All Things Chemical® Podcast

This week I sat down with Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., B&C’s Director of Chemistry, and all-around TSCA savant. Rich is an organic chemist and a 17-year veteran with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, where Rich managed the Green Chemistry Program and reviewed some 10,000 new chemical notifications. Given all that is going on at EPA with implementing the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which...

This week I sat down with Congressman John M. Shimkus, a Member of the United States House of Representatives for the 15th District of Illinois.  As listeners of the podcast know well, Congressman Shimkus is a senior Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.  In this capacity, Congressman Shimkus has become a rock star in the industrial chemical community, given his tireless efforts to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) , which of course resulted in...

This week I sat down with James Aidala, B&C’s Senior Government Affairs Consultant, to catch up on what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) is up to and to get a sense of what we might expect to develop over the remainder of the year.  As a former Assistant Administrator of what is now the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Jim’s thoughts and analyses are always spot on. We discuss leadership within OPP, which...

This week I sat down with EPA Assistant Administrator Alexandra Dunn.  As many of our listeners know, Alex Dunn heads the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and is 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 an extensive background in the environmental field and is a leading voice on TSCA and...

As we are now into June, Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) aficionados will be quick to note that “new TSCA” is now almost four years old.  Passage in June 2016 of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act occasioned EPA’s implementation of a law that has transformed industrial chemical regulation in the United States.  This week, to mark Lautenberg’s fourth birthday, I sat down with Dr. Richard E. Engler, B&C’s Director of Chemistry and...

Download transcript. This week, as employees around the country are returning to their offices and work stations, I was excited to visit with Larry Sloan, CEO of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), located here in the Washington, D.C., area. AIHA may not be a well-known organization to many of our listeners, but that could be about to change.  Founded in 1939, AIHA is a non-profit organization serving professionals dedicated to the identification, evaluation, control, and...

The question posed by this podcast may sound easy, but it is anything but. This podcast explores the fascinating yet commercially vexing jurisdictional divide between and among biostimulants, biopesticides, and fertilizers as each of these agricultural chemical products is vital to the agricultural community.  According to a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report, the plant biostimulant industry alone is expected to be at least a $2.2 billion global market, swelling to $5 billion in...

This week, I was thrilled to sit down with Richard Keigwin, Director of the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) here in Washington, D.C.  As OPP Director, Rick leads the EPA office that reviews and approves pesticide products used to combat the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.  Historically, OPP has consistently been one of the busiest offices in EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention...

This week, I sat down with Eric Byer, President and CEO of the National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD). Eric, like many of us these days, is working hard and under extraordinary circumstances ensuring that his member companies are able to continue to distribute much needed chemical products, including sanitizers and other cleaning products, in response to the pandemic.  Our conversation focused on these uniquely “in the moment” issues and a broad range of federal,...

This week, I sat down with Lisa Campbell, my business partner of many years and one of the nation’s foremost legal experts on the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Given Lisa’s expertise, we engaged in a very timely discussion about the approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of products under FIFRA to combat COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.  EPA has been deluged with applications to approve new products and/or new uses...

This week, I sat down with my colleague Karin Baron, a senior regulatory consultant here at B&C. In this conversation, Karin talks about recent European Union enforcement initiatives that have to do with the CLP legislation: Classification, Labeling, and Packaging legislation. Karin begins by telling us about the current state of harmonization along the lines of the GHS model, and how this might be more an aspiration than a reality. Then we talk about the history of the CLP legislation: how...

This week, I sat down with my colleague, Dr. Richard Engler, Director of Chemistry here at B&C and The Acta Group (Acta®). We brought everyone up to date on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) implementation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) fee rule and how it applies to entities obligated to pay a portion of the $1,350,000 per chemical fee for preparing an EPA-initiated risk evaluation, the legal and regulatory significance of the supplemental rulemaking on...

Download transcript. This week, I sat down with my colleague, Sheryl Dolan, a Senior Regulatory Consultant here at Bergeson & Campbell and The Acta Group.  As Sheryl’s practice focuses primarily on pesticide matters, we addressed a few hot topics captivating our interest.  Sheryl briefed us on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs’ (OPP) forthcoming move from Crystal City, Virginia, to D.C. later this year, OPP’s recent deployment of its Emerging...

This week, I sat down with my colleague, Dr. Richard Engler, Bergeson & Campbell’s Director of Chemistry, to discuss what the fuss is over EPA’s January 27, 2020, issuance of a “preliminary list” of companies responsible for the $1,350,000 per-chemical fee EPA charges to conduct a risk evaluation of a high-priority chemical under TSCA Section 6.  The scope of the entities “on the hook” is far broader than expected, and companies with little understanding of TSCA may be...

This week, I sat down with my colleagues Sheryl Lindros Dolan, Chris Bryant, and Dr. Richard Engler to discuss our fabulous 2020 Forecast, B&C’s and The Acta Group’s (Acta®) richly detailed overview of key trends in U.S. and global chemical law and policy. This 67-page document provides a comprehensive “one-stop” overview of global initiatives for the New Year of which stakeholders in the global chemical market must be aware. My colleagues provide a spirited overview of key...

This week, I sat down with my colleague Christopher Bryant, a Senior Regulatory Consultant here at Bergeson & Campbell. Chris has over 25 years of experience in environmental, health, and safety compliance, and, in particular, hazardous waste management and regulation under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). I asked Chris to the studio to speak with me about RCRA:  what it is, how the law has developed, what is covered under it, and how we might expect -- or hope -- it...

This week, I sat down with Jim Jones, Executive Vice President Strategic Alliances & Industry Relations at the HCPA, or Household & Commercial Products Association. Before moving into the private sector, as many of our listeners know, Jim served a long and very distinguished career with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. Jim began his career in the toxics office, specifically in pesticides, and eventually served as Assistant Administrator of the Office of...

This week, I moderated a spirited discussion with two members of the B&C team: Sheryl Dolan, a senior regulatory consultant who specializes in agricultural and biocidal chemical product registration and defense, and Dr. Richard Engler, our Director of Chemistry and a 17-year-veteran of EPA.  Both Sheryl and Rich are expert in marshaling new product chemical technologies through the gauntlet of federal, state, and international chemical product approval. Throughout our discussion,...

Dr. Goldman is widely regarded as one of the most influential public health physicians of our time and served as Assistant Administrator for Toxic Substances in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1993 through 1998 under President Bill Clinton.  During her tenure, Dr. Goldman and her team are credited with implementing the 1996 amendments to our nation’s pesticide law, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act or FIFRA, known as the Food Quality Protection...

This week, we have B&C’s and The Acta Group’s Senior Regulatory Consultant, Karin Baron, back in the studio to discuss K-REACH, its recent amendment, and potential harmonization of chemical regulations in the region.  K-REACH is the South Korean government’s industrial chemical substance registration program signed into law in 2013, and effective in 2015. Karin is uniquely well-suited to provide practice tips and information on why our listeners should be aware of...