Regulations
Janan M. Hayes American River College Sacramento, Calif. 95841
Licensing, Registration, and Certification: What Does It Mean to You as a Chemist? Licensing, registration, and certification are periodically discussed as a means to ensure the quality and performance of chemists or chemists within certain specialities. Currently, the chemical community is taking a more active interest in these programs. One reason is the recent introduction of the American Institute of Chemists certification program. Also, the states of New Jersey, Ohio, and California are considering some types of mandatory licensing programs. Unfortunately, most chemists do not realize the differences between these types of programs and the ways in which they can apply to the individual chemist. Analytical chemists, in particular, should be concerned with these programs since most public issues t h a t encourage governmental involvement are related to the reliability and accuracy of analytical results. Decisions of public health and safety organizations, such as EPA, FDA, and OSHA, are based on analytical results. Poor quality results by a few chemists can penalize the chemical community. Before going into the specifics of currently suggested programs, let us examine just what is meant by each type of regulation of chemists. Certification is usually a voluntary program sponsored by a professional organization designed to certify the minimum competency of the individual. Certification is a form of peer recognition of ability and/or experience without legal status or governmental connection. Registration is often similar in requirements to certification, but is sponsored by a governmental rather than professional organization. Frequently, examinations are required in addition to educational and experience requirements for registration. Although registration is usually not required by the state for the individual to function as a professional, those who are registered are assumed to have demonstrated a wider range of professionalism than those who have not elected to become registered. Licensing, on the other hand, is a mandated regulation of the professional. Two types of licensing are com0003-2700/79/0351-333A$01.00/0 © 1979 American Chemical Society
monly found: title acts, which permit the use of a licensed title, such as Professional Engineer; and practice acts, which permit an individual to practice a particular profession, such as the license required for physicians. Differentiation between registration and licensing is difficult. For example, identical programs for the regulation of engineers is called licensing in one state and registration in another. The registration of chemists is currently limited to those in the clinical chemistry specialty. The only state now requiring mandatory licensing is Hawaii, which licenses those personnel performing analysis of pollutants affecting health and safety. Many chemists are currently involved in the national certification program of the American Institute of Chemists. According to David A. H. Roethel, executive director of AIC, this program was established primarily to offer a form of peer recognition to those practitioners who demonstrate diligence in the maintenance of their professional competency through participation in continuing education and related development activities ( i ) . Certification is based upon accumulation for three consecutive years of credits that are awarded for such activities as attending seminars, technical meetings, and college courses; for publications and technical paper presentations; and for individual activities such as journal reading, society participation, and community involvement related to professional experiences. Those successful in obtaining certification may use the initials C.P.C. (Certified Professional Chemist) and C.Ch.E. (Certified Chemical Engineer) to signify their certification by AIC and will be listed in a directory to be published each year. A different type of voluntary certification is under consideration by the California-Nevada Section of the American Water Works Association. Much of the encouragement for governmental regulation of analytical chemists in California has come from chemists within the water-wastewater field. Because of the increasing level
of technical competence needed in this field, combined with some state agency practices which have reduced requirements for hiring of workers in the field, the AWWA section is proposing a program to establish voluntary standards for workers at various levels within the industry. Many of these workers are chemists or have primary training in chemical sciences. The certification program recommends five levels of certification beginning with Junior Water Analyst, which requires only a high school diploma, one year experience in a qualified analytical laboratory, and successful completion of a test of the applicant's basic knowledge of laboratory skills, manipulations, math, and other nontheoretical matters such as safety, budgeting, and scheduling. Progress through higher levels of Assistant Water Analyst, Associate Water Analyst, Water Analyst, and Senior Water Analyst requires additional education and experience in water or wastewater laboratories. Higher levels of certification require additional testing of both basic knowledge and specialty knowledge plus oral examinations for Senior Water Analyst. T h e specialty tests can be selected from the areas of biology (plankton counting, benthic analyses, bioassay), microbiology (bacteriology, virology, mycology, etc.), general chemistry (sample collection, spectrophotometry, potentiometric titrimetry, etc.), instrumental inorganic chemistry (atomic absorption, polarography, flame photometry, etc.), instrumental organic chemistry (gas, liquid, thin-layer chromatography, etc.), and radiochemistry. It can be seen that this type of certification program involves a demonstration of competency that is not a part of the AIC certification program (2). If the AWWA certification program is successful in California, state adoption will likely be encouraged. The program would then become a registration procedure with legal standing as a state verification of competency. Assemblyman Bornheimer has introduced into the New Jersey legisla-
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 51, NO. 3, MARCH 1979 · 333 A
ture a bill that would license the use of the terms professional chemists, chemists, and chemical technicians in that state. The licensing would be based upon educational and experience requirements and would involve an "appropriate examination" to be administered by a State Board of Chemists established by the act. This bill has not yet reached the committee level for consideration but if passed would provide penalties of $200 for a first offense and up to $500 for additional offenses in using the licensed categories (3). Considered in Ohio but not introduced into its legislature is a bill that would, in similar manner, provide that "no person shall engage in or offer to engage in the practice of professional chemistry, or contact to offer such services, or use in connection with his name or otherwise assume, use or advertise any title or description tending to convey the impression that he is a professional chemist unless such a person is a (licensed) professional chemist" (4). In California, five separate bills have been introduced in the past 10 years to license analytical chemists. Both the bills in Ohio and in California apply mainly to those chemists who have contact with the public sector and are not mandated
for those chemists who are involved in internal industrial functions. The only current mandatory license practice act is that of the Republic of Philippines. This has been in force since 1952 and involves both academic and examination requirements for licensing. This is a general licensing act required of all chemists. The bill was enacted to recognize the practice of chemistry as a professional entity and to regulate it in accord with the needs of the Philippines. According to the current chairman of the Philippine Board of Chemistry, Remedios Abella Lim, the result of the licensing is that "the licensed chemist in his technical and social environments is more selfconfident, more responsible, and more secure, professionally" (5). Official ACS policy on these matters is summed in the following two statements: The American Chemical Society endorses the licensure of those members of the clinical chemistry profession who direct or supervise chemical work in order to provide data for the purpose of prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, or the treatment of disease or otherwise assessing a medical condition.
The American Chemical Society endorses the registration of licensure of members of the chemical profession who are in responsible charge or supervision of chemical work involving analyses of air, water, food, drugs, or other items of concern to the general public. As the licensing and/or registration of chemists working in areas affecting public health and safety come under scrutiny in the states, it is imperative that individual chemists express their views. We all have a stake in the outcome and want to be assured that qualifications for minimum competency are valid and realistic as they are mandated in the individual states. References (1) D.A.H. Roethel, letter to author, Apr. 18, 1978. (2) "Progress Report of the Task Committee for Certification of Water Laboratory Personnel, California-Nevada Section, American Water Works Association, George Miller, Chairman, June 7, 1978. (3) Assembly Bill No. 1541, State of New Jersey, Introduced June 26, 1978, by Assemblyman Bornheimer. (4) Ohio State Senator John K. Mahoney, proposed bill for Licensure of Chemists in Ohio, 1977-78 Ohio Regular Session. (5) R. A. Lim, J. Chem. Educ, 53, 787 (1976).
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