Date: June 26,2013 - June 28,2013
Location: Le Grand Lodge Mont Tremblant, Mont-Tremblant, Québec
April 1,2013 Submission of abstracts
METALLOMICS 2013
Date: July 8,2013 - July 11,2013
Location: Oviedo, Spain
April 1,2013 Abstract Submission
April 1,2013 Grant Applications for Students
ISBM 2013: International Symposium on Biological Monitoring
Date: September 9,2013 - September 11,2013
Location: Lowry Centre, Manchester, UK
March 31,2013 Extended: Submission of abstracts
April 5,2013 Notice of acceptance
Please do not hesitate to inform us in case that your conference related to speciation analysis is missing in our Agenda.
XII International Symposium on Metal Ions in Biology and Medicine
|
Location:
|
Punta del Este, Uruguay
|
|
Date:
|
11.03.2013 - 13.03.2013
|
more
|
|
Pittcon 2013
|
Location:
|
Philadelphia,
|
|
Date:
|
17.03.2013 - 21.03.2012
|
more
|
|
canas 2013: Colloquium Analytische Atomspektroskopie 2013
|
Location:
|
Freiberg, Germany
|
|
Date:
|
17.03.2013 - 19.03.2013
|
more
|
|
ISSPA 2013: 13th International Symposium on Soil and Plant Analysis
|
Location:
|
Queenstown, New Zealand
|
|
Date:
|
08.04.2013 - 12.04.2013
|
more
|
|
23rd Annual Meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC Europe).
|
Location:
|
Glasgow, UK
|
|
Date:
|
12.05.2013 - 16.05.2013
|
more
|
|
ElCheMS 2: 2nd International Workshop on Electrochemistry/Mass Spectrometry
|
Location:
|
Münster, Germany
|
|
Date:
|
23.05.2013 - 24.05.2013
|
more
|
|
|
| |
|
VACANCIES
|
| |
| |
EVISA provides information about open positions for Ph.D. students, PostDocs and permanent staff in the field of speciation. Looking to fill a vacancy or needing a new career challenge? Either way this service is FREE. Many laboratories and research facilities (from Greenland to Crete) have already found their highly educated stuff through this service by EVISA. If you would like to post an open position here, please contact us at info@speciation.net !
Doctorates
University of Pau, France: Methods for the determination of redox forms of chromium and organotin compounds
The 2009/48/EC toy safety European directive was recently modified taking into account the emergence of new manufacturing processes and innovations concerning materials and technologies used. This directive went into effect since July 20, 2011 but will come into force from July 20, 2013 regarding chemical requirements.
more
Postdoctoral
Other
|
| |
|
DIRECTORY
|
| |
| |
|
EVISA's directory of scientist is a versatile tool to facilitate contact with scientists in the field of speciation and related sciences. The directory is fully searchable for names, addresses, research topics etc. You should bookmark this directory as an always up-to-date address book. (In order to hinder SPAM robots for collecting the E-mail accounts, we hide them in a special format).
More than 275 active scientists in the field of speciation analysis already joined the directory. Join this great directory that is extensively linked to all type of other information on this site, such as homepages, conferences and literature.
If your entry is still missing in this directory, please contact us at info@speciation.net.
more
|
| |
|
LINKS
|
| |
| |
|
EVISA provides an easy access to external information. Our database contains more than 2660 links to relevant information from numerous top scientific resources spread over the whole Web. The database is searchable both via full-text and categories such as elements, type of species and type of information. We are permanently updating our links section.
If your web site is missing here, please e-mail your link information to info@speciation.net.
more
|
| |
This issue of evisa's Speciation Newsletter has been sent to you by EVISA, because you have registered for this service. If you would like to modify your user account, please log-in on EVISA's web portal at http://www.speciation.net with your username and password and edit your user account.
Please feel free to pass this Speciation Newsletter to others who may benefit from EVISA. If you have any contributions or suggestions, please send these to editors@speciation.net.
This is a post-only e-mail. Please do not reply to this message. For all inquiries, problems or suggestions regarding this service, please visit http://www.speciation.net or contact info@speciation.net
|
| |
Copyright 2013 EVISA
All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or transfer of this message or its contents, in any medium, is strictly prohibited. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of EVISA.
Disclaimer
No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. The Newsletter represents only the opinion of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Community. The European Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of the information provided.
|
|
|
