Ms. Gaston is has more than 25 years of experience in developing, managing, and implementing international projects and programs relating to food safety, pesticide registration, and associated regulatory systems. She has been the lead resource scientist for issues involving international regulatory policies worldwide, especially in the field of pesticides. She has assisted a number of clients in establishing Codex standards for commodities in international trade, as well as obtaining registration approvals and import tolerances for pesticide products in Europe and other parts of the world. She actively participates in several Codex Committees in the U.S. and internationally, and provides guidance to organizations interested in exporting or importing food and agricultural commodities. For example she assisted the spice traders in obtaining much-needed maximum residue limits for pesticides on spices through the introduction of an alternative system for setting Codex MRLs on these commodities.
Drawing on expertise in environmental protection, food regulations, pesticide registration, and agricultural exports, Ms. Gaston was the Regional Coordinator for a multi-year Japanese-funded FAO project dealing with establishing pesticide registration systems and harmonizing regulations for developing countries in Asia and the Pacific as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean. As such she was instrumental in the development of various pesticide regulatory systems in Asia and Latin America, and in subsequent training of regulatory officials in operating such systems. Concurrent to this work, Ms. Gaston was the Deputy Administrator for Pesticides in the Philippines, responsible for planning, formulating, and executing all policies on pesticide registration, control, and use in the Philippines, including managing foreign-assisted projects dealing with pesticide control and other environmental aspects. She has maintained professional relationships with regulators in Asia and Latin America and has kept abreast of developments in pesticide regulations in those countries.
Prior to joining Exponent, Ms. Gaston served as Manager of International Agriculture Development Projects, with primary responsibility in promoting projects with bilateral organizations such as the United Nations, World Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank. She also served as a regular international consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization, assisting the regions of Latin America in harmonizing their pesticide regulatory systems.
Gaston CP, Ambrus A, Gonzalez RH. Possible models for solutions to unique trade issues facing developing countries. 11th IUPAC International Congress of Pesticide Chemistry. Pesticide Chemistry, Crop Protection, Public Health, Environmental Safety. Miyagawa H and Lee OW (eds), Wiley-VCH, pp. 349–359, August 2006.
Gaston CP. Pesticide regulatory policies of selected countries in Asia, Technical Report No. 2. Prepared for the Regional Agribusiness Project (RAP), contract no. AEP-0009-C-00-3057-00, (with funding from the Asia and Near East Bureau of the U.S. Agency for International Development), October 1994.
Gaston, CP. Manual on pesticide regulations in Asia and the Pacific. Asian Development Bank, 1988.
Developed and managed projects for various pesticide manufacturers, involving preparation of working technical documents, which were submitted to the Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) and resulted in the establishment of Codex MRLs for a number of compounds.
Prepared dossiers for various clients and conducted appropriate risk assessments in support of submissions to European regulatory authorities.
Conducted a number of dietary exposure assessments to support EPA tolerances for a number of compounds.