This week, I was excited to sit down with Jim Aidala , Senior Government Affairs Consultant at B&C and its consulting affiliate, The Acta Group, to discuss FIFRA hot topics. For those of us who work in the complicated and ever-changing area of agricultural and biocidal products, federal and state regulation of ag products is often hard to understand and to monitor. Jim knows this space better than anyone, having worked on the Hill, led EPA’s toxics office, and now serving the private sector....
Mar 28, 2024•54 min
This week I discuss with my colleague, Dr. Richard E. Engler , Director of Chemistry for B&C and The Acta Group, our consulting affiliate, the super-hot topic of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) reporting under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). PFAS, the class of so-called forever chemicals, are the talk of this town, and likely the talk of many jurisdictions given the intense global scrutiny all things PFAS endure. Rich and I focus our broad ranging discussion on federal TS...
Mar 07, 2024•51 min
This week I had the distinct pleasure of visiting with former Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, the Honorable Leo E. Strine, Jr. , Of Counsel, at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Judge Strine and I discuss the intense focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards and the pressures on corporate directors and managers occasioned by the Caremark decision and its progeny, among other developments. These initiatives have particular relevance to businesses many of our cl...
Feb 22, 2024•1 hr 11 min
This week I discuss with my colleague, Dr. Richard E. Engler , Director of Chemistry for B&C and The Acta Group, our consulting affiliate, what to expect in 2024 regarding TSCA developments. Rich is a leading voice on all things TSCA, especially new chemicals, and a widely sought after thought leader on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) implementation of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg), Congress’ 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substa...
Feb 08, 2024•53 min
This week, I sat down with Jim Aidala , Senior Government Affairs Consultant at B&C and its consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. As many of our listeners know, Jim is a former Assistant Administrator of the Toxics office at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He has worked on Capitol Hill as a pesticide policy expert and a keen student of all things political. We discuss what to expect in 2024 from the Hill and EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) whe...
Jan 25, 2024•48 min
This week, I welcomed back to the studio Karin F. Baron , Director of Hazard Communication and International Registration Strategy at B&C and our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. Karin and I discuss an old but evolving concept in FDA circles called GRAS -- Generally Recognized as Safe. As listeners may know, “food additives” require pre-market approval by FDA. Substances “generally recognized” as safe under the conditions of a substance’s intended use are excluded from the definition of...
Jan 11, 2024•47 min
This week, listeners are in for a real treat as I sit down with Dr. Meibao Zhuang , Senior Scientist/Regulatory Consultant with B&C and our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group, to discuss double-stranded ribonucleic acid interference, better known as ds RNAi. Ds RNAi is a technology that allows scientists to silence (or interfere with) a particular gene. In the agricultural sector, this genetic modification can be used to great advantage to control pests of all sorts with extreme precision....
Dec 14, 2023•57 min
This week, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting with Rachel James , an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). Rachel’s background and specialized training make her uniquely well suited to address some of the very interesting issues in which she engages at SELC on behalf of a diverse set of community groups. The Biden-Harris Administration has made environmental justice and accounting for susceptible subpopulations core components of its approach to environmental protectio...
Nov 30, 2023•38 min
This week, I welcomed back to the studio Karin F. Baron , Director of Hazard Communication and International Registration Strategy at B&C and our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. Karin and I discuss Revision 10 of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals, commonly referred to as GHS. Release of any new GHS revision is a big deal, and Revision 10 is no exception. Karin highlights key elements of the revision, including changes to “weight of evidence,” th...
Nov 16, 2023•46 min
On June 29, 2023, B&C, along with the Environmental Law Institute and the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health, sponsored the all-day virtual conference, TSCA Reform -- Seven Years Later. The conference was hugely successful and over 700 people registered for it. The quality of the discussion, the caliber of the participants, and the timeliness of the content motivated us to repurpose the substantive sessions to enable our podcast audience to listen to the sessions ...
