LABORATORY OF HYGIENE

RSA tit. X, ch. 131

in effect

RSA 131:1 Purposes.

131:1. Purposes. The department of health and human services may establish, equip, and operate a laboratory or laboratories with such expert assistants and such facilities as are necessary for routine examinations and analyses and for original investigations and research in matters affecting public health. Source. 1901, 23:1. PL 127:1. RL 149:1. 1943, 118:1, par. 1. RSA 131:1. 1983, 291:1, I. 1995, 310:181, eff. Nov. 1, 1995.

RSA 131:2 Investigations.

131:2. Investigations. They shall make investigations and analyses of foods and drugs offered for sale in our markets with a view of discovering adulterated, misbranded and unhealthful or unsafe products and shall make investigations concerning food sanitation, the disposal of sewage and similar matters of sanitation and shall enforce the laws relative to all such matters. They shall conduct such toxicological investigations as may be requested by the attorney general or by county attorneys. They may employ such clerical and technical personnel as may be necessary. Source. 1901, 23:2. 1925, 45:1. PL 127:2. RL 149:2. 1943, 118:1, par. 2, eff. April 15, 1943.

RSA 131:3 Testing of Water Supplies.

131:3. Testing of Water Supplies. They shall make periodic inspections and analyses of the public water supplies of the state and any special investigations thereof that may be called for; also, when requested or as may be deemed by them necessary or expedient in the interests of the public health, make inspections or analyses of sources furnishing water to institutions, schools, hotels, camps, other places of public resort and individuals, and advise in connection with the same; and they shall enforce the laws pertaining to water supply and to the sanitation of public waters. Source. 1901, 23:4. 1925, 60:1. PL 127:4. RL 149:4. 1943, 118:1, par. 3, eff. April 15, 1943.

RSA 131:4 Laboratory Services, Fees, and Rulemaking; Lab Equipment and Replacement Fund Established.

131:4. Laboratory Services, Fees, and Rulemaking; Lab Equipment and Replacement Fund Established. I. The commissioner of the department of health and human services shall adopt rules pursuant to RSA 541-A relative to a list of laboratory services to be provided under this chapter and a schedule of fees for such services. The fees may be waived by the commissioner when the commissioner determines it is in the best interests of the health of the public to do so. II. Fees for analyses required by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act or offered as a service shall be set by following the cost allocation method established for reimbursements to the state from grants funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). III. Fees collected from state agencies shall be credited against the operating costs of the laboratory. IV. Fees collected from all others shall be deposited 50 percent in the general fund and 50 percent in a special nonlapsing lab equipment and replacement fund established in the state treasury and kept separate and distinct from all other funds. The fund shall be continually appropriated to the commissioner of the department of health and human services for the purchase or replacement of laboratory equipment designed to improve service. The commissioner may, with prior approval of the governor and council, use funds in the lab equipment and replacement fund for unanticipated personnel or supply expenditures made necessary by unexpected changes in or additions to federal or state required laboratory analyses or unusual volume of samples. Source. 1901, 23:5. PL 127:6. 1935, 59:1. RL 149:6. 1943, 118:1, par. 4. RSA 131:4. 1986, 198:10. 1995, 308:26; 310:182, 183. 2003, 319:90, eff. Jan. 1, 2004. 2025, 245:1, eff. July 1, 2025.

RSA 131:5 Contracts for Outside Services.

131:5. Contracts for Outside Services. They may enter into contracts with laboratories in localities accessible to the various portions of the state for the prompt examination of specimens received from local health officers or physicians and for an immediate report on such examinations, at the expense of the state, provided that all laboratories shall conform to the standards of efficiency as adopted by rules by the department of health and human services, and that the director, bacteriologist or pathologist in charge of such examinations shall possess such educational and technical qualifications as the commissioner of the department of health and human services shall establish by rule. No obligation shall be incurred by the department of health and human services relative to the examinations in excess of the sums made available for them. Source. 1943, 118:1, par. 5. RSA 131:5. 1983, 291:1, I. 1985, 190:38. 1995, 310:181-183, eff. Nov. 1, 1995.

RSA 131:5-a Rulemaking.

131:5-a. Rulemaking. The commissioner of the department of health and human services shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, relative to: I. Standards of efficiency for laboratories under RSA 131:5. II. The educational and technical qualifications of the commissioner, bacteriologist, or pathologist in charge of examinations under RSA 131:5. III. [Repealed.] Source. 1985, 190:37. 1995, 310:182, 183. 2012, 171:26, III, eff. Aug. 10, 2012.

RSA 131:6 Bulletin.

131:6. Bulletin. They may publish in a bulletin the results of the analytical work done in said laboratory, naming fraudulent and adulterated articles of food found on sale in this state, together with such other information relating to sanitary matters as they may deem advisable. Source. 1901, 23:4. PL 127:7. RL 149:7. 1943, 118:1 par. 6, eff. April 15, 1943.

Source: New Hampshire General Court (gc.nh.gov)URL: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/NHTOC/NHTOC-X-131.htmFetched: 10/20/2026