All Things Chemical

This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Nora von Bergen, LL.M. , a lawyer with Food Lex AG, to discuss her role as an accomplished food practitioner in Bern, Switzerland. Nora and I are both officers of the International Bar Association Agriculture and Food Law Section, and I have learned more over the past several years about Nora's practice and find it fascinating. We discuss what Nora doe...

This week I discuss with my colleague, Heather Blankinship , Senior Scientist/Regulatory Consultant for B&C and The Acta Group, and Senior Manager for B&C ® Consortia Management, L.L.C. (BCCM) to discuss the value of coalition advocacy, and its essentiality in the chemical space, especially now. Heather manages many chemical coalitions and does a masterful job of managing issues and people. When y...

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 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) important and recently issued first final risk management rule for chrysotile asbestos. Those of us in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) community know asbestos occupies a special place in TSCA's checkered...

This week, I was excited to sit down with Jim Aidala , Senior Government Affairs Consultant at B&C and its consulting affiliate, The Acta Group, to discuss FIFRA hot topics. For those of us who work in the complicated and ever-changing area of agricultural and biocidal products, federal and state regulation of ag products is often hard to understand and to monitor. Jim knows this space better than...

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 super-hot topic of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) reporting under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). PFAS, the class of so-called forever chemicals, are the talk of this town, and likely the talk of many jurisdictions given the intense glo...

This week I had the distinct pleasure of visiting with former Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, the Honorable Leo E. Strine, Jr. , Of Counsel, at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Judge Strine and I discuss the intense focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards and the pressures on corporate directors and managers occasioned by the Caremark decision and its progeny, am...

This week I discuss with my colleague, Dr. Richard E. Engler , Director of Chemistry for B&C and The Acta Group, our consulting affiliate, what to expect in 2024 regarding TSCA developments. Rich is a leading voice on all things TSCA, especially new chemicals, and a widely sought after thought leader on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) implementation of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chem...

This week, I sat down with Jim Aidala , Senior Government Affairs Consultant at B&C and its consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. As many of our listeners know, Jim is a former Assistant Administrator of the Toxics office at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He has worked on Capitol Hill as a pesticide policy expert and a keen student of all things political. We discuss what to expec...

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 an old but evolving concept in FDA circles called GRAS -- Generally Recognized as Safe. As listeners may know, "food additives" require pre-market approval by FDA. Substances "generally recognized...

This week, listeners are in for a real treat as I sit down with Dr. Meibao Zhuang , Senior Scientist/Regulatory Consultant with B&C and our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group, to discuss double-stranded ribonucleic acid interference, better known as ds RNAi. Ds RNAi is a technology that allows scientists to silence (or interfere with) a particular gene. In the agricultural sector, this genetic m...

This week, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting with Rachel James , an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). Rachel's background and specialized training make her uniquely well suited to address some of the very interesting issues in which she engages at SELC on behalf of a diverse set of community groups. The Biden-Harris Administration has made environmental justice and...

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 Revision 10 of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals, commonly referred to as GHS. Release of any new GHS revision is a big deal, and Revision 10 is no excepti...

On June 29, 2023, B&C, along with the Environmental Law Institute and the George Washington   University Milken Institute of Public Health, sponsored the all-day virtual conference, TSCA Reform -- Seven Years Later. The conference was hugely successful and over 700 people registered for it. The quality of the discussion, the caliber of the participants, and the timeliness of the content motivated...

On June 29, 2023, B&C, along with the Environmental Law Institute and the George Washington   University Milken Institute of Public Health, sponsored the all-day virtual conference, TSCA Reform -- Seven Years Later. The conference was hugely successful and over 700 people registered for it. The quality of the discussion, the caliber of the participants, and the timeliness of the content motivated...

On June 29, 2023, B&C, along with the Environmental Law Institute and the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health, sponsored an all-day virtual conference, TSCA Reform -- Seven Years Later. The conference was hugely successful and over 700 people registered for it. The quality of the discussion, the caliber of the participants, and the timeliness of the content inspired us t...

On June 29, 2023, B&C, along with the Environmental Law Institute and the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health, sponsored the all-day virtual conference, TSCA Reform -- Seven Years Later. The conference was hugely successful and over 700 people registered for it. The quality of the discussion, the caliber of the participants, and the timeliness of the content motivated us...

This week I had the distinct pleasure of visiting with Mark Washko , Head of Federal Government Affairs at BASF Corporation. I have worked with Mark and admire his extraordinary communication skills, particularly his ability to advocate on complex science policy and chemical issues clearly and in a way that is relatable. We in the chemical community are constantly challenged on so many levels in t...

This week, we are re-releasing my conversation with Dr. Richard E. Engler, Director of Chemistry for B&C and The Acta Group (Acta ® ), our consulting affiliate, originally recorded in April. We discussed then a 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). As listeners may know, judici...

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...

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...

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 o...

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...

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 Un...

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 doe...

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...