Philippe Grandjean (born 1 March 1950) is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

scientist working in

environmental medicine Environmental medicine is a multidisciplinary field involving medicine, environmental science, chemistry and others, overlapping with environmental pathology. It can be viewed as the medical branch of the broader field of environmental health. Th ...

. He is the head of the Environmental Medicine Research Unit at the

University of Southern Denmark The University of Southern Denmark ( da, Syddansk Universitet, lit=South Danish University, abbr. SDU) is a university in Denmark that has campuses located in Southern Denmark and on Zealand. The university offers a number of joint programmes in ...

and adjunct professor of environmental health at the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard- MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's firs ...

. Grandjean is also co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the journal ''

Environmental Health Environmental health is the branch of public health concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment affecting human health. In order to effectively control factors that may affect health, the requirements that must be met in ...

'', and consultant for the National Board of Health in Denmark. He is known for his research into the

developmental toxicity Development of the human body is the process of growth to maturity. The process begins with fertilization, where an egg released from the ovary of a female is penetrated by a sperm cell from a male. The resulting zygote develops through m ...

and adverse effects of certain environmental chemicals to which children are commonly exposed.

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. Grandjean obtained his MD in

from the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

in 1974 and his PhD in 1979. He began his career conducting field work into mercury poisoning and

Minamata disease Minamata disease is a neurological disease caused by severe mercury poisoning. Signs and symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, loss of peripheral vision, and damage to hearing and speech. In extrem ...

after seeing a woman with the disease on TV in 1972. This experience led him to spend his career researching

neurotoxic Neurotoxicity is a form of toxicity in which a biological, chemical, or physical agent produces an adverse effect on the structure or function of the central and/or peripheral nervous system. It occurs when exposure to a substance – specificall ...

substances. Since 1982, Grandjean has been a professor at the

and today he also heads their Environmental Medicine Research Unit. From 1994 to 2002 he was adjunct professor at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

and since 2003 he has been adjunct professor at

. In 2002, he co-founded the journal ''

'' and today he is the co-editor-in-chief, along with David Ozonoff of

Boston University School of Public Health Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) is one of the graduate schools of Boston University. Founded in 1976, the School offers master's- and doctoral-level programs in public health. It is located in the heart of Boston University's Me ...

. 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'' (

edition: ''Kemi på hjernen – går ud over enhver forstand'') was published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 2013 ().

Research

Grandjean is known for conducting considerable research into the health effects of

mercury in fish The presence of mercury in fish is a health concern for people who eat them, especially for women who are or may become pregnant, nursing mothers, and young children. Fish and shellfish concentrate mercury in their bodies, often in the form of ...

, and has spoken out for the maximum levels allowed by the EPA to be lowered by 50%. Together with Philip Landrigan, Grandjean wrote about chemicals, including certain fluorinated compounds, certain heavy metals,

DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...

, PCB and

toluene Toluene (), also known as toluol (), is a substituted aromatic hydrocarbon. It is a colorless, water-insoluble liquid with the smell associated with paint thinners. It is a mono-substituted benzene derivative, consisting of a methyl group (CH3) a ...

, found in the environment that they described as harmful to the

neurodevelopment The development of the nervous system in humans, or neural development or neurodevelopment involves the studies of embryology, developmental biology, and neuroscience to describe the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which the complex nervous ...

of children and fetuses. 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."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grandjean, Philippe 1950 births Living people Harvard School of Public Health faculty University of Copenhagen alumni Danish toxicologists Academic journal editors Danish medical researchers Scientists from Copenhagen