Antidote Europe receives achievement award

Antidote Europe was awarded the Pietro Croce prize.

Antidote Europe, the French based NGO, was awarded yesterday with the Professor Pietro Croce prize for its achievements in the fields of scientific progress and public health. The award ceremony took place at the Palazzo dei Conservatori under the auspices of the mayor of Rome, a Ministry of Health representative and several distinguished academics. This annual award is sponsored by the Italian groupsEquivita  and the National Ecological Movement  (UNA).

The French NGO has worked tirelessly to promote modern toxicology and helped to include the concept of “toxicogenomics” in the European Union’s chemical testing programme, REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals). The application of toxicogenomics was the subject of a special session held last week in Brussels by an EU risk assessment committee.

Currently, Antidote Europe is waging a public awareness campaign on the public health dangers of the synthetic chemical bisphenol A, found in baby bottles and other plastic products. Previous studies using toxicogenomics and human cells have demonstrated the hormone mimicking effects of bisphenol A (see danger-bisphenol.com ). This chemical is now a prime suspect for the significant increase over the past few decades of hormone-sensitive cancers, such as breast and prostate cancer.

In addition, Antidote Europe has commissioned a laboratory study on the effects of single pesticides and pesticide mixtures, on human cells. Very few scientific studies exist on the effects of pesticide mixtures on human health.

The late Professor Pietro Croce, a member of the American College of Pathologists, was one of Italy’s most outspoken critics of animal research. A prolific writer and public speaker, he subsequently spearheaded an international movement away from animal experiments, in favour of modern methods of scientific research.