While heavy metal contamination of foods, particularly those for infants, has been known about for years, recent events have once again brought it to public attention. On February 4th the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy...
The monthly Brooks Applied Labs (BAL) newsletter contained many interesting and informational articles over the past year. To start off 2020, here's a recap of the most popular newsletter pieces from the past year (click on link for the full article): Choosing the...
Dimethylmercury (DMeHg) is an extremely dangerous neurotoxin that can bioaccumulate in the body following exposure. This compound is not used in industry due to the risks involved, but it has been found to be produced under certain conditions when wastes containing...
Did you miss out on the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP) this year (held in South Korea in June)? Here's a chance to get a rundown of conference highlights! BRL's Annie Carter will be speaking at the September 9th meeting of the Delta...
The Mercury Group at BRL has developed a method modification to EPA Method 1630 that significantly lowers the methylmercury (MeHg) method detection limit (MDL). At 0.005 ng/L, or parts-per-trillion (ppt), this new low-level MDL is 4 times lower than the standard MDL...
Our very own Metals Chemist, Abby Rudd, co-authored an article recently-published in the journal Science of the Total Environment entitled Total- and Methyl-mercury Concentrations and Methylation Rates across the Freshwater to Hypersaline Continuum of the Great Salt...
Evaluating hair samples for methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations can be particularly useful when performing human health studies, especially when trying to determine sources and timing of mercury exposure. Typical digestion procedures for MeHg determination in...
It is commonly believed that dietary ingestion of one of the most toxic forms of mercury, methylmercury, is primarily due to eating fish. This is not necessarily the case in many areas of the world where rice is a staple food and the levels of methylmercury in rice...
Here at Brooks Rand Labs, we have noticed many of our Canadian clients are working under new discharge permits with lower method detection limit (MDL) requirements for total mercury (Hg). Some water quality guidelines are even demanding site-specific detection limits...