July 22, 2021

An explosive conversation about GHS and combustible dust — with Karin Baron

Download Transcript This week I sat down with Karin F. Baron, Senior Regulatory Consultant at B&C and our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. We tackle the daunting topic of combustible dust, a common workplace hazard that is more pervasive perhaps than people think. Combustible dust poses an explosion hazard in a wide variety of industries, including food, plastic, wood, and textiles, among many others. Karin helps us understand what combustible dust includes and then walks us...
July 8, 2021

New PFAS: Is Anything NOT Reportable? — A Conversation with Richard E. Engler, Ph.D.

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 a very new component on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) PFAS Action Plan. The plan represents EPA’s “all of agency” approach to address the risks posed by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that can accumulate in humans and remain in the body for long periods. PFAS have been widely used...
June 24, 2021

Changes to TSCA for Small Businesses? — A Conversation with Bruce Jarnot, Ph.D.

Download transcript This week, I sat down with Bruce Jarnot, Ph.D., DABT®, Senior Manager, Product Compliance, at Assent Compliance. Bruce is a board-certified industrial toxicologist with much experience assisting businesses with chemical product compliance. I have known Bruce for years, but over the past several months, Bruce and I have spoken often about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) implementation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and certain new rules that...
June 10, 2021

Update on European Union Chemical Management Issues — A Conversation with EPPA’s Meglena Mihova

Download Transcript This week, I sat down with Meglena Mihova, Managing Partner, EPPA, the Brussels-based premier consultancy on matters involving key business sectors, including chemicals and chemical regulation. Meglena is expert on all matters involving the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the complex relationships between and among ECHA, European Union (EU) member states, the European Commission, and other stakeholders. Meglena chairs the Environment Committee of the American...
May 27, 2021

TSCA Section 4 and Consortia Formation — A Conversation with Heather Blankinship and Richard Engler, Ph.D.

Download transcript. This week, I sat down with Heather J. Blankinship, Senior Manager with B&C® Consortia Management (BCCM), a Bergeson & Campbell (B&C®) affiliate, and Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., B&C’s Director of Chemistry, to discuss chemical testing under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Since Congress amended TSCA in 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been slowly ratcheting up required chemical testing under TSCA Section 4. Congress gave...
May 13, 2021

Pesticide Use on Cannabis in Colorado — A Conversation with Brenna Finn

Download transcript. This week, I sat down with Brenna Finn, Assistant Attorney General, Colorado Department of Law.  I am proud to report that Brenna was a law intern here at the firm years ago, as Brenna began her legal career, and pleased to report that her experience with the firm focused her career, in part, on chemical regulation.  Brenna’s substantive skills in Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)...
April 29, 2021

Let’s Talk About Europe’s Plastics Implementing Measure — A Conversation with Scott Burya, Ph.D.

Download transcript. This week, I sat down with Scott J. Burya, Ph.D., a regulatory chemist with B&C and our affiliated consulting firm, The Acta Group.  Scott works extensively in the food contact area and other areas involving Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) regulatory matters.  We discuss how U.S. regulatory professionals working in the all-important food contact space can leverage a European Union (EU) measure applicable to plastic food contact materials and...
April 15, 2021

What will the Biden Trade Plan look like? — A Conversation with Daniella Taveau

Download Transcript. This week, I sat down with Daniella Taveau, a Regulatory and Global Trade Strategist and the founder of Bold Text Strategies.  As a former International Trade Negotiator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Daniella represented the United States in all U.S. Free Trade Agreements and before the World Trade Organization, the United Nations (U.N.) Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.  Daniella also served as an...
April 1, 2021

Changes to Safety Data Sheets in the EU and what it might mean for US Businesses — A Conversation with Karin Baron

Download transcript. This week I sat down with Karin Baron, Senior Regulatory Consultant to B&C and our affiliated consultancy, The Acta Group, to discuss the European Union’s (EU) Commission Regulation issued last June relating to the completion of safety data sheets (SDS).  As listeners know, SDSs are critically important commercial documents that describe the hazards identified with a particular chemical product or mixture as it makes  its way in commerce.  While...
March 18, 2021

Is Everything Carcinogenic? — A Conversation with Jane S. Vergnes, Ph.D. and Richard E. Engler, Ph.D.

