Bond, K.; "Reliability of x-ray fluorescence for the quantitative analysis of arsenic in contaminated leather", The ethnographic conservation newsletter of the Working Group on Ethnographic Materials of the ICOM Committee for Conservation 28 (2007) 9-10
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Introduction:
The following is a summary of research undertaken for the Master of Art Conservation program at Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario, Canada in 2005. The research came about with the increasing concern over the presence of toxic components in pesticides, such as arsenic, that have been used in the past to treat ethnographic materials. The exact chemicals, amount, method of application and frequency used, is not always known. The intimate contact that museum staff and, increasingly, Native groups have with these artifacts, has led to concerns of the health and safety effects of exposure to pesticide residues. An effective method of quantitative analysis is necessary to evaluate the correct amount of arsenic actually present on cultural objects and, through this, the implications of handling contaminated artifacts.
AATA Abstract:
Investigates the reliability of x-ray fluorescence (XRF) for the quantitative analysis of arsenic on ethnographic leather. Known quantities of three arsenic solutions, prepared according to historical recipes, were applied to buckskin and rawhide. These samples were analyzed with the Innov-X Systems Portable XRF Environmental Metals Analyzer in soil analysis mode, and the results were compared to analysis by the TJA Solutions VG PQ ExCell Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS). The results of the XRF analysis were consistently higher than the ICP-MS results, but displayed a strong linear relationship that can reliably be used to calculate approximate quantitative measurements.