Atomic Spectrometry Update—Clinical and Biological Materials, Food and Beverages

Abstract

The information included in this Atomic Spectrometry Update is taken from papers 94/615–94/3502, listed each month as Atomic Spectrometry Updated References in the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry. It forms the tenth of our reviews of developments in the field of Clinical and Biological Materials, Foods and Beverages. In 1986 there was enormous interest in the biological effects associated with exposure to aluminium and a great number of papers featuring this element were included in both the clinical and foods section of the first Update. This interest was sustained for many years and it is only in the last two or three Updates that we have seen a reduced number of publications concerned with this metal. Selenium has now emerged as the element which has captured the leading position but with less prominence than was formerly associated with aluminium. As a consequence of various developments, a number of other metals have featured regularly in recent Updates. Many countries have introduced legislation aimed at protection of employees against excessive occupational exposure to toxic metals and methods for measurement of chromium, cobalt, nickel and other metals in biological samples have been developed. Increasing concern as to the effects of commercial preparation and storage treatments has also required investigations of all food types. The food laboratories have taken full advantage of multi-element analytical techniques but we have not seen evidence of the ‘retirement’ of AAS in the face of ICP-AES, ICP-MS or other approaches. While the importance of speciation has been understood for many years, it is only quite recently, as our Updates have shown, that analytical techniques have emerged to permit realistic studies. We are conscious of new developments that have yet to feature significantly among the published work. However, it is probable that these new ideas will develop quickly and it is our aim to include such work as soon as possible.