Press Release: Telling gold from copper: new EU trademark for reference materials

A new European trademark for reference materials for chemical and biological measures was launched at the Analytical Fair and conference held in Munich from 11-14 May 2004. The European Reference Materials (ERM®) seal will provide a quality assured system for measuring chemicals and biological elements in food and other products. The system will, for example, help detect forged coins, measure the level of sulphur in fuels and detect genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The ERM® trademark will help boost public confidence in food consumption, health-care, environmental protection and fair commerce by ensuring European measurements are based on reliable reference materials. The first 130 ERM®s were presented at the Munich conference.