Lexikon

gas chromatography is an analytical technique employing a gaseous mobile phase that separates mixtures into their individual components. The stationary phase can be solid or immobilized liquid. The separation is based on dynamic sorption-desorption processes. Compounds volatilized without decomposition can be separated. The technique is not suitable for the separation of ionic compounds and of large molecules like proteins, peptides, polysacharides, etc. (Source: Balla J.: Analytical applications of gas chromatography. Budapest, 1987)

In environmental analysis gas chromatography is applied for the measurement of volatile and semivolatile organic compounds (VOC and SVOC, resp.) in air, in surface and subsurface water, as well as in potable water, in soil, of residual content of a chemical in food, in animal and plant samples. It is applied for identification of the source of the contamination, the transport of contaminants, bioaccumulation, assessment of contaminated sites, technology monitoring, etc.

gas chromatography/Mass Spectrometry gives both quantitative and qualitative information on the sample. The components separated by gas chromatography get into the mass spectrometer and are identified by comparison of their characteristic spectra to the spectral library.

GCP = Good Clinical Practice

transformation is a process by which the genetic material carried by an individual cell is altered by incorporation of exogenous DNA into its genome.

the first of the -omics technologies to be developed, genomics has resulted in massive amounts of DNA sequence data requiring great amounts of computer capacity. Genomics has progressed beyond sequencing of organisms (structural genomics) to identifying the function of the encoded genes (functional genomics).

geochemistry is the combination of earth and chemical sciences. It deals with the properties and origin of minerals and rocks focusing on the chemical composition of the Earth and of other planets, chemical processes and reactions occurring in rocks and soils, and the cycles of matter and energy that transport the Earth's chemical components in time and space, and their interaction with the hydrosphere and the atmosphere. At present the distribution of chemical elements in the Earth is changing as a result of human activity. To monitor these changes modern geological and chemical measurement techniques are used.

The Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) has been the subject of more than a decade of work; its aim is to provide a framework to bring together the various national and regional hazard communication systems which control the supply of hazardous chemicals in much the same way that the ‘Orange Book’ offers a global framework for the transport of dangerous goods. The purpose of GHS is to provide a single, globally harmonized system to address classification of chemicals, labels, and safety data sheets. The first edition of GHS was published in July 2003 as the ‘Purple Book’, it is revised evey December of even numbered years (and usually published in the following summer). Further details about the publication status, its ‘adoption’ throughout the world, and often access to electronic versions (when these are eventually made available), can be found on the UNECE website:

http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/ghs/ghs_welcome_e.html

More information can also be obtained on the HSE GHS website at a special section for GHS related issues http://www.hse.gov.uk/ghs/index.htm. Note however that updating of the HSE website pages sometimes lags behind developments by several months. HSE is the lead on the development of the GHS and consults on GHS issues through its Standing Committee on Hazard Information and Packaging (SCHIP). Those do not get SCHIP communications via their Trade Association, and who wish to be sent such communications when issued should contact Desmond Waight (email Desmond@dangoods.co.uk) who is an ‘independent’ associate member of SCHIP asking to be placed on his “Emerging Classification” circulation. There is no charge.

The EU have passed legislation (the Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 (CLP)) that will over time harmonise the EU supply provisions with the GHS. See the section of this website for further information.

Transport implementation is via the UN Recommendations and Model Regulations (Orange Book) and by subsequent adoption in the various international modal provisions (ADR, RID, ADN, IMDG Code, ICAO TIs / IATA DGRs).

Source: http://www.chcs.org.uk/chemical-hazards-legislation-international.htm

a geographic information system (GIS), captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data that refers to or is linked to location. An information system that integrates, stores, edits, analyzes, shares, and displays geographic information. In a more generic sense, GIS applications are tools that allow users to create interactive queries (user created searches), analyze spatial information, edit data, maps, and present the results of all these operations.

glycogen is the molecule that functions as the secondary long-term energy storage in animal and fungal cells. It is made primarily by the liver and the muscles, but can also be made by glycogenesis within the brain and stomach. Glycogen is the analogue of starch, and is commonly referred to as animal starch, having a similar structure to amylopectin. Glycogen is found in the form of granules in the cytosol in many cell types, and plays an important role in the glucose cycle. Glycogen forms an energy reserve that can be quickly mobilized to meet a sudden need for glucose.

the goal of LCA is to compare the full range of environmental effects assignable to products and services in order to improve processes, support policy and provide a sound basis for informed decisions.

The term life cycle refers to the notion that a fair, holistic assessment requires the assessment of raw-material production, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal including all intervening transportation steps necessary or caused by the product's existence.

