Legal Consulting Services
Scientific Analytical Institute goes beyond typical fee-per-sample environmental analyses by standardized protocols where other laboratories stop short. SAI stands alone not only as the leader in quality of analytical service; our team is rich with seasoned experts that can and will stand behind their work and you in the courtroom. Our professional geologists, mineralogists, chemists, and microbiologists are experts ready to take the stand with over 30 years of experience analyzing, researching, and developing the science of materials and environmental hazards, and over a decade providing expert testimony in local, state, and federal court rooms from California to New York.
Experts and scientists from SAI have repeatedly been guest speakers at environmental workshops and conferences, as well as local, state, and federal regulatory meetings and reviews; we have advised private and governmental entities on issues of regulation, science, and process development. Our experts have been retained and testified as researchers on soils, naturally occurring asbestos, talc, vermiculite, and household products with work appearing before English Parliament and the United States Senate.
Leaders from Scientific Analytical Institute have repeatedly been invited as keynote and technical session speakers and coordinators for the Environmental Information Association (EIA), the American Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM), the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), the Geologic Society of America (GSA), and have presented results of research at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
Our staff scientists have been repeatedly published in the peer-reviewed literature, including book chapters, as well as articles on the science of environmental hazards. Key staff members are active participants in the Geological Society of America (GSA), the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA), the American Society of Trace Evidence Examiners (ASTEE), the Materials Research Society (MRS), the EIA, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), and the ASTM International D-22 Air Quality Committee.
Research and Development
The staff at Scientific Analytical Institute have substantial training and experience in environmental hazards and materials, including cutting-edge analytical capability by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Inductively-Coupled Plasma emission spectroscopy, Atomic Absorption spectroscopy, HPLC/UV/VIS and Light Microscopy (PLM; PCM; microbe fluorescence, etc.). SAI is also familiar with the regulations, methods, and procedures of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the analysis of environmental hazards and materials.
SAI scientists and directors regularly participate and assume leadership roles in the development of standards and new protocols through ASTM International, the International Standards Organization (ISO), the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the Environmental Information Association (EIA), and the United States Pharmacopeia (USP).
The mission of our studies is to bring the best possible science to our understanding and awareness of environmental concerns, how they occur, and where they can be found. Our state-of-the-art laboratory is equipped with light and electron microscopes capable of resolving the chemistry and crystalline structure of materials to the nanoscale, as well as x-ray, plasma and laser technologies employed to give our multidisciplinary scientific staff the tools they need to bring that science to bear. SAI has in its 15-year history analyzed hundreds of thousands of materials for environmental hazards and analytes.
Besides more common routine analyses such as testing for asbestos, fungi, bacteria, or heavy metals, SAI has conducted many specialized analyses, such as lung tissue and hazard releasability testing. For example, Scientific Analytical has tested the extent to which a given material may release asbestos fibers, including asbestos gaskets, spackling compounds, fireproofing, brakes, paints, talcum powders, and even cigarettes. SAI has tested consumer products and a myriad of materials: notably children’s toys, including crayons, play clays, and fingerprinting powders in toy detective kits.
SAI professionals have firsthand experience with many of the key events that have impacted the environmental community, including product identification of asbestos-containing materials, discovery and interpretation of contamination in vermiculite from Libby, Montana, discovery and interpretation of environmental impact of naturally occurring hazards in California and Virginia, even analysis of materials from the World Trade Center before and after 9/11.
Geologists from SAI have also worked with mine and quarry sites to identify possible occurrences of environmental hazards and are experienced in analyzing complex mixed mineral and biologic assemblages. The findings of the research and testing that Scientific Analytical Institute has conducted have proven invaluable to both the industrial engine that drives commerce, and to the safety community that strives to protect our health.
