IMEP-24: Analysis of Eight Heavy Metals in Toys According to EN 71-3:1994

Abstract

The Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), a Directorate-General of the European Commission, operates the International Measurement Evaluation Programme (IMEP). It organises interlaboratory comparisons (ILC's) in support to EU policies. This report presents the results of an ILC which focussed on the determination of soluble antimony, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, and selenium according to European Standard EN 71-3:1994. The principle of the procedure in EN 71-3:1994 consists in the extraction of soluble elements from toy material under the conditions simulating the material remaining in contact with stomach acid for a period of time after swallowing. Forty participants from eighteen countries registered to the exercise, of which 33 reported results for As, 35 for Ba and Se, 37 for Cr, Pb, and Sb, 38 for Hg, and 39 for Cd. For seven measurands the test material had already been certified in the past. The validity of the certificate was reconfirmed and the certified values were taken as the reference values for this ILC. As no certified value was available for Hg, the mean value of the results provided by four expert laboratories was used together with the corresponding uncertainty. Participants were invited to report the uncertainty on their measurements. This was done by 35 of the 39 laboratories having submitted results in this exercise. Laboratory results were rated with z and zeta scores in accordance with ISO 13528. The standard deviations for proficiency assessment were based on the analytical correction laid down in EN 71-3:1994.