Emerging Contaminants

Emerging Contaminants are a broad category of environmental chemicals, previously unknown or unrecognized as being of concern but that are under increasing scientific scrutiny. In general, these contaminants are not regulated in the traditional sense of having allowable levels determined for specific environments. Current understanding of this category of contaminants often contains significant gaps, including their toxicity, bioaccumulation, occurrence, transport, and transformation mechanisms. Many emerging contaminants are families of chemicals over which concern has been raised for at least some of the compounds in the group.

Emerging contaminants generally have few “point sources” of release or exposure and are widely used in consumer goods, serving useful day-to-day functions within society. Human exposure and body burdens are generally of key concern for these contaminants precisely due to their broad applications. Many compounds are Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxics (PBTs), while others are associated with endocrine disruption, including estrogenic effects in humans or animals. As advances in the sensitivity of analytical methods are achieved, these compounds will continue to be studied by researchers and regulators.

AXYS Analytical Services Ltd. has been specializing in the measurement of emerging contaminants since 1978 through our work on dioxins, furans and PCB congeners. Though these PBT chemicals are now heavily regulated, AXYS continues to demonstrate leadership in the analysis of a wide variety of emerging contaminants that require measurement in the nanogram to picogram range, best measured by GC HRMS or LC/MS/MS instrumentation.

Examples of AXYS emerging contaminant analysis expertise include measurement of:

• Brominated Dioxins and Furans
• Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs)
• Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBBs)
• Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD)
• Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA)
• Perfluorinated Carboxylates and Sulfonates (including PFOS and PFOA)
• Perfluorinated Sulfonamides and Telomer Alcohols
• Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCP)
• Triclosan
• Bisphenol A and Metabolites
• Mono Phthalate Esters and Metabolites
• Nonyl Phenols and Nonyl Phenol Ethoxylates
• Sterols and Hormones
• Parabens

AXYS specializes in measurement of emerging contaminants at nanogram to picogram concentrations from standard sample sizes. Our specialized sampling and analytical procedures may allow for much lower detection limits and a reduction of sample size required for human and sediment matrices. We provide legally defensible measurement of these compounds in a wide variety of matrices including water, soil, sediment, air, tissue, blood and serum.

AXYS Analytical Services Ltd. is ISO 17025 certified and has a wide variety of accreditations including NELAP and CAEAL. For emerging contaminants, accreditation is not available in many jurisdictions. Benchmarking of analytical precision in emerging contaminants is generally pursued through participation in available performance evaluation and "round-robin" testing as well as participation in relevant technical forums throughout the world. We offer a wide variety of Electronic Data Deliverables (EDD) customized for download to our clients' relational databases in addition to standard format report and full data packages.

Please contact one of our Project Managers at 1 888 373 0881 or +1 (250) 655-5800 to discuss how AXYS can support your analytical advantage.

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