B&C Launches All Things Chemical™ Podcast with Debut Episode “Animal Testing and New TSCA”
On November 1, 2018, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) launched a podcast called All Things Chemical™ that will engage listeners in intelligent, insightful conversation about everything related to industrial, pesticidal, and specialty chemicals and the law and business issues surrounding chemicals. B&C’s talented team of lawyers, scientists, and consultants will keep listeners abreast of the changing world of both domestic and international chemical regulation and provide analysis of the many intriguing and complicated issues surrounding this space.
Episode 1, “Animal Testing and New TSCA,” features a roundtable discussion about a Strategic Research Plan released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) earlier this summer, outlining its approach to reduce and replace “vertebrate” testing. In keeping with the commitment outlined in the 2016 amended Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA proposes several so-called New Approach Methodologies, or NAMs, which it hopes will be able to replace and reduce animal testing.
Discussing and unpacking the topic are B&C Managing Partner Lynn L. Bergeson; Director of Chemistry Richard E. Engler, Ph.D.; Director of Toxicology Jane S. Vergnes, Ph.D.; and Senior Regulatory Chemist Oscar Hernandez, Ph.D. Drs. Engler and Hernandez offer significant experience and insight on the EPA side of things, Dr. Engler as a 17-year veteran of EPA having served as senior staff scientist at the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) and leader of EPA’s Green Chemistry Program, and Dr. Hernandez as former Director of the Risk Assessment Division (RAD) in EPA’s OPPT. Dr. Vergnes provides an invaluable real-world kind of gut-check on the proposals, drawing on her extensive experience directing corporate toxicology programs at Ashland, Texaco, and Union Carbide.
All Things Chemical Episode 1, “Animal Testing and New TSCA,” is available now on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play Music. Subscribe so you never miss an episode. All Things Chemical is recorded and produced by Bierfeldt Audio, LLC.
Future podcasts, available approximately every two weeks, will address a host of fascinating issues, including chemical regulation in the Middle East, recent rulemakings under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), and the ever quirky and complicated area of confidential business information. The issues that B&C pursues in its day-to-day business are unfailingly interesting and we wish to share our knowledge, our insights, and our enthusiasm for these issues with you through our All Things Chemical podcast.