HBM4EU ICI EQUAS report Bisphenols in urine round 1

Within the framework of the HBM4EU project, an Inter-Laboratory Comparison Investigation (ICI) was organized and conducted for the analysis BPA, BPS and BPF in human urine. The study was conducted from June – July 2018. In total, 24 laboratories from 16 countries participated in this ICI. The participation in the ICI was satisfactory, as 24 out of 24 laboratories submitted their results. Five different test samples consisting of 10 mL urine each were prepared, corresponding to different concentration levels of the targeted biomarkers (incurred and fortified), and sent to the participants. Homogeneity and stability were tested. Assessment scores were calculated for BPA and BPS for low, medium and high level samples. As a global overview, the proportion of satisfying results (-2 < Z-score < 2) was from 76% to 88% for BPA and from 68% to 76% for BPS. The calculation of the score was not achievable for BPF because of unacceptable high variability of the concentrations as well as the limited number of laboratories involved in the reporting of the results. As expected, scores associated to the very low concentration level sample were calculated due to the high number of non quantified samples (“<LOQ”) and to the high variability between laboratories. The results of the blinded replicate analysis, assessed on two identical medium level samples globally demonstrated a satisfying repeatability except for 4 and 2 participating laboratories for BPA and BPS respectively.