Nov 02, 2023•1 hr 32 min
On June 29, 2023, B&C, along with the Environmental Law Institute and the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health, sponsored the all-day virtual conference, TSCA Reform -- Seven Years Later. The conference was hugely successful and over 700 people registered for it. The quality of the discussion, the caliber of the participants, and the timeliness of the content motivated us to repurpose the substantive sessions to enable our podcast audience to listen to the sessions ...
Oct 26, 2023•1 hr 37 min
On June 29, 2023, B&C, along with the Environmental Law Institute and the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health, sponsored an all-day virtual conference, TSCA Reform -- Seven Years Later. The conference was hugely successful and over 700 people registered for it. The quality of the discussion, the caliber of the participants, and the timeliness of the content inspired us to re-broadcast the discussion to our podcast audience. This panel discusses the U.S. Environment...
Oct 19, 2023•1 hr 30 min
On June 29, 2023, B&C, along with the Environmental Law Institute and the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health, sponsored the all-day virtual conference, TSCA Reform -- Seven Years Later. The conference was hugely successful and over 700 people registered for it. The quality of the discussion, the caliber of the participants, and the timeliness of the content motivated us to repurpose the substantive sessions to enable our podcast audience to listen to the sessions ...
Oct 12, 2023•1 hr 32 min
This week I had the distinct pleasure of visiting with Mark Washko , Head of Federal Government Affairs at BASF Corporation. I have worked with Mark and admire his extraordinary communication skills, particularly his ability to advocate on complex science policy and chemical issues clearly and in a way that is relatable. We in the chemical community are constantly challenged on so many levels in this regard -- how to speak clearly, and to speak in a way that wins friends and influences those man...
Sep 28, 2023•41 min
This week, we are re-releasing my conversation with Dr. Richard E. Engler, Director of Chemistry for B&C and The Acta Group (Acta®), our consulting affiliate, originally recorded in April. We discussed then a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) issuance of a Consent Order under Section 5(e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). As listeners may know, judicial challenges to TSCA Section 5(e) orders are rare, and this one is even more unusual because the ...
Sep 14, 2023•47 min
This week I discuss with my colleague, Dr. Richard E. Engler , Director of Chemistry for B&C and The Acta Group, our consulting affiliate, the importance of engaging early and often with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 6 risk evaluation process. We discuss conditions of use (COU) of a chemical being evaluated by EPA, the reasons why educating EPA on COUs is critically important to regulated businesses, the relevance of ECELs, ...
Aug 31, 2023•44 min
This week, I was excited to speak with Dr. Catherine M. Croke , Bergeson &Campbell’s and our consulting affiliate’s, The Acta Group, Director of Product Stewardship and Regulatory Affairs, about product stewardship and its role in achieving competitive advantage. There is a direct relationship between the two if you know how to leverage excellent stewardship to achieve competitive advantage. In my conversation with Catherine, we consider the nature of this relationship. We explore how employ...
Aug 17, 2023•34 min
This week I had the pleasure of visiting with Dr. Lesa Rice-Jackson , CPPS, Managing Principal Consultant, Rice Jackson Health Safety & Regulatory Compliance Consulting, to discuss Lesa’s expertise in occupational safety and health and product stewardship issues. Dr. Jackson has a distinguished career in private practice as an employee of a large industrial chemical company, and now is President of her own consultancy. Lesa is both a much sought after service provider to B&C and some of ...
Aug 03, 2023•35 min
This week, we are re-releasing a podcast I recorded with my colleague, Dr. Richard E. Engler , Director of Chemistry for B&C and The Acta Group, our consulting affiliate, much earlier this year on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) development of new chemical categories to help streamline Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 5 new chemical review. Since January, the concept of chemical categories has attracted significant attention. Rich and I discuss in the podcast the ...
Jul 20, 2023•37 min
This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Lee Bowers , Vice President -- Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS), RPM International, Inc., and Bergeson & Campbell’s own Karin Baron , Director of Hazard Communication and International Registration Strategy, to discuss the consequential changes to the classification, labeling, and packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP) system in the European Union (EU). As some of our listeners may know, in April 2023, the European Commission entered ...