There are two main types of LCA. Attributional LCAs seek to establish the burdens associated with the production and use of a product, or with a specific service or process, at a point in time (typically the recent past). Consequential LCAs seek to identify the environmental consequences of a decision or a proposed change in a system under study (oriented to the future), which means that market and economic implications of a decision may have to be taken into account. Social LCA is under development as a different approach to life cycle thinking intended to assess social implications or potential impacts. Social LCA should be considered as an approach that is complementary to environmental LCA.

The procedures of life cycle assessment (LCA) are part of the ISO 14000 environmental management standards: in ISO 14040:2006 and 14044:2006. (ISO 14044 replaced earlier versions of ISO 14041 to ISO 14043.)

[edit] Four main phases

Illustration of LCA phases.

According to the ISO 14040[3] and 14044[4] standards, a Life Cycle Assessment is carried out in four distinct phases as illustrated in the figure shown to the right.The phases are often interdependent in that the results of one phase will inform how other phases are completed.

An LCA starts with an explicit statement of the goal and scope of the study, which sets out the context of the study and explains how and to whom the results are to be communicated. This is a key step and the ISO standards require that the goal and scope of an LCA be clearly defined and consistent with the intended application. The goal and scope document therefore includes technical details that guide subsequent work:

* the functional unit, which defines what precisely is being studied and quantifies the service delivered by the product system, providing a reference to which the inputs and outputs can be related;

* the system boundaries;

* any assumptions and limitations;

* the allocation methods used to partition the environmental load of a process when several products or functions share the same process; and

* the impact categories chosen.

Source:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life-cycle_assessment#Goals_and_purpose_of_LCA

Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) is a quality system concerned with the organisational process and the conditions under which non-clinical health and environmental safety studies are planned, performed, monitored, recorded, archived and reported. (Source: REACH Glossary)
OECD Guidelines on Good Laboratory Practice part 1, available at: http://www.oecd.org/findDocument/0,2350,en_26...

GLP = Good Laboratory Practices
According to 2004/10/EC, Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) is defined as a quality system concerned with the organizational process and the conditions under which non-clinical health and environmental safety studies are planned, performed, monitored, recorded, archived and reported. The main objective of GLP is to ensure test data produced by different laboratories can be mutually recognized so as to avoid repeat testing. GLP provides an assurance to regulatory authorities that the data submitted are a true reflection of the results obtained during the study and can therefore be relied upon when making risk/safety assessments.

Member States of the European Union have to take measures to comply with the principle of GLP when evaluating chemicals safety according to 67/548/EEC. SGS has a worldwide network of laboratories that are GLP compliant contractual laboratories for physico-chemical, toxicological and ecotoxicological tests.

Source: REACH, Glossary

Gram-negative bacteria are those bacteria that do not retain crystal violet dye in the Gram staining protocol. The test itself is useful in classifying two distinct types of bacteria based on the structural differences of their cell walls. On the other hand, Gram-positive bacteria will retain the crystal violet dye when washed in a decolorizing solution.

The pathogenic capability of Gram-negative bacteria is often associated with certain components of Gram-negative cell walls, in particular, the lipopolysaccharide (also known as LPS or endotoxin) layer. In humans, LPS triggers an innate immune response characterized by cytokine production and immune system activation. Inflammation is a common result of cytokine production, which can also produce host toxicity. The human immun-response (and also the antibiotics) can be avoided by cell-wall mutation, which is a frequent process within Gram-negative bacteria, due to their complex cell-wall structure with proteins, lipoproteins and lipopolisaccharides.

The following characteristics are displayed by Gram-negative bacteria:

1. Cytoplasmic membrane
2. Thin peptidoglycan (murein) layer (which is much thinner than in Gram-positive bacteria)
3. Outer membrane containing lipopolysaccharide (LPS, which consists of lipid A, core polysaccharide, and O antigen) outside the peptidoglycan layer
4. Porins exist in the outer membrane, which act like pores for particular molecules
5. There is a space between the layers of peptidoglycan and the secondary cell membrane called the periplasmic space
6. The S-layer is directly attached to the outer membrane, rather than the peptidoglycan
7. If present, flagella have four supporting rings instead of two
8. No teichoic acids or lipoteichoic acids are present
9. Lipoproteins are attached to the polysaccharide backbone.
10. Most do not sporulate (Coxiella burnetii, which produces spore-like structures, is a notable exception)

The proteobacteria are a major group of Gram-negative bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Shigella, and other Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas, Moraxella, Helicobacter, Stenotrophomonas, Bdellovibrio, acetic acid bacteria, Legionella and alpha-proteobacteria as Wolbachia and numerous others. Other notable groups of Gram-negative bacteria include the cyanobacteria, spirochaetes, green sulfur and green non-sulfur bacteria.

