The equation promulgated by 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to calculate method detection limit (MDL) and used since 1981 in the United States and other countries to protect public health and the environment is incorrect. As a result, toxic chemicals in a large number of air, food, water, wastes, and other environmental samples may in fact be present at measurable concentrations even though they are currently being reported as “not detected”. That is, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water and other liquids we drink may have measurable concentrations of toxic chemicals, despite being reported as not detected and assumed to be absent. Furthermore, many chemicals, such as arsenic (As) in drinking water, are so toxic that they cannot be measured to safe levels and the allowable limits must be set at the lowest reportable concentrations. As a result, the allowable limits for some extremely toxic chemicals may be incorrectly set too high. Therefore, the consequences of this error pose a risk to public health and the environment. The sources of this error are explained and two improved ways of calculating method detection limit are presented.
Published in | International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (Volume 1, Issue 1) |
DOI | 10.11648/j.ijamtp.20150101.12 |
Page(s) | 9-13 |
Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Method Detection Limit, Method Detection Level, Limit of Detection
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APA Style
Seth H. Frisbie, Erika J. Mitchell, Marwan S. Abualrub, Yousef Abosalem. (2015). Calculating the Lowest Reportable Concentrations of Toxic Chemicals in the Environment. International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, 1(1), 9-13. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijamtp.20150101.12
ACS Style
Seth H. Frisbie; Erika J. Mitchell; Marwan S. Abualrub; Yousef Abosalem. Calculating the Lowest Reportable Concentrations of Toxic Chemicals in the Environment. Int. J. Appl. Math. Theor. Phys. 2015, 1(1), 9-13. doi: 10.11648/j.ijamtp.20150101.12
AMA Style
Seth H. Frisbie, Erika J. Mitchell, Marwan S. Abualrub, Yousef Abosalem. Calculating the Lowest Reportable Concentrations of Toxic Chemicals in the Environment. Int J Appl Math Theor Phys. 2015;1(1):9-13. doi: 10.11648/j.ijamtp.20150101.12
@article{10.11648/j.ijamtp.20150101.12, author = {Seth H. Frisbie and Erika J. Mitchell and Marwan S. Abualrub and Yousef Abosalem}, title = {Calculating the Lowest Reportable Concentrations of Toxic Chemicals in the Environment}, journal = {International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics}, volume = {1}, number = {1}, pages = {9-13}, doi = {10.11648/j.ijamtp.20150101.12}, url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijamtp.20150101.12}, eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijamtp.20150101.12}, abstract = {The equation promulgated by 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to calculate method detection limit (MDL) and used since 1981 in the United States and other countries to protect public health and the environment is incorrect. As a result, toxic chemicals in a large number of air, food, water, wastes, and other environmental samples may in fact be present at measurable concentrations even though they are currently being reported as “not detected”. That is, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water and other liquids we drink may have measurable concentrations of toxic chemicals, despite being reported as not detected and assumed to be absent. Furthermore, many chemicals, such as arsenic (As) in drinking water, are so toxic that they cannot be measured to safe levels and the allowable limits must be set at the lowest reportable concentrations. As a result, the allowable limits for some extremely toxic chemicals may be incorrectly set too high. Therefore, the consequences of this error pose a risk to public health and the environment. The sources of this error are explained and two improved ways of calculating method detection limit are presented.}, year = {2015} }
TY - JOUR T1 - Calculating the Lowest Reportable Concentrations of Toxic Chemicals in the Environment AU - Seth H. Frisbie AU - Erika J. Mitchell AU - Marwan S. Abualrub AU - Yousef Abosalem Y1 - 2015/05/07 PY - 2015 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijamtp.20150101.12 DO - 10.11648/j.ijamtp.20150101.12 T2 - International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics JF - International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics JO - International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics SP - 9 EP - 13 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2575-5927 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijamtp.20150101.12 AB - The equation promulgated by 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to calculate method detection limit (MDL) and used since 1981 in the United States and other countries to protect public health and the environment is incorrect. As a result, toxic chemicals in a large number of air, food, water, wastes, and other environmental samples may in fact be present at measurable concentrations even though they are currently being reported as “not detected”. That is, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water and other liquids we drink may have measurable concentrations of toxic chemicals, despite being reported as not detected and assumed to be absent. Furthermore, many chemicals, such as arsenic (As) in drinking water, are so toxic that they cannot be measured to safe levels and the allowable limits must be set at the lowest reportable concentrations. As a result, the allowable limits for some extremely toxic chemicals may be incorrectly set too high. Therefore, the consequences of this error pose a risk to public health and the environment. The sources of this error are explained and two improved ways of calculating method detection limit are presented. VL - 1 IS - 1 ER -