Independence Day: Eurofins and ACIL meet on Capitol Hill

March 27, 2018

Eurofins Frontier Global Sciences President Michael Flournoy with Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., in her office.	From left to right: Eurofins Frontier Global Sciences President Michael Flournoy; Rep. David Young, R-Iowa; Mary Kay Krogull and Lars Reimann, Eurofins Scientific.

Michael Flournoy, Eurofins Frontier Global Sciences – President

I attended the American Council of Independent Laboratories (ACIL) Policies and Practices (P2) conference in Washington, D.C. from March 20-22. This annual conference is centered on educational training, sharing best laboratory and business best practices, and engaging with public and private leadership to discuss government relations all in support of ACIL’s Mission and Vision.

“Independence Day,” was held on March 22, and the purpose of this special event was to advocate the importance of independent testing to our leaders in Congress and to their staff. There were 27 ACIL attendees who participated in 734 congressional meetings, in addition to meeting five members of Congress. I was especially excited to meet with Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Rep. David Young, R-Iowa, as well as key staff members for Sens. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif.; Joni Earnst, R-Iowa; Patrick Toomey, R-Pa.; and Cedrick Richmond, D-La.

In those congressional staff meetings we were allowed to communicate our story, along with advocating the needs of ACIL including environmental sciences, food sciences, construction materials engineering and testing, and conformity assessment. In my meetings, I specifically addressed issues relating to unfair competition, the positive and negative impact environmental deregulation is having on the environment and with testing labs, the need to completely enact the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), encourage third-party laboratory testing, as well as other ways the public/private partnerships can continue to grow in the testing world.

I am proud to have presented Eurofins Scientific, Eurofins Frontier Global Sciences and the independent laboratories of ACIL in my conversations with congressional leaders and key staff. Through the cooperation of government and independent laboratories, we can increase the worldwide safety of human health by providing quality data to help solve problems.