BEQUALM
SUMMARY REPORT
Background
Biological effects measurements are increasingly being incorporated into
national and international environmental monitoring programmes to supplement
chemical measurements. The Biological Effects Quality Assurance in Monitoring
Programmes (BEQUALM) project, funded by the European Union through the
Standards, Measurements and Testing programme of the European Commission,
was initiated in 1998. This was in direct response to the requirements
of OSPAR to establish a European infrastructure for biological effects
QA/QC, in order that laboratories contributing to national and international
marine monitoring programmes can attain defined quality standards.
Objectives
The main objectives of the project were to develop appropriate reference
materials or type collections, to develop an infrastructure for assessing
the comparability of data from individual laboratories and to demonstrate
that biological effects analyses are under statistical control and are
of known quality. The ultimate aims were to produce an agreed set of protocols
for biological methods used in marine monitoring, a conformity on acceptable
limits of variation, a system for monitoring the output of Participating
Laboratories and assessing their compliance with appropriate quality standards,
and to develop a QA system which is self-financing on the basis of fees
recovered from participants.
Work
Programme
Nine project partners, experts in particular biological effects monitoring
techniques, organised a series of intercalibration exercises and training
workshops to develop the QA infrastructure. The workpackages organised
were: water and sediment bioassays, metallothionein measurement, ALA-D
activity, DNA adduct measurement, P4501A activity, imposex/intersex measurement,
lysosomal stability, liver histopathology and external disease measurement,
chlorophyll-a and phytoplankton assemblage analysis and benthic community
analysis.
Results
and Achievements
The results indicated that many of the techniques can be considered robust
enough to be used more widely in monitoring programmes such as the JAMP
and CEMP. Exceptions are ALA-D and lysosomal stability, where uptake and
use of the techniques was too small for proper evaluation. Although EROD
is a widely used technique and good protocols are available, systematic
errors are still occurring, particularly in less-experienced laboratories;
more training and intercalibration is required. A set of training manuals
in CD-ROM format have been produced which contain all the key stages of
the methods, with special emphasis on those aspects of the procedures
where specific skills or knowledge are needed. A model for a self-funded
QA scheme has been implemented, which reflects the variety of functions
required by participants in different fields i.e. biomarker measurements,
whole organism effects and community analyses.
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