All Things Chemical® Podcast

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...

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...

Download transcript. 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...

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...

Download transcript. 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...

Download transcript. 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...

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,...

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,...

Download transcript. 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...

Download transcript. 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...

Download transcript. 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...

Download transcript. 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...

Download transcript. 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,...

Download transcript. 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...

Download transcript. 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)...

Download transcript. This week, I sat down with Jim Aidala, Senior Government Affairs Consultant at B&C and its consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. We discuss what to expect in 2023 from Capitol Hill and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) when it comes to key chemical matters. Jim is, of course, one of the country’s most talented pesticide experts and, as a former Assistant Administrator of what...

Download transcript. 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 what to expect in Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulation in the New Year. While we cannot predict with precision, we know 2023 will be a consequential year for several reasons: the first final risk management rule will be issued, the final per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) reporting rule...

Download Transcript This week, Dr. Richard E. Engler, Director of Chemistry for B&C and The Acta Group, our consulting affiliate, returned to the studio to discuss the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) bold moves in developing new chemical categories to help streamline the review of new chemicals under Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 5. While the categorical approach to new chemical review is by no means new, it has stalled out in recent years, and...

Download transcript. This week, Dr. Richard E. Engler, Director of Chemistry for B&C and The Acta Group, our consulting affiliate, returned to the studio to discuss the stubbornly vexatious problem of TSCA’s regulation of articles, a fancy name for products or finished goods. Most listeners to the podcast appreciate that this U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administration has specifically applied TSCA regulations to articles far more than in decades past. This policy pivot...

Download transcript. This week, I welcomed back to the studio Karin F. Baron, Senior Regulatory Consultant at B&C and our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. Karin and I discuss the controversial changes proposed by the European Commission to the regulation on classification, labeling, and packaging of substances and mixtures, better known as the CLP regulation. As our listeners know, no one knows this space better than Karin Baron. Karin explains why the proposed changes are likely...

Download transcript. This week, I sat down with Dr. Claire Skentelbery, Director General, EuropaBio — The European Association for Bioindustries. Many of you may know Claire from her prior role as Director General of the Nanotechnology Industries Association, where she energized that Brussels-based trade association to new and exciting heights. Claire has brought her considerable scientific, science policy, and trade association management skills to EuropaBio at an exciting time, as...

Download transcript. This week I sat down with Doug Charnas, a nationally- recognized corporate and tax attorney and partner at McGlinchey, in its Washington, D.C. offices, and our own Dr. Richard Engler, Director of Chemistry at Bergeson & Campbell and at our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. We discuss the recently reinstated Superfund Tax, which entities the tax applies to, what exactly is a taxable chemical and how to distinguish between taxable chemicals and taxable...

Download transcript. This week, I welcomed back to the studio Karin F. Baron, Senior Regulatory Consultant at B&C and our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. Karin and I discuss the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) initiative called the New Era of Smarter Food Safety. The goal of this initiative is to diminish the number of foodborne illness, which, surprisingly, has not diminished since the Food Safety Modernization Act was enacted 11 years ago. We discuss...

Download transcript. This week I sat down with James Cox, M.S., Senior Scientist with B&C. James is an exceptional biologist with significant experience assessing the risk of industrial chemicals. Before joining B&C, James served in a variety of leadership positions in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pollution Prevent and Toxics, one of which was Chair of the Risk Assessment Technical Team, which provided recommendations to inform EPA’s policy...

Download transcript. This week I sat down with Professor Delcianna J. Winders, Professor and Animal Law and Policy Institute Director at the Vermont Law School. Professor Winders is a total rock star in the exploding area of animal law. Prior to joining the Vermont Law School faculty and founding the Animal Law and Policy Institute, Professor Winders was on the faculty of Lewis & Clark Law School. She previously served as Vice President and Deputy General...

Download transcript. This week I sat down with Dr. Richard E. Engler, B&C’s and The Acta Group’s (our consulting affiliate) Director of Chemistry, to discuss the new chemical bias. Our listeners know that Rich Engler has worked for decades reviewing Premanufacture Notifications submitted under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). PMNs are applications to manufacture or import chemical substances that are not listed on the TSCA Inventory and thus are considered “new.” Much...

