Dr. Edwards advises on the chemical, biochemical, and clinical aspects of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, food ingredients, direct and indirect food additives, dietary supplements, and food safety in general. He prepares GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) self-affirmations for Expert Panel review, and acts as administrator for such panels. He has prepared Investigational New Drug Applications and Food Contact Notifications for submission to FDA.

Dr. Edwards advises clients on the scientific and technical aspects of consumer product safety, including California Proposition 65 suits, potential recalls, and ingredient or component toxicity. He has used sound science to defend products against attacks by “junk science” or “trial by TV News.” He also evaluates test data used to support advertising claims.

In addition, Dr. Edwards advises on US Customs classifications for chemicals, food ingredients and other commodities, on chemical aspects of anti-dumping litigation, and on issues involving organic chemistry and chemical reactions in support of patent litigation.    

Since joining the firm, Dr. Edwards has also been involved in all technical aspects of environmental law, including evaluating environmental reports on behalf of buyers, lenders and others involved in property transactions, performing environmental due diligence for domestic and international corporate mergers and acquisitions, selecting and overseeing engineering consultants, reviewing and editing draft reports and investigational data prior to submission to regulators, interpreting complex data, writing Preliminary Assessments for contaminated sites, negotiating with regulators from multiple agencies on cleanup and permitting issues, performing historical research to identify possible sources of contamination, and advising clients on the acquisition and remediation of contaminated property. He advises on issues involving TSCA and EPCRA (SARA Title III), and on the chemical aspects of workplace safety and accidents.

Before joining Arent Fox, Dr. Edwards spent 12 years running laboratory companies involved in environmental and petroleum analysis and pesticide registration support. Prior to that, he was a post-doctoral research fellow and research associate in the Department of Ophthalmology of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in Philadelphia, working on metabolic pathways in virally transformed cells, and potential anti-viral agents.

Dr. Edwards is an active member of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and ASTM (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials), and is a longtime member of ASTM Technical Committee E50 on Environmental Assessment, Risk Management and Corrective Action.