It is already helping to create reliable tests for determining whether a truckload of grain includes genetically engineered varieties.
"In order to have consistent reliable tests, all of our psychometricians and the testing experts believe that having anchor questions helps in that regard," Mr. Klein said.
Cyclists are subjected to an unusually large number of drug tests, but there are no reliable tests to detect human growth hormone, the current performance enhancer of choice.
Reliable tests to determine resistance to first-line drugs were developed when the drugs were first marketed about a half-century ago.
"The respective international federations will have to take into account reliable tests," said Bach. "This means tests approved by international authorities".
And while reliable diagnostic tests exist for food allergies and coeliac disease, there are no reliable tests for food intolerances (with the exception of that for lactose).
Reliable tests are available to detect carriers of phenylketonuria, as well as infants who have the disorder.
Not only did they underscore the need for more uniform laboratory testing, but also prompted health officials to renew calls for reliable tests to detect SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, in its earliest stages of infection.
We have now reached a point in English primary education where children will be locked into a sequence of "reliable" tests at four, at the end of year 1, end of year 2 and end of year 6.
The most reliable tests of social and emotional abilities, he adds, are ones designed to diagnose developmental problems in young children, and they are expensive and time-consuming to administer.
The two advances will permit scientists to shift their research away from other viruses that had been suspected as causes of SARS to focus on developing reliable tests to detect the new coronavirus, Dr. Stöhr said.