Jul 06, 2023•48 min
This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Retired Rear Admiral Melissa Bert , who served as the Judge Advocate General and Chief Counsel of the U.S. Coast Guard, the first woman to serve in this position. Admiral Bert’s accomplishments are too numerous to note here, but her Wikipedia page is sure to impress. We discuss Coast Guard responsibilities, what the Chief Counsel of the Coast Guard does, some of Admiral Bert’s more memorable engagements, and the Admiral’s founding of the Coast Guard ...
Jun 22, 2023•50 min
This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Shanisha Smith , Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) Counsel for LyondellBasell, about her role as counsel and the rewards and challenges of advising a major chemical producer on HSE legal and product stewardship issues. In our conversation, we learn about Shanisha’s beginnings not far from here on Maryland’s Eastern Shore to now living in Houston and counseling LyondellBasell’s, one of the world’s largest chemical manufacturers, global team of H...
Jun 08, 2023•33 min
This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Jane Vergnes , Director of Toxicology and Vice President, Scientific Affairs, here at B&C and its consulting affiliate, The Acta Group (Acta®), about the regulation of PFAS under REACH. Many of our listeners know the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) released on February 7 its long-awaited restriction proposal for the regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the European Union (EU) under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization ...
May 25, 2023•51 min
This week, Dr. Richard E. Engler , Director of Chemistry for B&C and The Acta Group (Acta®), our consulting affiliate, returned to the studio to discuss a recently filed lawsuit challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) issuance of a Consent Order under Section 5(e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Judicial challenges to TSCA Section 5(e) orders are rare, and this one is even more unusual because the petitioner is a non-governmental organization (NGO) and the ch...
May 11, 2023•47 min
This week, I sat down with the truly legendary Robert M. Sussman , of Sussman & Associates, to discuss Bob’s extraordinary career engaging in all things Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), new and old. Bob was a prominent private-practice attorney and frequent senior official at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before TSCA was amended in 2016. Since the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, Bob has been extraordinarily successful putting his TSCA know-h...
Apr 27, 2023•51 min
This week, I welcomed back to the studio Karin F. Baron , Director of Hazard Communication and International Registration Strategy at B&C and our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. Karin and I discuss the newly enacted Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022, better known as MoCRA. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been the subject of criticism for years over what some regard as inadequate regulation of cosmetics and the facilities where they are produced. MoCRA is inten...
Apr 13, 2023•54 min
The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, has inspired a lot of conversation involving a wide range of topics, including emergency response measures, rail transport of chemicals, and most pertinent to this conversation, communicating chemical risk information to the public. Several of my colleagues here at Bergeson & Campbell have worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in varying capacities and other federal agencies charged with regulating chemicals and communicating s...
Mar 30, 2023•59 min
This week, I sat down with Dr. Tina N. Armstrong , a Vice President with Arcadis U.S., Inc., to discuss the role of product stewardship in business organizations today. To those of us in this space, Tina is a rock star. In addition to her role as a business leader and scientist at Arcadis, Tina is a professor in product stewardship strategy and management at the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, an author of many books and articles on product stewardship, and the 2...
Mar 16, 2023•34 min
This week, I had the pleasure of catching up with Dr. Catherine M. Croke , B&C’s and our consulting affiliate’s, The Acta Group, new Director of Product Stewardship and Regulatory Affairs. Catherine joined us recently from Evonik Corporation, where she was Senior Advocacy and Compliance Manager. Catherine’s diverse and truly extraordinary background working for industrial chemical companies in a variety of science, business, and advocacy roles have made Catherine a core part of the B&C a...
Mar 02, 2023•35 min
This week, I welcomed back to the studio Karin F. Baron , Director of Hazard Communication and International Registration Strategy at B&C and our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. During this 100th All Things Chemical podcast, Karin and I discuss the very important recently released amendments to the Canadian Hazardous Products Regulations (HPR). The amendments are intended to align the HPR with the seventh revised edition (Rev 7) of the United Nations (UN) Globally Harmonized System of ...
Feb 16, 2023•34 min