Medically relevant Gram-negative cocci include three organisms, which cause a sexually transmitted disease (Neisseria gonorrhoeae), a meningitis (Neisseria meningitidis), and respiratory symptoms (Moraxella catarrhalis).

Medically relevant Gram-negative bacilli include a multitude of species. Some of them primarily cause respiratory problems (Hemophilus influenzae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Legionella pneumophila, Pseudomonas aeruginosa), primarily urinary problems (Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Enterobacter cloacae, Serratia marcescens), and primarily gastrointestinal problems (Helicobacter pylori, Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhi).

Gram-negative bacteria associated with nosocomial infections include Acinetobacter baumannii, which cause bacteremia, secondary meningitis, and ventilator-associated pneumonia in intensive-care units of hospital establishments.

One of the several unique characteristics of Gram-negative bacteria is the structure of their outer membrane. The outer leaflet of the membrane comprises a complex lipopolysaccharide whose lipid portion acts as an endotoxin. If endotoxin enters the circulatory system, it causes a toxic reaction, with the sufferer's developing a high temperature, high respiration rate, and low blood pressure. This may lead to endotoxic shock, which may be fatal.

This outer membrane protects the bacteria from several antibiotics, dyes, and detergents that would normally damage the inner membrane or cell wall (peptidoglycan). The outer membrane provides these bacteria with resistance to lysozyme and penicillin. However, alternative medicinal treatments such as lysozyme with EDTA and the antibiotic ampicillin have been developed to combat the protective outer membrane of some pathogenic Gram-negative organisms. Other drugs can be used, significant ones being chloramphenicol, streptomycin, and nalidixic acid.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram-negative_bacteria

granulometry (effective hydrodynamic radius, m): the parameter of interest for particle size distribution The particle size distribution is needed in order to decide which route of administration is most appropriate for animal toxicity studies (acute toxicity and repeated dose toxicity).

The different particle sizes defined in EN 481 document1 are:

· inhalable fraction: mass fraction of particles that can be inhaled by nose and mouth;

· thoracic fraction: mass fraction of particles that passes the larynx;

· respirable fraction: mass fraction of particles that reaches the alveoli.

The determination of the particle size fractions is used to assess the possible health effects resulting from inhalation of airborne particles in the workplace.

Greenpeace's cornerstone principles and core values are reflected in all our environmental campaign work, worldwide. These are:

• "Bearing witness" to environmental destruction in a peaceful, non-violent manner;
• Using non-violent confrontation to raise the level and quality of public debate;
• In exposing threats to the environment and finding solutions they have no permanent allies or adversaries;
• Ensuring financial independence from political or commercial interests;
• Seeking solutions for, and promote open, informed debate about society's environmental choices.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/

groundwater protection describes the management processes by which groundwater quality and resources are protected against pollution and over-exploitation. (Source: EUGRIS)

available groundwater resource is the long-term annual average rate of overall recharge of the body of groundwater less the long-term annual rate of flow required to achieve the ecological quality objectives for associated surface waters, to avoid any significant diminution in the ecological status of such waters and to avoid any significant damage to associated terrestrial ecosystems.

"good groundwater chemical status" is the chemical status of a body of groundwater, which meets all the conditions set out in table 2.3.2 of Annex V of Water Framework Directive (60/2000/EC).

hazard analysis and critical control points, or HACCP is a systematic preventive approach to food safety and pharmaceutical safety that identifies physical, chemical, and biological hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product be unsafe, and designs measurements to reduce these risks to a safe level. In this manner, HACCP is referred as the prevention of hazards rather than finished product inspection.

The HACCP system can be used at all stages of a food chain, from food production and preparation processes including packaging, distribution, etc. HACCP is believed to stem from of a production process monitoring used during World War II because traditional "end of the pipe" testing on artillery shell's firing mechanisms could not be performed and a large percent of the artillery shells be made at the time were either duds or misfiring.

HACCP has been recognized internationally as a logical tool for adapting traditional inspection methods to a modern, science-based, food safety system. Based on risk-assessment, HACCP plans allow both industry and government to allocate their resources efficiently in establishing and auditing safe food production practices. In 1994, the organization of International HACCP Alliance was established initially for the US meat and poultry industries to assist them with implementing HACCP and now its membership has been spread over other professional/industrial areas.

