Testing for Healthy Lives and Trade
Scientific Reference Materials Now Available in IAEA Online Store
Preparation of a reference sample which is used for quality control in labs measuring radionuclides in air filters. Scientists use air filters to study pollution in the atmosphere. (Photo: K. Gaggl/IAEA)
Della just has to walk a few kilometres to the corner store. That´s where she gets milk powder for her eight-month old baby boy. As she returns home with the package tucked safely under her arm, she marvels at how fast her boy is growing and makes another to-do list in her head. The one thing she doesn´t worry about is whether or not the milk powder she just bought will hurt her baby.
That´s because the government laboratory in her country has conducted tests to be certain of the safety of imported food and other products like milk powder.
To ensure that their measurements are accurate and their equipment is working as it should, the lab will periodically order reference samples from the IAEA. When labs worldwide test these reference samples they know the results they´re supposed to get. If they get the wrong results, they know their equipment is faulty. If the converse is true, then all their other analyses can be trusted.
These reference samples help labs analyse food, air and environment samples for radionuclides, trace elements, pollutants and stable isotopes.
Now the IAEA is making it easier for laboratories to buy what they need, by setting up an online store. Scientists can now know in real time what´s in stock, buy, and track their shipments´ progress across oceans and continents.
The IAEA provides more than 90 different reference materials and maintains a customer base of about 5 000 members.
"The principal aim of the IAEA is to serve our Member States as best we can. We provide reference materials to developing countries; materials that it´s just impossible for them to get anywhere else," says Maria Betti, Director of the IAEA Environment Laboratories.
"The IAEA only sells reference materials for nuclear techniques, and is the world´s largest supplier of reference samples characterised for radionuclides."
In addition to manufacturing and encouraging the use of these materials, the IAEA validates analytical procedures, provides laboratories in Member States with training in the use of nuclear analytical techniques, and in the organization of worldwide and regional inter-laboratory comparisons and proficiency tests.
Background
The Reference Products for Science and Trade online catalogue is hosted at Nucleus, the IAEA´s portal for nuclear knowledge and information.
The catalogue presents information on: production and distribution of reference materials; development and publication of analytical methods; support and coordination of the laboratory network; training in analytical procedures and laboratory quality management.
See Story Resources for more information.
The character of Della may be fictional, but her situation is not. The health and safety of millions in developed and developing countries depend on labs having the right test results, and those labs count on the IAEA´s reference materials to ensure that that is so. The Agency´s most requested reference samples are soils and foodstuff, including milk powder.
-- By Sasha Henriques, IAEA Division of Public Information
