The Cardbox/Cardview Database for residues in live animals and their products

Abstract

The growing interest of the public opinion in environmental problems has resulted in the establishment of national and international norms and regulations. Among others, the protection of human health requires the constant monitoring of several groups of potentially toxic substances as well as of their residues in live animals and their products. For this reason in recent years the European Commission decided to establish four Community Reference Laboratories (CRLs) for the analysis of residues in products of animal origin. The current mandate and operative conditions of the CRLs are described in the Council Directive 96/23/EC of 29 April 1996, which has the goal of promoting and supporting the harmonization of approaches among National Reference Laboratories (NRLs). In this context the CRL at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità of Rome is responsible for chemical elements, organochlorine compounds (including PCBs), carbamates, pyrethroids and organophosphorus compounds. The supply of updated information on the literature of relevance to the tasks of the NRLs is one of the duties of the Rome CRL. To this end, the so-called Cardbox Database has been set up, which for the time being is fully operative for chemical elements and organochlorine compounds.