Table 2.3 is a summary of the specific restrictions (such as % TBT in 

 antifouling paint, or exemptions for specific vessel length, or for 

 aluminum hulls) that have been implemented by regulatory action or 

 legislation as international regulatory strategies, for the countries 

 indicated. 



2.4 CURRENT FEDERAL CRGANOTIN RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND MONITORING 

 FROGRAMS 



A summary of the current programs of Federal agencies with respect to 

 organotin in the coastal environment is presented in Table 2.4. Research 

 is presented here in the sense of any systematic inquiry into any aspect 

 of organotin detection, speciatian, biological effect, distribution, fate 

 and behavior in the environment, toxicity testing, new application 

 methodology or new disposal methodology. 



Monitoring is used here in the sense of any program of measurement 

 employing previously developed methodology with the intention of 

 determining some aspect of change or distribution over a unit of time 

 (hours, days, months or years) in natural environments, or areas of 

 application and/or removal of organotin antifouling paints, or simply 

 recording over time, the volume of organotin antifouling paints sold or 

 used (distribution and application patterns) . 



Development is used here in the sense of the improvement of a method for 

 the detection, identification or quantification of organotin in: air, 

 water, sediment, or tissue. Development also refers to the improvement of 

 existing means to apply, remove, store or denature organotin antifouling 

 active ingredients. 



2.4.1 National Bureau of Standards 



Research at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) focuses on the compari- 

 sons of methodologies for quantitative molecular determination of the vari- 

 ous species of organotins likely to be found in the environment. The abil- 

 ity to detect organotins-particularly butyltins at the part per trillion 

 (ng/1) level reliably is essential to development of a successful regula- 

 tory strategy since biological evidence strongly indicate that adverse 

 biological effects occur at or below the present ill-defined limits of 

 reliable detection. Researchers at NBS have conducted a series of 

 inter-laboratory intercalibration experiments with the Naval Ocean Systems 

 Center (NOSC) on natural samples. NBS obtained very good agreement 

 (generally within 20% of the mean values) on quantification of di- and 

 tributyltin species in split, and shared samples from marine waters in the 

 U.S. and U.K. The standards division of NBS is also currently developing 

 very pure, dilute, aqueous solution of tributyltin and mixed solutions of 

 di- and tributyltin to be tested as possible reference standard 

 materials. Researchers at NBS have also investigated the degradation 

 rates of tributyltin in Chesapeake Bay (from industrial areas of Baltimore 

 Harbor, and marina areas near Annapolis) . 



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