Thermo Fisher PFAS Expert Discusses Laboratory Testing, Regulatory Partnerships
On this Earth Day, LCGC sits down with Toby Astill of Thermo Fisher Scientific to talk about laboratory testing of PFAS and how companies and industry work in tandem with governments and regulatory agencies to share information and effect changes in standards.
In February of this year, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) banned manufacturers from selling grease-proofing substances containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) for food contact use (1).
The presence of PFAS in these items has been under increased investigation in recent years, and laboratories such as Thermo Fisher Scientific are contributing to the ongoing research in this field using techniques based in chromatography and mass spectrometry.
LCGC International caught up with Toby Astill, Thermo Fisher's Director for Food and Environmental Safety Vertical Marketing in its Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry Division, about the relationships between laboratories and regulators, and how much further the research must advance.
Reference
(1) U.S. Food & Drug Administration. FDA Announces PFAS Used in Grease-Proofing Agents for Food Packaging No Longer Being Sold in the U.S., last revised February 2024. https://www.fda.gov/food/cfsan-constituent-updates/fda-announces-pfas-used-grease-proofing-agents-food-packaging-no-longer-being-sold-us (accessed 2024-04-17).
About the Interviewee
Dr. Toby Astill works in the Thermo Fisher’s Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry Division (CMD), as the Director for Food and Environmental Safety Vertical Marketing. Toby has a PhD in Chemistry and has spent the last 20 years working in Science, Technology and Business Roles for leading technology companies. Primary responsibilities today include developing go-to-market strategies for CMD products and workflows that provide novel analytical workflows to tackle complex analytical testing challenges. Toby is also passionate about driving business & collaborations with Thermo Fisher customers and regulatory organizations; responsibilities include market & industry research, new product development, collaboration agreements with customers, application content generation and marketing initiatives.
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