Collegium Ramazzini

The Collegium Ramazzini is an independent, international academy composed of physicians, scientists, and scholars from 35 countries. Through its members and activities, it seeks to advance occupational and environmental health by bridging scientific knowledge with socio-political centers that have the responsibility to protect public health.[1]  The organization is named after physician Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714), known as “the father of occupational medicine.”

The Collegium Ramazzini is governed by an elected executive committee composed of a president, secretary general, treasurer, and six other fellows. Four individuals have served as the academy’s president: the late Irving J. Selikoff, MD (1982- 1992); the late Eula Bingham, PhD (1993-1997); Phillip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc (1998-2021); and Melissa McDiarmid, MD, MPH, DABT (2022 to present). The organizations by-laws allow for 180 active fellows with an unlimited number of emeritus fellows.

History

Dr. Cesare Maltoni and Dr. Irving J. Selikoff founded the Collegium Ramazzini in 1982.[2] Their goal was an organization of physicians and researchers with expertise in the present and emerging risks associated with exposures to health hazards in workplaces and the environment. Maltoni’s research on the carcinogenesis of vinyl chloride, benzene, and other chemicals,[3][4][5] and Selikoff’s on the health effects of exposure to asbestos,[6][7][8] motivated their vision of a precautionary approach to the use of industrial chemicals.

Maltoni and Selikoff sought input from Morris Greenberg, MD;[9] Myron Mehlman, PhD; and Sheldon Samuels to recommend individuals to be members of the Collegium Ramazzini. Sixty four physicians and scientists from 16 countries composed the inaugural class of fellows. They were Nicholas Ashford, PhD (Cambridge, MA, USA); Emilio Astolfi  (Buenos Aires, Brazil); Maths Berlin (Lund, Sweden); Jean Bignon (Creiteil, France); Patricia Buffler, PhD (Houston, TX, USA); Jorge Chiriboga, MD (San Juan, Puerto Rico); Thomas W. Clarkson (Rochester, NY, USA); Morton Corn, PhD (Baltimore, MD, USA); Massimo Crespi, MD (Rome, Italy); John Finklea, MD (Birmingham, AL, USA); Vito Foa, MD (Milan, Italy); Arthur L. Frank, MD, PhD (Lexington, KY, USA); Joseph F. Fraumeni, Jr., MD (Bethesda, MD, USA); Luigi Giarelli, MD (Trieste, Italy); Giangiacomo Giordano (Naples, Italy); Bernard Goldstein, MD (Piscataway, NJ, USA); Antonio Grieco, MD, PhD (Milan, Italy); J.S. Harington (Johannesburg, South Africa); Bo Holmberg, PhD (Solna, Sweden); Kaye H. Kilburn, MD (Los Angeles, CA, USA); Marvin Legator, PhD (Galveston, TX, USA); Ruth Lilis, MD (New York City, USA); Andrew Maguire (Washington, DC, USA); Cesare Malton (Bologna, Italy); Renzo Mattiussi (Milan, Italy); Rene Mendes, MD (Washington, DC); Franklin Mirer, PhD (Detroit, MI, USA); Norton Nelson, PhD (New York City, USA); Diogo Pupo Nogueira, MD (Sao Paulo, Brazil); Giuseppe Paladini (Bologna, Italy); Edward P. Radford, MD (Pittsburgh, PA, USA); Elihu Richter, MD (Jerusalem, Israel); Hiroyuki Sakabe, MD (Japan); Sheldon Samuels (Washington, DC, USA); Irving J. Selikoff (New York City, USA); Charlie Hammel Smith (Chicago, IL, USA); Kenzaburo Tsichiya, MD (Japan); Arthur C. Upton, MD (New York, USA); Enrico Vigliani (Milan, Italy); Ian Webster, MB, ChB (Johannesburg, South Africa); and Bernard Weinstein, MD (New York, NY, USA).

Selikoff and Maltoni served as the organization's first president and secretary general, respectively.

In 1983, the Collegium held its first meeting of fellows along with an international conference on the health effects of benzene. Speakers included Maltoni, Mehlman, Maths Berlin, MD and Marvin S. Legator, PhD; future fellows Bo Holmberg, PhD (National Board of Occupational Safety and Health, Sweden) and Peter Infante PhD (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, USA); as well as other scientists from academia, governments, and petrochemical companies. Papers from the conference were published in a 1985 edition of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

Activities

The Collegium Ramazzini holds an annual scientific meeting in October that is called “Ramazzini Days.” It is an opportunity for fellows to present new research and discuss emerging issues in the context of the current socio-political environment. The meeting, which is open to the public, is held in the Castello dei Pio in the city of Carpi, Italy, which is the hometown of Bernardino Ramazzini. Beginning in 2006, the agendas for the scientific program have been published on-line and abstracts available since 2020.

