Philippe Grandjean (professor)

Philippe Grandjean (born 1 March 1950) is a Danish scientist working in environmental medicine. He is the head of the Environmental Medicine Research Unit at the University of Southern Denmark[2] and adjunct professor of environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health.[3] Grandjean is also co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Health, and consultant for the National Board of Health in Denmark.[4][5] He is known for his research into the developmental toxicity and adverse effects of certain environmental chemicals to which children are commonly exposed.[6][7]

Philippe Grandjean
Philippe Adam Grandjean
Born (1950-03-01) 1 March 1950[1]
Denmark
NationalityDanish
Alma materUniversity of Copenhagen
Known forResearch into the effects of toxic chemicals on the health of children
Scientific career
FieldsEnvironmental health
InstitutionsUniversity of Southern Denmark
Harvard School of Public Health
ThesisWidening perspectives of lead toxicity (1979)

Life, education and career

Born in Denmark in 1950, his interest in environmental toxins began as a teenager watching birds and realizing that they were threatened by pesticides.[8] Grandjean obtained his MD in environmental medicine from the University of Copenhagen in 1974[9] and his PhD in 1979.[3] He began his career conducting field work into mercury poisoning and Minamata disease after seeing a woman with the disease on TV in 1972. This experience led him to spend his career researching neurotoxic substances.[10][11] Since 1982, Grandjean has been a professor at the University of Southern Denmark[9] and today he also heads their Environmental Medicine Research Unit.[2] From 1994 to 2002 he was adjunct professor at Boston University[9] and since 2003 he has been adjunct professor at Harvard School of Public Health.[3] In 2002, he co-founded the journal Environmental Health[4] and today he is the co-editor-in-chief, along with David Ozonoff of Boston University School of Public Health.[5]

Grandjean has authored more than 500 scientific publications and his book Only One Chance: How Environmental Pollution Impairs Brain Development – and How to Protect the Brains of the Next Generation (Danish edition: Kemi på hjernen – går ud over enhver forstand) was published by Oxford University Press in 2013 (ISBN 978-0199985388).[4]

Research

Grandjean is known for conducting considerable research into the health effects of mercury in fish, and has spoken out for the maximum levels allowed by the EPA to be lowered by 50%.[12]

Together with Philip Landrigan, Grandjean wrote about chemicals, including certain fluorinated compounds, certain heavy metals, DDT, PCB and toluene, found in the environment that they described as harmful to the neurodevelopment of children and fetuses.[13][14][7][15][16] Landrigan and Grandjean proposed the implementation of a global prevention strategy to reduce children's exposure to such chemicals, and encouraged lawmakers not to assume that untested chemicals were "safe to brain development."[6][17]

References
  1. "Philippe Grandjean". altinget.dk. 22 February 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  2. "Philippe Grandjean". University of Southern Denmark. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  3. "Philippe Grandjean". Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  4. Patton, P. (16 April 2014). "Dr. Philippe Grandjean on Chemical Brain Drain: How the Next Generation's Brain Functions are Endangered by EDCs and Other Environmental Chemicals". Collaborative on Health and the Environment. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  5. "Environmental Health". BioMed Central. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  6. Weintraub, Karen (14 February 2014). "Researchers warn of chemical impacts on children". USA Today. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  7. Hamilton, Jon (24 January 2012). "Common Chemicals Could Make Kids' Vaccines Less Effective". NPR. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  8. Andersen, P.N. (23 March 2016). "Professor: Fra det øjeblik man beslutter en graviditet, skal man holde sig fra ikke-økologisk frugt". Natur & Miljø. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  9. "Philippe Grandjean - CV". University of Southern Denmark. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  10. Main, Douglas (26 September 2013). "The surprising source of most mercury pollution: Gold mining". NBC News. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  11. Williams, Florence (7 December 2013). "How We're Destroying Our Kids' Brains". Mother Jones. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  12. Weise, Elizabeth (19 September 2012). "Take tuna off school menus, group says". USA Today. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  13. Grandjean, P; Landrigan, PJ (December 2006). "Developmental neurotoxicity of industrial chemicals". The Lancet. 368 (9553): 2167–2178. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69665-7. PMID 17174709. S2CID 12795774.
  14. Boyles, Salynn (7 November 2006). "A 'Silent Pandemic' Of Brain Disorders". CBS News. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  15. Grandjean, P.; Andersen, E. W.; Budtz-Jørgensen, E.; Nielsen, F.; Mølbak, K. R.; Weihe, P.; Heilmann, C. (2012). "Serum Vaccine Antibody Concentrations in Children Exposed to Perfluorinated Compounds". JAMA. 307 (4): 391–397. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.2034. PMC 4402650. PMID 22274686.
  16. Hamblin, James (18 March 2014). "The Toxins That Threaten Our Brains". The Atlantic. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  17. Grandjean, P.; Landrigan, P. J. (2014). "Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity". The Lancet Neurology. 13 (3): 330–8. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(13)70278-3. PMC 4418502. PMID 24556010.
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