The 2014 Ramazzini Award was conferred upon Benedetto Terracini for his outstanding contributions as a pioneer of modern occupational epidemiology in Italy and throughout the world.
His work has been constantly dedicated to improve workers' health through his research and advocacy on asbestos and other occupational and environmental exposures.
On the occasion of the pricegiving ceremony Terracini briefly illustrated the chance circumstances that characterized his path in the research sector: “In the late Sixties, when I started to be interested in health and environment, I was lucky enough to find myself in the right place (an academic role with a director who gave me much freedom), at the right moment (the spur towards a different vision of health during the workers’ and students’ movement in 1968-69)”.
“Above all – Terracini said – I met the right senior students, with clear ideas on the need for a new vision of public health issues and a great desire to learn. Over the decades, many of them have been my co-workers: their names are engraved over the plate they gave me when I retired and of which I am proud. This prize is awarded to me, but they actually deserve it with me.”
“The International Agency for Research on Cancer, and particularly Lorenzo Tomatis, allowed us to cultivate those international contacts that have been essential to guarantee an accetable standard of accuracy in our research.. Finally – Terracini concluded – the IPCA [Industria Piemontese dei Colori di Anilina, Ed.] experience in Ciriè was for me a real eye-opener on the weakness of conventional research unless it is inserted in a social context.
May I wish the young generations success in achieving to work in as far a stimulating situation as it happened to me.”
The Ramazzini Lecture by Benedetto Terracini “Epidemiological surveillance of occupational cancer in Latin American and other recently industrialized countries” is now available online.
Further information: Ramazzini Award