Hence, HACCP has been increasingly applied to industries other than food, such as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. This method, which in effect seeks to plan out unsafe practices based on science, differs from traditional "produce and sort" quality control methods that do nothing to prevent hazards from occuring and must identify them at the end of the process. HACCP is focused only on the health safety issues of a product and not the quality of the product, yet HACCP principles are the basis of most food quality and safety assurance systems. FAO/WHO published a guideline for all governments to handle the issue in small and less developed food businesses.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazard_analysis_and_critical_control_points

the HACCP seven principles

Principle 1: Conduct a hazard analysis. – Plans determine the food safety hazards and identify the preventive measures the plan can apply to control these hazards. A food safety hazard is any biological, chemical, or physical property that may cause a food to be unsafe for human consumption.

Principle 2: Identify critical control points. – A critical control point (CCP) is a point, step, or procedure in a food manufacturing process at which control can be applied and, as a result, a food safety hazard can be prevented, eliminated, or reduced to an acceptable level.

Principle 3: Establish critical limits for each critical control point. – A critical limit is the maximum or minimum value to which a physical, biological, or chemical hazard must be controlled at a critical control point to prevent, eliminate, or reduce to an acceptable level.

Principle 4: Establish critical control point monitoring requirements. – Monitoring activities are necessary to ensure that the process is under control at each critical control point. In the United States, the FSIS is requiring that each monitoring procedure and its frequency be listed in the HACCP plan.

Principle 5: Establish corrective actions. – These are actions to be taken when monitoring indicates a deviation from an established critical limit. The final rule requires a plant's HACCP plan to identify the corrective actions to be taken if a critical limit is not met. Corrective actions are intended to ensure that no product injurious to health or otherwise adulterated as a result of the deviation enters commerce.

Principle 6: Establish procedures for ensuring the HACCP system is working as intended. – Validation ensures that the plants do what they were designed to do; that is, they are successful in ensuring the production of a safe product. Plants will be required to validate their own HACCP plans. FSIS will not approve HACCP plans in advance, but will review them for conformance with the final rule.

Verification ensures the HACCP plan is adequate, that is, working as intended. Verification procedures may include such activities as review of HACCP plans, CCP records, critical limits and microbial sampling and analysis. FSIS is requiring that the HACCP plan include verification tasks to be performed by plant personnel. Verification tasks would also be performed by FSIS inspectors. Both FSIS and industry will undertake microbial testing as one of several verification activities.

Verification also includes "validation" – the process of finding evidence for the accuracy of the HACCP system (e.g. scientific evidence for critical limitations).

Principle 7: Establish record keeping procedures. – The HACCP regulation requires that all plants maintain certain documents, including its hazard analysis and written HACCP plan, and records documenting the monitoring of critical control points, critical limits, verification activities, and the handling of processing deviations.

harmful substances are those which endanger living organisms, natural and man-mad environmnet with their potential adverse effects. We also use the following terms for these substances: dangerous substances, substances with adverse effects. We can specify the advers effect and the harm, e.g.: explosives, flammable substances or preparations, oxidising or reducing agents, acidic or alkaline substances, toxic substances or preparations, corrosive substances or preparations irritants, sensitizers, carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxici or dangerous for the environment. The substances which pose harm on the local and global environment are mainly those which poison water and soil, cause acid-rain, CO₂ and methane overproduction or ozone depletion, etc.

See also: dangerous substances, toxic substance, toxic metals, toxic effect, toxicity, mutagenic effect, mutagenicity, reprotoxic

the type of hazard is described by hazard classes. Generally these are subdivided into hazard categories which express the level of hazardousness.
Altogether the GHS comprises 16 classes for physical-chemical hazards, 10 classes for health hazards, and one class for hazards to the aquatic environment.

categories or generic types of hazardous waste listed according to their nature or the activity which generated them (waste may be liquid, sludge or solid in form):

ANNEX I.

Annex I. A.

1. anatomical substances; hospital and other clinical wastes;

2. pharmaceuticals, medicines and veterinary compounds;

3. wood preservatives;

4. biocides and phyto-pharmaceutical substances;

5. residue from substances employed as solvents;

6. halogenated organic substances not employed as solvents excluding inert polymerized materials;

7. tempering salts containing cyanides;

8. mineral oils and oily substances (e.g. cutting sludges, etc.);

9. oil/water, hydrocarbon/water mixtures, emulsions;

10. substances containing PCBs and/or PCTs (e.g. dielectrics etc.);

11. tarry materials arising from refining, distillation and any pyrolytic treatment (e.g. still bottoms, etc.);

12. inks, dyes, pigments, paints, lacquers, varnishes;

13. resins, latex, plasticizers, glues/adhesives;

14. chemical substances arising from research and development or teaching activities which are not identified and/or are new and whose effects on man and/or the environment are not known (e.g. laboratory residues, etc.);

15. pyrotechnics and other explosive materials;

16. photographic chemicals and processing materials;

17. any material contaminated with any congener of polychlorinated dibenzo-furan;

18. any material contaminated with any congener of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin.

