All Things Chemical® Podcast

Last October, at the Annual Meeting of the International Bar Association in Rome, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Katherine Meighan, the General Counsel of IFAD, the International Fund for Agricultural Development.  Katherine gave an eye-opening presentation at the IBA conference on IFAD’s efforts to address the issue of food security and world hunger, and I knew I had to have her on the podcast to share her message and to dig deeper into her work...

This week, I sat down with a highly-regarded member of the environmental NGO community, Eric Schaeffer, who currently serves as the Executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project, which he co-founded in 2002. Previously, Eric worked for more than a decade at EPA, including a five-year stint as the Director of EPA’s Office of Civil Enforcement, which, as you will hear in our conversation, was a very formative time for his thinking. At a time...

I am so pleased to present a very special guest this week, the Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP):  Alexandra Dunn.  Alex’s professional training could not be more perfect.  Alex is a lawyer and has practiced in both the private and non-profit sectors.  Alex has taught environmental law at several law schools and, while Dean of Environmental Law Programs at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University,...

We have a repeat guest this week: fan favorite, Dr. Richard Engler, Bergeson & Campbell’s Director of Chemistry and Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) guru-in-residence.  I sat down with Rich to find out more about so-called “New Chemicals” and the challenges faced by not only new chemical manufacturers, but also by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in trying to fulfill its duties as a regulatory gatekeeper. As a seasoned veteran of EPA himself, where...

This week, I invited my friend and business colleague, the former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, Howard Gutman, into the studio to talk about what every CEO needs to know about the world right now. I know I say this a lot, but it is really true this time around:  We covered a lot of ground in this conversation.  Howard provides his perspective on what to pay attention to with regard to Brexit, energy policy, climate...

This week, I sat down with my colleague Jim Aidala, a Senior Government Affairs Consultant here at the firm, to discuss 2019 and the state of industrial and agricultural chemical regulation: what is to come, what to expect, and how we can prepare for it. We begin, of course, by looking at 2018, chiefly, the appointment and confirmation of Alexandra Dunn, the new EPA Assistant Administrator in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention,...

This week, we offer something a little different. My colleague Christopher Bryant, a senior regulatory consultant here at the firm, invited Daniella Taveau and Daniel Pearson into our studio to sit down and talk about trade issues. As you will hear, their conversation ranged far and wide, hitting upon all aspects of the trade discussion which might be relevant to anyone working in the chemical manufacturing space. Listeners will hear about developing a historical context in...

This week, I sat down with my colleague Sheryl Dolan, a senior regulatory consultant here at Bergeson & Campbell, to discuss all things pesticides: past, present, and future. In our discussion, Sheryl provides the historical and legal/regulatory background necessary to understand the current state of pesticide regulation, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) manages under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, or FIFRA, as we like to call it. Among other...

Recently, the European Commission kicked-off a process to evaluate and likely revise the current EU Food Contact Materials (FCM) legislation. Now, this is a big deal for any stakeholders in this space—domestic or European — considering that the current legislation has been in in-place for many years and the proliferation of national standards has greatly complicated an already complex area. That is why I was excited when Renato Addis, of the Brussels-based regulatory consulting firm...

This week, I took part in a roundtable discussion about biobased products with my colleagues Kathleen Roberts and Dr. Rich Engler. Over the last several years, there has been a significant trend towards the use of renewable, bio-based chemicals. Although these chemicals often have similar, if not identical, functionalities as the non-renewable, fossil-based chemical that they are intended to replace, there are a number of regulatory challenges in bringing these to market. In this conversation,...