Dr. Daniele Mandrioli joined the Ramazzini Institute in Bologna, Italy in 2012 and has directed the Institute’s Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center since 2020. The research facility conducts toxicology studies on a range of environmental substances to determine their carcinogenicity and other potential health implications.
The institute’s work has been used to inform regulatory decision-making and policy work on multiple chemicals, including vinyl chloride, benzene, and formaldehyde, and the group says it collaborates with the US National Toxicology Program as well as the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. It touts “50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENT RESEARCH” on its website and lists the World Health Organization as a partner.
In a Jan. 21 letter to Ramazzini Institute President Loretta Masotti, Dr. Philip Landrigan, a US environmental epidemiologist and pediatrician who leads Boston College’s global public health program and who also is head of the International Scientific Advisory Committee of the Ramazzini Institute, described Mandrioli as a “superb scientist” and complained that the committee had not been consulted on the termination. The decision appeared to be due to industry pressure, the letter alleges.
“Dr. Mandrioli … has been subjected to vicious attacks by the chemical industry because the findings of the Institute’s independent research have cost these companies money and hurt their bottom line,” Landrigan wrote. “The attacks on Dr. Mandrioli have increased in intensity in recent months since publication of the results of the Global Glyphosate Study, which found that glyphosate causes dose-related increases in cancer at multiple anatomic sites in experimental animals, most notably increases in leukemia.”
When asked to comment about the concerns, Masotti said that the “relationship with Dr. Mandrioli was terminated by mutual agreement,” and was not due to pressure from the chemical industry. She said the glyphosate studies will continue.