ANNEX I.B.

19. animal or vegetable soaps, fats, waxes;

20. non-halogenated organic substances not employed as solvents;

21. inorganic substances without metals or metal compounds;

22. ashes and/or cinders;

23. soil, sand, clay including dredging spoils;

24. non-cyanidic tempering salts;

25. metallic dust, powder;

26. spent catalyst materials;

27. liquids or sludges containing metals or metal compounds;

28. residue from pollution control operations (e.g. baghouse dusts, etc.) except (29), (30) and (33);

29. scrubber sludges;

30. sludges from water purification plants;

31. decarbonization residue;

32. ion-exchange column residue;

33. sewage sludges, untreated or unsuitable for use in agriculture;

34. residue from cleaning of tanks and/or equipment;

35. contaminated equipment;

36. contaminated containers (e.g. packaging, gas cylinders, etc.) whose contents included one or more of the constituents listed in Annex II;

37. batteries and other electrical cells;

38. vegetable oils;

39. materials resulting from selective waste collections from households and which exhibit any of the characteristics listed in Annex III;

40. any other wastes which contain any of the constituents listed in Annex II and any of the properties listed in Annex III.

ANNEX II

Wastes having as constituents:

C1 beryllium; beryllium compounds;

C2 vanadium compounds;

C3 chromium (VI) compounds;

C4 cobalt compounds;

C5 nickel compounds;

C6 copper compounds;

C7 zinc compounds;

C8 arsenic; arsenic compounds;

C9 selenium; selenium compounds;

C10 silver compounds;

C11 cadmium; cadmium compounds;

C12 tin compounds;

C13 antimony; antimony compounds;

C14 tellurium; tellurium compounds;

C15 barium compounds; excluding barium sulfate;

C16 mercury; mercury compounds;

C17 thallium; thallium compounds;

C18 lead; lead compounds;

C19 inorganic sulphides;

C20 inorganic fluorine compounds, excluding calcium fluoride;

C21 inorganic cyanides;

C22 the following alkaline or alkaline earth metals: lithium, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium in uncombined form;

C23 acidic solutions or acids in solid form;

C24 basic solutions or bases in solid form;

C25 asbestos (dust and fibres);

C26 phosphorus: phosphorus compounds, excluding mineral phosphates;

C27 metal carbonyls;

C28 peroxides;

C29 chlorates;

C30 perchlorates;

C31 azides;

C32 PCBs and/or PCTs;

C33 pharmaceutical or veterinary coumpounds;

C34 biocides and phyto-pharmaceutical substances (e.g. pesticides, etc.);

C35 infectious substances;

C36 creosotes;

C37 isocyanates; thiocyanates;

C38 organic cyanides (e.g. nitriles, etc.);

C39 phenols; phenol compounds;

C40 halogenated solvents;

C41 organic solvents, excluding halogenated solvents;

C42 organohalogen compounds, excluding inert polymerized materials and other substances referred to in this Annex;

C43 aromatic compounds; polycyclic and heterocyclic organic compounds;

C44 aliphatic amines;

C45 aromatic amines C46 ethers;

C47 substances of an explosive character, excluding those listed elsewhere in this Annex;

C48 sulphur organic compounds;

C49 any congener of polychlorinated dibenzo-furan;

C50 any congener of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin;

C51 hydrocarbons and their oxygen; nitrogen and/or sulphur compounds not otherwise taken into account in this Annex.

Certain duplications of generic types of hazardous wastes listed in Annex I are intentional.

Source: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31991L0689:EN:HTML

hydrochlorofluorocarbon, a colorless gas, better known as HCFC-22, R-22. It was once commonly used as a propellant and in air conditioning applications. These applications are being phased out due to ozone depletion potential and status as a potent greenhouse gas. R22 is a versatile intermediate in industrial organofluorine chemistry, e.g. as a precursor to tetrafluoroethylene.

the concentration of the volatile molecules in the vapour space above a sample is proportional to the concentration in the sample. Certain methods sample this vapour (headspace analysis).

a kind of gas chromatography sampling the headspace above a sample. The composition in the headspace gives information on the composition of the sample. Suitable for the analyis of volatile components such as VOC, BTEX.