Kelso, Wash. — Robert Wyeth, senior vice president of Columbia Analytical Services, will speak about the efforts toward national environmental laboratory accreditation and the activities of The NELAC Institute. Wyeth’s presentation will be for the National Environmental Monitoring Conference (NEMC) to be held August 10-16, 2008 in Washington, DC.

“It will be a history, current status and a prediction of where we are going while avoiding the pitfalls and taking advantage of the positive aspects of accreditation,” said Wyeth.

The conference’s 2008 program features four keynote presentations as well as 140 technical and poster sessions. Wyeth’s presentation will be offered on Thursday, August 14, 2008 entitled, ‘Moving Forward on National Accreditation.’ He will also be available during the conference for questions.

The NEMC was initiated in 1985 as part of EPA’s efforts to foster a partnership among the agency, the regulated community, the public, state regulatory agencies, and the other members of the monitoring community.

Wyeth has more than 35 years in the environmental testing industry and is currently a technical and regulatory expert for Columbia Analytical Services, Inc. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The NELAC Institute and the Environmental Sciences Section of the American Council of Independent Laboratories.

For more information on the conference or Wyeth’s presentation visit Columbia Analytical’s website at www.caslab.com or contact Wyeth at 716-860-9108.

KELSO, Wash. – Columbia Analytical Services, Inc., one of the nation’s leading environmental testing laboratories, today unveiled its new corporate identity with a revised logo and redesigned website. The company’s website address is www.caslab.com.

“The new company logo was designed to freshen our look and reflect Columbia Analytical’s professional and technically-advanced capabilities,” said Ed Wilson, director of information technology and marketing. “Our marketing materials now position us as technical experts as we plan for an internet-focused and service-oriented future.”

The new website provides expanded information about environmental testing, pharmaceutical testing and a variety of other scientific topics featured in a new educational section. The educational content includes technical articles, industry acronyms, technical poster session brochures, a “clickable” periodic table, information on sample holding times and container types, and a free technical newsletter. An industry news page also allows users to post their questions and interact with the laboratory managers.

“One of the challenges of the website redesign was to effectively communicate technical information, but in a simple and visually-interesting manner,” said Trent Mueller, webmaster. “We accomplished this in part by providing concise information upfront while offering the option of clicking to read deeper into technical content. We also added many illustrative photos, charts, and examples to help keep the reader engaged.”

Columbia Analytical is an employee-owned, full-service environmental analytical network with seven laboratories in the United States. Services include testing of air, water, soil, sediment, tissues, pharmaceutical materials, and solid and hazardous waste.

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Contact:

Dee O’Neill
360-577-7222
www.caslab.com

Press Links:

View our Press Kit to download logos/images.

Learn more about the New Website.

A recent article in the journal Pediatrics has raised further questions about the presence of phthalates in the environment. They note that certain phthalates, found in numerous baby care products, may lead to developmental and reproductive toxicity in infants.

Phthalates are synthetic chemicals that are used to make vinyl products flexible and soft. They also make products like nail polish harder to chip and make fragrances last longer. They are found in many industrial and common household items, including PVC plastics, cosmetics, personal care products (including most lotions, shampoos and powders), plastic toys, vinyl products and almost all products with fragrance. Phthalates are also used in medical devices, and numerous items our homes and cars. Essentially, phthalates are everywhere.

Phthalate testing is problematic due to their wide spread use and background levels can lead to false positive results.  Therefore the laboratory must eliminate background sources of phthalates and ensure that quality control data supports that the analysis is free of these interferences. Although there are a number of analytical testing alternatives, the most common way for a laboratory to test for phthalates is using a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer operated in selected ion monitoring mode (GC/MS/SIM). This GC/MS/SIM technique is currently being used by Columbia Analytical Services in similar studies investigating phthalates in medications, ambient air, and other applications related to human health risk. Columbia Analytical has performed analytical testing for phthalates for over 20 years.

For more information on testing for phthalates, contact Jeff Christian, Columbia Analytical Services, Inc. at 360-577-7222.

Chemical structure of butyl benzyl phthalate