Most immunoassay tests that have been adapted for environmental research are enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), which use an enzyme as a label for measuring the amount of pesticide in a sample. While these tests display an accuracy comparable to that of traditional lab-based analytical methods, such as gas chromatography (GC), their low cost, speed, and portability (most are marketed as test kits that can be used in the field) have made them attractive to environmental chemists in a variety of fields.
The first commercially available immunoassay kit for detecting pesticides was developed by biochemist Bruce Ferguson, founder and chief executive officer of ImmunoSys-tems Inc., based in Scarborough, Maine. "It all started around 1986, when several people asked whether I thought immunoassays could be used to detect pesticides," recalls Ferguson. Therapeutic drugs or drugs of abuse--common targets for clinical immunoassays--are structurally similar to pesticides, he says, and so he thought such ...
