According to the “Act on the Control of Household Products Containing Harmful Substances,”tributyltin compounds (TBT) and triphenyltin compounds (TPT) are banned from using at present. In order to introduce GC/MS method (gas chromatography mass spectrometry) as an official analytical method for TBT and TPT, a round-robin test, in which identical samples (textile products, water-based adhesives, and oil paints) are analyzed by several groups using the same method, was conducted. This institute also joined the project and examined its analytical results through comparison with the results obtained around three months before by National Institute of Health Sciences. The results are as follows; (1)Both reproducibility and surrogate recovery rate were consistent, and measurement up to the precision of 0.1 μg/g was possible. This suggests the possibility of adoption as the official analytical method. (2)Regarding TBT, almost the same results were obtained on all samples. (3)Regarding TPT, almost the same results were obtained on water-based adhesives. However, a slight decreasing tendency was observed on textile products due to the elapse of time (three months), and a distinct decrease was observed on oil paints. These phenomena may have been caused by the dephenylation of TPT. Although the setting concentrations of both substances were 0.1 μg/g, 1.0 μg/g, and 10 μg/g, these concentrations were lower than the figures of actual use. In addition, the case of detection of TBT is usually limited to the case as the impurity of dibutyltin (DBT), and TPT tended to show a time-dependent decrease. Apprehension is that when trace values of TBT and TPT are set as standard values for control, judgment for administrative measures may be difficult. It is considered that the standard values for control should be set in correlation with detailed up-to-date toxicological data.