Download transcript. This week, I sat down with Dr. Dianne Barton, Water Quality Coordinator at the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission in Portland, Oregon, where she puts her Ph.D. in geochemistry to good use by providing technical expertise related to water quality, environmental toxics, regulatory processes, and the fate and transport of contaminants. Dr. Barton, who is a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Chairs the National Tribal Toxics Council (NTTC),...

Download transcript. This week, I sat down with David Cragin, Ph.D., DABT®, Quality Assurance and External Affairs Director for a large multinational pharmaceutical company, to discuss his experience living and working in China. For many listeners, working with foreign regulators can be particularly challenging for a variety of reasons, including language barriers, cultural differences, and differing regulatory standards. Dave shares his experience working in China and explains his...

Download Transcript This week, I sat down with Sheryl Lindros Dolan, Senior Regulatory Consultant with B&C and Senior Regulatory Specialist with our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group, and Meibao Zhuang, Ph.D., Senior Scientist/Regulatory Consultant with B&C and Acta, to discuss pesticide tolerances, what are they, how does the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) develop them, and how well government and industry stakeholders communicate their utility in ensuring a...

Download transcript. This week, I sat down with Jake Li, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pesticide Programs, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and my colleague, Jim Aidala, Senior Government Affairs Consultant here at B&C. My guests have much in common — they both have served (or in Jake’s case is serving) in senior policy positions in this space at EPA, and they both have a keen understanding of the legal,...

Download Transcript This week, I sat down with Lisa R. Burchi, Of Counsel, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C., and resident expert on Proposition 65 (Prop 65), among many other chemical laws. Few state laws are more notorious, or controversial, as this 1986 California law that revolutionized the concept of a consumer’s or worker’s “right to know” whether a product or work space might present exposures to chemicals considered carcinogens or reproductive toxins. Fast forward 36 years, and...

Download transcript. This week, I welcomed back to the studio Karin F. Baron, Senior Regulatory Consultant at B&C and our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. Karin is an internationally recognized expert on hazard communication, risk assessment, the regulation of food contact materials, and the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). Karin’s expertise in hazard communication and GHS was recently recognized as Karin was elected to the Board of...

Download transcript This week I had the pleasure of sitting down again with one of my favorite people on planet Earth, Kate Sellers, Technical Fellow at ERM, where Kate leads a multidisciplinary team of professionals dedicated to helping companies recognize the business value of product stewardship. Kate is also an adjunct professor at Harvard Extension School and Indiana University’s School of Public Health, where she is an instructor in the Master of Science in Product Stewardship...

Download transcript. This week, I sat down with Dr. Steven Bennett, Executive Vice President, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, Household & Commercial Products Association, here in Washington, D.C. Steve’s membership represents an amazing diversity of products used to clean and disinfect homes and commercial environments. As Executive Vice President of scientific and regulatory affairs, Steve routinely addresses an equally diverse and challenging range of scientific, regulatory,...

Download transcript This week, I sat down with Jim Aidala, Senior Government Affairs Consultant at B&C and its consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. As a former Assistant Administrator in what is now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Jim has a truly unique and exceedingly focused perspective on EPA and Congressional initiatives involving the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Unsurprisingly,...

Download transcript. This week, I was delighted to visit again with Alexandra Dunn, now a Partner with Baker Botts and immediate past Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP). As Assistant Administrator, Alex was respected and liked by a diversity of industrial and agricultural chemical stakeholders, revered by her immediate staff, and hugely popular as an EPA senior leader. Alex led OCSPP at a...

Download transcript. Dr. Scanlon’s audio quality was affected during parts of this interview due to technical issues. We apologize for the inconvenience. This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Kelly Scanlon, DrPH, CIH, Director of Environmental Policy & Research, Global Government Relations, at IPC. IPC, as many of you know, is an organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute as a standards development organization. It publishes the most widely...

Download Transcript This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Baskut Tuncak, newly named Director, the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI), at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Baskut is a lawyer and former research chemist with a truly distinguished and fascinating career in a diverse range of public and private sector roles in toxics issues. Baskut most recently served as the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights. In our conversation,...