This week, I sat down with Dr. Jane Vergnes, Director of Toxicology and Vice President, Scientific Affairs, here at B&C and its consulting affiliate, The Acta Group (Acta®), and Dr. Richard Engler, Director of Chemistry, at B&C and Acta.  We discussed the provocative question “is everything carcinogenic?”  In asking this question, Jane and Rich discuss the marketing and labeling implications of a cancer classification for a chemical substance found as an...
March 4, 2021

What’s happening with GHS and OSHA? — A Conversation with Karin Baron

This week I sat down with Karin Baron, Senior Regulatory Consultant to B&C and our affiliated consultancy, The Acta Group, to discuss the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS).  Listeners know GHS is the non-mandatory framework intended to aid in identifying, classifying, and communicating information on the hazards of chemicals or substances for occupational, consumer, and environmental exposures.  Despite the “harmonization” part in...
February 18, 2021

How will the New Administration affect the EPA? — A Conversation with James Aidala and Richard E. Engler, Ph.D.

This week, I sat down with Jim Aidala, Senior Government Affairs Consultant, and Dr. Richard Engler, Director of Chemistry, at B&C and its consulting affiliate, The Acta Group.  As both of these gentlemen previously worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Jim as former Assistant Administrator of that office and Rich as a senior chemist and head of the Green Chemistry Division, each has a keen sense...
February 4, 2021

How will the Biden Administration Interpret Amended TSCA? — A Conversation with Richard E. Engler, Ph.D

A change in Administration invites a sense of both excitement and anxiety.  Nowhere is this ambivalence more present that in the minds of regulated entities subject to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  After four years of the Trump Administration’s implementation of the many TSCA amendments occasioned by Lautenberg, regulated entities and other stakeholders have come to understand the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) interpretation of revised TSCA.  Not...
January 21, 2021

One Last Conversation with EPA Assistant Administrator Alexandra Dunn

Download transcript This week I had my final visit with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Assistant Administrator Alexandra Dunn.  As many of our listeners know, Alex Dunn lead the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and was responsible for implementing the nation’s industrial and agricultural chemical laws, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), respectively.  Alex has...
January 7, 2021

What Happened with the Presidential Election Last Year? — A Conversation with Howard Gutman

Download transcript. This week I sat down with my friend and colleague, Howard Gutman, who served as Ambassador to Belgium in the Obama Administration and is now a consultant for global businesses.  Ambassador Gutman addresses a broad range of timely and important topics, including the 2020 elections and what happened exactly, and what CEOs should be thinking about because of the change in Administration, both for U.S.-based and foreign-based businesses.  Given Ambassador...
December 17, 2020

Product Stewardship and Circular Economy — A Conversation with Kate Sellers

This week I was thrilled to sit down with Kate Sellers, Technical Director at ERM, where Kate leads multidisciplinary teams to help clients meet their business goals through product stewardship and sustainability initiatives.  Kate is immediate past President of the Product Stewardship Society and one of the country’s most visionary leaders in the area of product stewardship.  Kate counsels some of the largest companies in the world on optimizing business practices to producer...
December 3, 2020

TSCA and Environmental Justice — A Conversation with Former OPPT Director Jeffery T. Morris, Ph.D.

This week I sat down with Dr. Jeff Morris, immediate past Director of EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT), the EPA office that regulates industrial chemicals.  Jeff is now a principal of Jeff Morris Solutions LLC, a consulting firm helping entities navigate the complexities of industrial chemical regulation.  While at EPA, Jeff directed the Agency’s implementation of the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the U.S. law regulating...
November 12, 2020

Let’s talk about Europe — A Conversation with Bjorn Hansen, Executive Director of ECHA

Download transcript. This week, my colleague, Dr. Jane Vergnes, and I sat down with Bjorn Hansen, Executive Director of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).  As our listeners may know, ECHA is the European Union (EU) regulatory agency charged with managing the scientific, technical, and administrative aspects of chemical management programs in the EU, including the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), the Classification, Labeling, and...
October 29, 2020

What’s Going on with the Brexit Transition Period? — A Conversation with Jane S. Vergnes, Ph.D.

This week, I sat down with Dr. Jane Vergnes, Director of Toxicology here at B&C and Vice President, Scientific Affairs, and Director of Toxicology at B&C’s consulting affiliate, The Acta Group.  Jane has lead responsibility for our United Kingdom (UK) and Brussels offices and has been deeply engaged in Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and the impact of Brexit on our European Union (EU), UK, and U.S. clients. Given the fast...
October 15, 2020

How EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs Is Handling COVID-19 — A Conversation with Lisa Campbell

This week, I sat down with Lisa Campbell, my Partner here at Bergeson & Campbell (B&C®) and its consulting affiliate, The Acta Group (Acta®), and a well-recognized expert on all things regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).  With so much attention focused on registering new products to combat COVID-19, we thought it timely to check in again with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) and see...