​Dave McLaughlin is the owner and principal scientist of Cotyledon Environmental Consulting. He was a senior scientist and program manager with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for more than 36 years, where he investigated the impacts of pollution on the terrestrial environment in all eco-zones across Ontario.

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Dave McLaughlin obtained a BSc and an MSc from the University of Toronto, where he was an adjunct professor for 15 years.

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As a government forensic scientist in the 1980s, Mr. McLaughlin led a multi-year study of the impacts of acidic deposition on Ontario’s forests. More recently, he was involved in assessing the environmental impacts of historic mining activities in communities across the province. He is an accomplished phytotoxicologist with almost four decades of professional experience and expert knowledge of environmental sampling, the recognition of air pollution injury symptoms on plants, pollution impacts on soil and vegetation, and the environmental regulatory framework.