SPADA Meeting Book

Soil Testing Working Group

Scope of Work • Develop standards to aid both assay developers  and evaluators • Provide an increased confidence level for the  robustness of assays with regards to soil  contamination  • Develop the standard methodology for soil  collection and characterization  • Develop or identify protocols/methods for testing  with soils  • Identify a repository for the soil samples 3 Background Soil testing has always generated the most questions as seen during: AOAC Stakeholder Panel on Agent Detection Assays (SPADA) Standards Project: Standard Methods Performance Requirements: SMPR (10) Documents community’s analytical needs Descripts analytical requirements Includes method acceptance requirements Panel – consensus standards body:  DoD, DHS, CDC, FDA, EPA, USPS, NIST, ATCC, State and Local PH, Industry,  Academia, First Responders Most recent panel WG effort:  Environmental Factors Annex (in all SMPRs); three sections: Environmental Matrix Samples – Aerosol; Soil Testing Environmental Organisms Potential Interferents (operational background)