Abstract: Rare earth elements (lantanids and others) are frequently more abundant than suggested by their name. Their increasing use in industry and release to the environment is a cause of concern, since they are accumulated by the organisms and present toxic properties (LC50) similar to some heavy metals. Therefore, rare earth elements are included in the European Union legislation (Directives of the Conseil 75/440/EEC and 76/464/EEC) for discharges of dangerous substances and drinking potable, respectively. Certified reference materials for rare earth elements in aquatic/marine environmental matrices are unavailable. This project aims to fill this gap through the preparation and certification of four reference materials (tuna muscle, mussel tissue, aquatic plant, estuary sediment) for the Bureau Communitaire de Reference (BCR) of the European Communities Commission.
Field: Environmental Sciences. Identification code: SMT4-CT96-2073 Partner institutions: MERMAYDE (Holanda); DOP/UAç - IMAR (Portugal); TNO/MEP - Department of Analytical Chemistry (Delft, The Netherlands); LSA - Labor für Spurenanalytik (Germany); IRMM - Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (Belgium); CEC Joint Research Center (Italy); TNO/LAMR - Laboratory for Applied Marine Research (The Netherlands). Project co-ordinator: Kees Kramer (MERMAYDE, The Netherlands). Partner co-ordinator: Luís Rocha Monteiro (DOP/UAç). Beginning: 1996. Duration: 3 year.