Our Chemicals Team

The Chemicals group at Intertek Cantox has a vast array of experience and knowledge they impart to their multitude of clients. To ensure that each client is provided with the best service we have built a team of specialized scientists and toxicologists to deal with each issue that arises with every client. To discover more about our Chemicals group, please choose a name from our list of selected consultants. We have only listed senior staff on the website, additional members of the team have bios that are available upon request.

Management

• Karen Levins, Vice President, Chemicals Group
• Joyce K. Borkhoff, Director, Chemicals Group 

Scientific & Regulatory Consultants

• Neil Bullock, B.Sc., MRSC, Scientific & Regulatory Consultant
• Jackie Foster, B.Tech., Regulatory Specialist

Joyce K. Borkhoff
Director, Chemicals Group

As a regulatory chemist, Ms. Borkhoff has been employed in senior positions within the chemical industry for over 15 years. Her technical and regulatory acumen and her strong communication and interpersonal skills enabled her to develop and deliver Health, Environment, Safety, Security, and Stewardship programs that addressed all regulatory obligations while contributing to the development and success of corporate business strategies. To support her employers’ outreach interests, her leadership and advanced mediation skills enabled her to successfully represent the interests of the chemical industry in bilateral and multi-stakeholder regulatory forums that have tackled the development and evolution of a wide variety of legislative and regulatory amendments.

Ms. Borkhoff is well known for her ability to effectively characterize and communicate the impacts of the regulatory environment on the chemical industry. She is frequently invited to contribute to trade magazines and to present her advice and experience to a wide range of SME and large multi-national audiences. Her technical and regulatory experience and her strong knowledge of the North American Chemical Industry, makes Ms. Borkhoff uniquely qualified to provide practical, best-in-class service to help the NAFTA market understand and meet the requirements of the EU REACH system.

During her career, Ms. Borkhoff has been an active member of the Industry Coordinating Group (ICG) for the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), The Canadian Association of Chemical Distributors (CACD), the Ecological and Toxicological Association of Dyes and Organic Pigments Manufacturers (ETAD), the Color Pigments Manufacturers Association (CPMA), Canadian Paint and Coatings Association (CPCA) and the Canadian Consumer Specialty Products Association (CCSPA). 

As an industry expert and advocate, she has participated in numerous industry/government tables and multi-stakeholder consultations regarding such topics as: toxic substance management; the review and re-engineering of the CEPA; the New Substances Notification Regulations (NSNR); the Environmental Assessment Regulations for substances regulated under Food and Drug Act; Categorization and Screening of the Domestic Substances List; and the Canadian Chemical Management Plan (CMP) including the Challenge to Industry and the DSL Inventory Update.

In her recent move to Intertek Cantox, Ms. Borkhoff now serves as the Director of the Chemicals Group. In this role, she delivers expert advice and direction to clients who seek support in understanding and complying with a wide variety of chemical control legislation and regulatory initiatives. She also leads the Chemicals team of regulatory and scientific experts who help clients address challenging regulatory climates and demanding marketplaces, in a timely and cost-effective manner, by successfully using surrogate data, estimation methods, or waiver requests, to meet complex requirements for physical-chemical and toxicological information prescribed under a variety of new chemical and existing chemical notification and assessment programs.

Neil R. Bullock, B.Sc., MRSC
Scientific & Regulatory Consultant

As a Scientist within the Chemicals Group, Mr. Bullock's primary responsibilities cover technical management of new substance notification projects and providing scientific and regulatory advice for new substance notifications with particular focus on the European Union's Dangerous Substances Directive. In this role, he is responsible for technical data assessment, the construction and review of masked names to protect confidential substance identity, and the preparation of waiver requests, alternative methodology reports and read-across justifications for New Substances Notification (NSN) submissions under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) and similar initiatives globally.

Coming from industry, Mr. Bullock understands the differing viewpoints of industrial, environmental and regulatory chemistry, as well as industry's need to balance technical and financial considerations.

Before joining Intertek Cantox in 1997, Mr. Bullock amassed over 19 years experience in the European chemicals industry, including dyestuff and specialty chemical manufacture, light-sensitive organic coating formulation and application, electrochemistry, formulated printing-industry performance products, and batch and continuous process operation. With positions in production, research and development, and safety, health and environmental affairs (SHEA) with a major multinational chemical corporation, his contributions included pro-actively interpreting evolving legislative requirements; developing and implementing successful new chemical notification strategies in Europe; achieving production cost/time savings through process simplification initiatives; and applying detailed investigative techniques, including HAZOP and What-if?, to Process Hazard Analysis.

Mr. Bullock completed Part 1 of the Royal Institute of Chemistry's Graduate qualification and a B.Sc.(Hons) in Pharmacology at University College London. He became a Licentiate of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1989, served on the Industrial Division, North East England Region Committee, and became a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2001. Mr. Bullock served on the Mississauga Board of Trade Environment Committee (1997-2000), and has been a member of the American Chemical Society since 1999.

Jackie Foster, B.Tech.
Regulatory Specialist

Ms. Foster, a Regulatory Specialist with the Chemicals Group, has keen insight into the regulatory needs of industry. She brings more than 18 years of experience in occupational health and safety and regulatory compliance to the Intertek Cantox team.

Before joining Intertek Cantox in 2008, Ms. Foster worked in the printing industry; coating, sealant and polyurethane manufacturing, as well as chemical distribution, for large, medium and small enterprises. This knowledge provides a thorough understanding of the diversities of the supply chain and their unique regulatory requirements.

Ms. Foster’s combination of skills allows her to provide expert advice and guidance to clients in many areas including Canadian New Substance Notifications (NSN), product classification for WHMIS, TDG and CCCR, exposure/risk assessments, MSDS and label generation, product compliance audits and the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP) initiatives.

Ms. Foster holds a B.Tech. degree in Industrial Engineering from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute and continues to work towards a certificate in Occupational Health & Safety. Additionally, Ms. Foster is studying to attain the Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) certification.