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LABORATORY PROFILE LGC steps out on its own In the smoggy streets of London, mid19th century, shady deals took place at every turn, and an unscrupulous tradesman might make himself a nice living stretching his cache of tobacco a little bit further with tea leaves and other vegetable matter. By the 1840s, Her Majesty's Customs decided that it had had enough of poor-quality tobacco and was under pressure from its paymasters who saw rapidly dwindling revenues from tobacco imports. The government passed the Pure Tobacco Act, which forbade additions to tobacco. Excise Officer George Phillips offered to sniff out the bad tobacco. As the sole member of the staff he established a lab now known as the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC) and in October 1842 he began analyzing tobacco consignments for adulteration and hounded the miscreants involved In 1989, almost 150 years later, LGC had become the U.K. government's focal point for analytical chemistry, acting as the expert nose for numerous government departments, such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food; the Department of the Environment; and, of course, Customs and Excise. At this time, the governing Conservative Party decided that LGC should become an agency wholly answerable to the Department of Trade and Industry and that its future should depend on its ability to compete in the commercial marketplace "Granting agency status was part of a general trend in government to encourage individual departments to pursue more commercial attitudes," explains Richard Worswick, Government Chemist and LGC Chief Executive. LGC became more flexible, rather than
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answering directly to government and functioning solely for the benefit of its departments. "Other departments, our customers, were under increasing pressure to seek and demonstrate value for money, and agency status allowed us to expand our customer base into areas at home and abroad," adds Worswick. In 1994, a review by accountancy and management consultants led to the recommendation that the government laboratories should be privatized. This move, the report claimed, would offer the best opportunity for the laboratories to maintain and develop the expertise and facilities for the changing needs of government and industry. By November 1994, the government found its preferred bidder for the LGC buyout. Ownership would be split equally between LGC's own management, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the investment group 3i Fiona Sloman, national officer of the trade union Institute of Professional Managers and Specialists, commented to the journal Chemistry & Industry that tht announcement was something of a "doubleedged sword, with this particular bid always likely to win." Sloman's prediction proved to be accurate, and on April 1,1996, LGC became an independent company. Since then, many developments have been encouraging, according to Ray Ah-Sun, head of Business Development. LGC has broadened its expertise into geochemistry and se-
The private LGC, getting very busy.
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, May 1, 1997
cured a major contract with petroleum giant BP, acquiring technical staff directly from the company. LGC's work is now divided into three core areas. Its food service spans the chain from nutritional, vitamin, and trace-metal analysis to testing for fungal contaminants and pesticides. Its forensics section covers illegal drugs and employee screening. Its environmental service looks at contaminated land and water. Among its clients are the U.K.'s national and local governments, the legal profession, the armed forces, food retailers and manufacturers, jewelry manufacturers, toy manufacturers, and even architects. For contractual reasons, LGC is unable to disclose exactly what it does for specific customers, but the range of analytical skills is used to study everything from the sex of tinned meat to the purity of extra virgin olive oil to building materials and precious metals. Since dealing with 19th-century tobacco touts LGC has grown to a 300-member staff occupying almost 100 000 square feet more than twothirds of which is dedicated laboraspace in its west London premises Meanwhile, the top brass is pleased that, free from government ties, the laboratory is progressing. "As an independent company, LGC is able to build and strengthen its reputation as an impartial center for analytical science, and we are looking forward to more exciting developments in the future, such as DNA testing," says ^Vorswick. LGC recently acquired University Diagnostics Ltd a pioneer in the commercial applications of DNA testing Worswick adds that this is "an important step in our strategy to become a European leader in the provision oftop-qualirv analytical and diagnostic services " David Bradley
