feasibility of the method. Once a method with less than 10% spread between triplicate samples was identified, spiked samples of the low mercury blood were used as to calculate precision and accuracy. Quartz boats were util-ized for blood samples and standards; a blank in the form of an empty nickel boat was placed at the beginning and end of every sample run, as well as between each indi-vidual sample to ensure any residual mercury from the previous sample was burned off.