The Collegium Ramazzini publishes policy statements on pressing environmental and occupational health issues. The statements describe the scientific evidence of harm and the need for policy action by nations and the global community. Since 1984, the Collegium has published 28 policy statements addressing topics such as asbestos, endocrine disruptors, COVID-19, and scientific integrity.

Awards

The Collegium Ramazzini bestows several awards to recognize an individual's achievement and service to advance knowledge and protection of occupational and environmental health. The Ramazzini Award is bestowed to a "scientists deemed by the Collegium to have made outstanding contributions to furthering the aims of Bernardino Ramazzini in safeguarding public health".[10] The awardees to-date have been:

The Irving J. Selikoff Award and Lecture is given to "an internationally recognized scientist or humanist whose studies and achievements have contributed to the protection of workers' health and the environment".[11] Awardees to date have been:

Publications

The Collegium Ramazzani has functioned as an initial publication source for some scientific papers later re-published in additional peer reviewed journals.[12] The Collegium Ramazzani has also published editorials through its presidents and collectively in peer-reviewed scientific journals including calls for an international ban on asbestos in 1999,[13] 2005,[14] 2010 [15] and 2012;[16] the war in Darfur;[17] and control of pesticide use in the European Union.[18]

See also

Further reading
  • Tice, et al., Cytogenic Manifestations of Benzene Induced Damage in Murine Bone Marrow, Paper Presented at International Conference on Benzene, Collegium Ramazzini, New York, 1983 (cited in "Readings in Risk" by Glickman

References
  1. Collegium Ramazzini. Mission.
  2. Mehlman, Myron A (2002). "Remembering Professor Cesare Malonti". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 982: 23.
  3. Maltoni, Cesare (1974). "Liver angiosarcoma in workers exposed to vinyl chloride. Report on the 1st 2 cases encountered. [Article in Italian]". Medicina del Lavoro. 65 (11–12): 445–450.
  4. Maltoni, Cesare (1976). "Precursor lesions in exposed populations as indicators of occupational cancer risk". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 271 (1): 444–447. Bibcode:1976NYASA.271..444M. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1976.tb23145.x. PMID 1069536. S2CID 39389849.
  5. Maltoni, Cesare (1978). "Predictive carcinogenicity bioassays in industrial oncogenesis". Progress in Biochemical Pharmacology. 14: 47–56. PMID 643879.
  6. Selikoff, Irving J (1976). "Lung cancer and mesothelioma during prospective surveillance of 1249 asbestos insulation workers, 1963-1974". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 271 (1): 448–56. Bibcode:1976NYASA.271..448S. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1976.tb23146.x. PMID 1069537. S2CID 37665311.
  7. Selikoff, Irving J (1982). "The investigation of brain tumor occurrence in other occupational groups: introduction". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 381 (1): 116–118. Bibcode:1982NYASA.381..116S. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1982.tb50374.x. PMID 6953781. S2CID 28651371.
  8. Selikoff, Irving J (1977). "Perspectives in the investigation of health hazards in the chemical industry". Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. 1 (3): 387–97. doi:10.1016/0147-6513(77)90029-X. PMID 617100.
  9. Illman, John (2021). "Morris Greenberg: occupational health specialist on a lifelong quest to make the world asbestos free". BMJ. 374: n2265. doi:10.1136/bmj.n2265. S2CID 237517850.
  10. Collegium Ramazzini
  11. "Irving J Selikoff Award". Collegium Ramazzini. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  12. Garfinkel, L. (1991). "Lung cancer and smoking trends in the United States over the past 25 years". CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 41 (3): 137–145. doi:10.3322/canjclin.41.3.137. PMID 1796939. (noting that this article is an update of a paper published through the C. Ramazzini in 1989)
  13. Ramazzini, Collegium (October 1999). "Call for an International Ban on Asbestos". Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 41 (10): 830–832. doi:10.1097/00043764-199910000-00003. ISSN 1076-2752. PMID 10529938.
  14. Landrigan, Philip J. (2005). "Collegium Ramazzini call for an international ban on asbestos". American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 47 (6): 471–474. doi:10.1002/ajim.20173. PMID 15898095.
  15. Ramazzini, Collegium (2010). "Asbestos Is Still With Us: Repeat Call for a Universal Ban". Archives of Environmental. 65 (3): 121–126. doi:10.1080/19338241003776104. PMID 20705571. S2CID 256745.
  16. Ladou; et al. (February 20, 2001). "A call for an international ban on asbestos". Canadian Medical Association Journal. 164 (4): 489–490. Bibcode:2000ER.....83...79.. doi:10.1006/enrs.2000.4054. PMC 80776. PMID 11233868.
  17. Landrigan, PJ; Soffritti, M (2005). "Collegium Ramazzini statement on Darfur". American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 47 (3): 193–194. doi:10.1002/ajim.20144. PMID 15712253.
  18. Ramazzini, C. (2005). "Collegium Ramazzini statement on the control of pesticides in the European Union: a call for action to protect human health". American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 52 (2): 176–177. doi:10.1002/ajim.20654. PMID 19016266.
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