News
GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY
NELAP begins The 5th annual meeting of the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC V), held June 28-July 1 in Saratoga Springs, NY, could mark the beginning of a new era in U.S. laboratory accreditation. After five years of developing NELAC standards, implementation of NELAP, the program, is now officially under way. Programs in 11 states (CA, CO, FL, IL, KS, LA, NH, NJ, NY, PA and UT) have been recognized as NELAP accrediting authorities (AAs). As soon as die 1999 NELAC standards, which were approved at the meeting, are posted on NELAC's Web site (www.epa.gov/ttn/ nelac) U.S. environmental laboratories will be able to apply for national accreditation from one of the 11 state AAs The number of AAs is down from 20 initial applications. Two of Oregon's programs, however, are expected to also be approved in this first group, and several other state programs are expected to meet NELAC requirements within a year or two. Concerns over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) future financial support of NELAC (Anal. Chem. 1999, 71, 329 A-331 A) have been settled, at least temporarily. According to past NELAC Chair Ken Jackson, at a meeting in June with the NELAC board of directors, EPA's acting deputy administrator, Peter Robertson, promised support at the present level ($500,000) for fiscal year 2000, "as long as the present EPA administration continues." Should more changes occur in EPA's administration Robertson urged the board of directors to "get in there and talk to people at the most senior level possible " says Jackson Significant changes to the proficiency testing (PT) standards were approved at NELAC V. The standards now read that if an approved PT sample is available, it must be used, including solid waste samples, says Jackson. Three levels have been outlined to define what constitutes an "approved" PT sample. The first level pertains to drinking water and wastewater analytes from EPA's former Water Supply/Water Pollution (WS/WP) programs. Because of budget constraints,
594 A
BUSINESS EPA no longer provides free PT samples for the WS/WP programs, so laboratories must purchase them from private providers. In 1997, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was chosen to oversee these providers {Anal. Chem. 1998, 70, 265 A-268A)) The target date for approving the first class of PT providers was originally January 1999; however, no PT providers have been approved yet. NIST expects to change that by November only 7 PT providers are still in the running for the first class. Out of the 12 initial applicants the number of PT providers that are still in the running for the first class is down to 7 Under the new NELAC standard PT samples for all WS/WP analytes must be purchased from one of the 12 PT providers that initially annlied to NIST Because NIST's oversight is limited to only 48 water analytes, a second level was incorporated into the NELAC PT standards to handle additional water analytes and solids. In the absence of NIST oversight, if there is an American National Standards Institute/Registrar Accreditation Board (ANSI/RAB) oversight body available, such as the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA), then a laboratory must purchase PT samples from an ANSI/RAB-approved provider. Currently A2LA does not have a certification program in place that would meet the needs of NELAC; however it is in the works says Jackson As a third measure, if neither NIST nor ANSI/RAB oversight exists, state AAs will have the authority to approve the PT provider. The new PT standards serve only as an interim measure until the NIST and ANSI/RAB programs are in place, emphasizes Jackson. Changes in the quality systems (QS) standards, in particular, requirements for calibration and detection limits, were also approved at NELAC V. According to Jackson, the QS standards have been modified to be more compatible with a performance-based measurement system (PBMS). 'When EPA comes up with its definitive plans for PBMS, [QS standards] will not need much modification. It is a much more flexible chapter than it was before," says Jackson. Britt Erickson
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, September 1, 1999
Agilent unveiled Agilent Technologies
the world s lead-
111K UlUVlUOi \JX ICBL ctlAU lllv^doUl C.lllv*llL BU" lLlLlOIlo d l l l l ^ U l l l l l l l l l i l l ^ d l l O l l o UOilipU" Iieillo.
l i C V c I l i e d l \X vJl i1. T U d l s UCLduot,
Agilent is brand new. On July Zo, what used to be ricwlett-j dCKdrd s ^rir s) measurement and components businesses took on a new name. YOU guessed it— Agilent Technologies.
Agilent Technologies Innovating the HP Way
Agilent is the result of HP's strategic plan, announced last March, to split into two independent companies (Anal. Chem. 1999, 71, 312 A). HP's computer and imaging businesses will keep the HewlettPackard Company name. Agilent's products and services contributed $7.6 billion to HPs $47.1 billion total revenue in fiscal year 1998, $1 billion of which was from the chemical analysis group.
Changes in store for Perkin-Elmer In an effort to improve its cost structure, Perkin-Elmer—not to be confused with PE Corp.—cut 12% of its workforce in July. The move comes only months after the company was purchased by EG&G. According to Perkin-Elmer's president, Robert Rosenthal, the reduction in force is the first in a series of initiatives planned "to help Perkin-Elmer regain market leadership in analytical instruments." The sale of Perkin-Elmer's analytical instruments division, along with the PerkinElmer brand name and Web site domain, to EG&G wasfinalizedon June 1. EG&G announced on July 21 its intention to change its name to Perkin-Elmer, completely eliminating the EG&G name, pending shareholder approval. 'We are excited to extend this premier brand name across our portfolio of businesses," said Gregory Summe, EG&G's Chairman and CEO. "The Perkin-Elmer brand name brings with it a large, loyal, and global customer base." The life sciences division of Perkin-Elmer, now an independent company, was renamed PE Corp., following the company split in March (Anal. Chem. 1999, 71,312 A).
