Certification of Polychlorinated Biphenyl Congeners and Chlorinated Pesticides in a Whale Blubber Standard Reference Material

A Standard Reference Material (SRM) made from whale blubber has been developed for the validation of methods used for the determination of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners and chlorinated pesticides. This material, which is a frozen blubber tissue homogenate, was analyzed using three different analytical techniques. These techniques were based on gas chromatography with electron capture detection on two stationary phases with different selectivity for the separation of PCB congeners and gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection. The results from these three techniques were in good agreement and were combined to provide certified concentrations for 27 PCB congeners and 15 chlorinated pesticides.