Download transcript. This week I was thrilled to sit down with James V. Aidala, B&C’s Senior Government Affairs Consultant, and Dr. Richard E. Engler, B&C’s and The Acta Group’s (our consulting affiliate) Director of Chemistry, to discuss what to expect in 2022 with regard to industrial and agricultural chemical regulation. As our listeners know, each year we publish a Forecast, a written summary of our best professional judgment as to the trends and key developments we...

Download transcript Mathy Stanislaus was recently appointed as Vice Provost and Executive Director of Drexel University’s Environmental Collaboratory, which brings interdisciplinary expertise in environmental sciences, engineering, law, health, business, economics, policy, and humanities to co-design transformative environmental solutions in partnership with community leaders, nonprofits, corporations, and governments. He was formerly the Interim Director and  Director...

Download transcript This week I was delighted to sit down with Katherine Meighan, Associate Vice-President and General Counsel of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency headquartered in Rome, Italy. We spoke with Katie in the summer of 2019, after an International Bar Association (IBA) webinar on sustainable investment in agriculture I helped organize in my role as Vice Chair of the IBA Agricultural Law Section. I was so impressed with Katie’s...

Download transcript This week I sat down with Dr. Richard E. Engler, B&C’s and The Acta Group’s (our consulting affiliate) Director of Chemistry, and Dr. Todd J. Stedeford, B&C’s Of Counsel, to discuss a range of issues regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) all important implementation of the Lautenberg amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Rich was a 17-year veteran of EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) before...

Download transcript This week I was delighted to sit down with Dr. Michal I. Freedhoff, Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), arguably the busiest person in Washington, D.C. Dr. Freedhoff is EPA’s top Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) official, and she also administers the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Dr. Freedhoff discusses OCSPP’s priorities, plans for the new...

Download transcript This week I sat down with Kurt M. Landgraf, former Chairman and CEO of DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company and most recently former President of Washington College located in Chestertown, Maryland. I have known Kurt for a number of years now, and I thought a conversation focusing on Kurt’s extraordinarily diverse background would be an interesting mix of pharmaceutical management issues, higher education, and Kurt’s observations on preparing students for careers in...

David’s 1999 Paper on e-commerce and the environment Download transcript This week I sat down with David Rejeski, Visiting Scholar with the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), to learn more about his engagement in the Project on the Energy and Environmental Implications of the Digital Economy. With support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, ELI, the Yale School of the Environment, and the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at UC Berkeley, the Project is shedding...

Download transcript All Things Chemical will reach our 3rd anniversary on October 23rd and we want to share this celebration with you. As we look back on the last three years I wanted to bring back an older episode from the summer of 2020, “Implementing Lautenberg — A Conversation with former OPPT Director Jeffery T. Morris, Ph.D.” During this episode I spoke with Jeff Morris about how the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics implemented...

Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.’s (B&C®) All Things Chemical® podcast is celebrating three years of great conversations by offering listeners a chance to win audio-technica headphones, a wireless charging pad from Anker, books authored by us, and regulatory training courses. Help us celebrate this milestone by sending your dream guest or topic choices to podcast@lawbc.com, with the subject line “All Things Chemical,” and we may use them for future...

Download Transcript This week I sat down with my new colleague, Dennis R. Deziel, B&C’s and our consulting affiliate’s, The Acta Group, Senior Government Affairs Advisor, to discuss Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform. Dennis served as Director of Federal Government Affairs for the Dow Chemical Company when the TSCA amendments were considered and eventually enacted by Congress in 2016. After leaving Dow, Dennis served as EPA Region 1 Administrator (New England). I thought it...

Download Transcript This week I sat down with Dr. Richard E. Engler, B&C’s and The Acta Group’s (our consulting affiliate) Director of Chemistry, to discuss the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) continuing struggle to regulate certain persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals, especially those found in finished products, what EPA refers to as “articles.” The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has always applied to the products, or articles, that...

Download transcript This week, I sat down with Daniel Rosenberg, Director, Federal Toxics Policy, Healthy People & Thriving Communities Program, at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Daniel’s distinguished legal career has placed him at the forefront of the evolving law and policy of domestic chemical regulation. Daniel and I discuss new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) implementation of the 2016 amendments to TSCA...