All Things Chemical® Podcast

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 is now OCSPP and a...

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 will be...

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 EPA’s...

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 FDA’s...

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 Counsel at the People for the...

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, policy,...

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,...