Helmut Greim

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Helmut Greim (born May 9, 1935 in Berlin ) is a German toxicologist and university professor . For many years he was director of the Institute for Toxicology of the GSF Research Center for Environment and Health in Neuherberg (now the Helmholtz Center in Munich ).

Life

Greim studied medicine at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg from 1955 to 1963 and became a member of the Corps Palatia-Guestphalia . When he was inactive , he moved to the Free University of Berlin . After the state examination (1961) and the two-year medical assistant time , he was a research assistant at the Institute for Pharmacology at the Free University of Berlin from 1963 to 1964 . He then went to the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen . From 1964 to 1970 he was a research assistant at the Institute of Toxicology, where he qualified as a professor in 1970 for pharmacology and toxicology . From 1970 to 1973 he was Visiting Associate Research Professor of Pathology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and Visiting Fellow in Pharmacology at Yale University in New Haven (Connecticut).

In 1973 he became a university lecturer at the Faculty of Toxicology at the University of Tübingen. From 1975 until his retirement in 2000 he was director of the Institute for Toxicology at the GSF Research Center for Environment and Health in Neuherberg, Munich. From 1983 he held the chair for toxicology at the Technical University of Munich and from 1987 to 2002 director of the Institute for Toxicology and Environmental Hygiene at the Technical University of Munich.

From 1992 to 2007 he was the chairman of the Standing Senate Commission for the Testing of Hazardous Substances ( MAK Commission ) of the German Research Foundation , which set maximum concentrations for chemicals in the workplace.

Greim is married and has three children.

criticism

Greim has been criticized for being a reviewer and expert on the dangers of u. a. Dioxins , PCBs , nitrogen oxides and glyphosate not to be independent, but to represent questionable positions for the benefit of the industry and to influence politics in this sense for decades. The former public prosecutor Erich Schöndorf described Greim in a contribution to the television program Monitor as a “false expert” who “has nothing in mind with objective scientific quality”.

In the same broadcast, Greim was also accused of incorrectly disclosing his financial ties to the auto and chemical industries. A study on glyphosate that Greim wrote with Monsanto researcher David Saltmiras was co-funded by Monsanto. In an interview with MDR in March 2017, Helmut Greim answered questions on this topic and denied the accusation that he was engaged in “fake” and “junk science”.

Already in the wood preservative scandal in the 1980s, Greim was active as an expert who completely played down the health risks of PCB and lindane , which are proven today . He ignored health problems that had been reported to the manufacturer and dismissed them as hysteria and as a result of the media fear.

Greim was chairman of the scientific advisory board of the European Research Association for Environment and Health in the Transport Sector (EUGT), an organization founded by Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW and Bosch from 2007 to 2017, which officially had the aim of investigating the health effects of pollutants, According to the Süddeutscher Zeitung, however, it sometimes acted “like a lobby association for diesel cars”. In this capacity, he testified in the context of the emissions scandal in front of the Bundestag that it was impossible to establish a direct connection between nitrogen dioxide emissions and lung damage . In an interview he expressed the opinion that the fear of nitrogen dioxide was "completely exaggerated". In January 2018 it became known that, as chairman of the EUGT's scientific advisory board in 2014, he was jointly responsible for a study financed by Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler (Bosch left the EUGT in 2013), in which monkeys inhaled diesel exhaust gases for several hours in hermetically sealed chambers had to.

Another study, co-financed by the EUGT, looked at possible short-term health effects from nitrogen oxide exposure in human subjects that were below the previous NOx limit value for indoor air at workplaces.

In response to Greim's involvement in the two experiments, the Federal Ministry for the Environment announced in February 2018 that it was investigating how to position oneself in future with Greim's award of the Federal Cross of Merit. The parliamentary group of the Greens calls for the award to be withdrawn and calls Greim's previous work as an expert for the Bundestag an “absurdity”. However, a withdrawal was rejected.

Memberships in committees

  • 1982–1985 Chairman of the Toxicology Section of the German Society for Pharmacology and Toxicology
  • 1982–1990 member of the Advisory Council for Environmental Issues
  • 1983–1998 Vice-President of the Advisory Committee for Environmentally Relevant Substances (BUA) of the German Chemical Society
  • 1991–1993 Chairman of the German Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology. V. (DGPT)
  • 1992–2007 chairman of the MAK commission of the German Research Foundation (maximum workplace concentrations for substances at the workplace), then until 2017 scientific member of the commission
  • 1992–1994 member of the Enquete Commission on Protection of Humans and the Environment of the German Bundestag
  • 1993–2017 Member of the Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL) of the European Commission (Member 1993–2015, Invited Expert 2015–2017)
  • 1996–2011 Member of the Research Expert Panel, The Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM), Hackensack, New Jersey (Chairman from 1998 to 2002)
  • 1997–2004 Deputy Chairman of the Scientific Committee on Toxicology, Ecotoxicology and the Environment (CSTEE), General Directorate Health of the European Commission
  • 1998–2007 President of the Advisory Committee for Environmentally Relevant Substances (BUA) of the German Chemical Society
  • 1998–2008 Health and Environmental Safety Institute (HESI) of the International Life Science Institute (ILSI), Washington DC, from 2001 to 2002 Chairman of the Board of Trustees
  • 2000–2008 member of the Research Committee, Health Effects Institute (HEI), Boston
  • since 2001 member of the Scientific Committee of the European Center for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC), Brussels
  • 2004–2012 Chairman of the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER), Directorate General for Health of the European Commission
  • 2007–2017: Head of the Research Advisory Board of the European Research Association for Environment and Health in the Transport Sector. V. (EUGT)
  • 2008–2013 Risk Assessment Committee of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), Helsinki

Honors

Publications (selection)

  • H. Greim (Ed.): The toxicology book, Wiley-VCH-Verlag. Weinheim 2017, ISBN 978-3-527-33973-0 .
  • A. Aigner, R. Buesen, T. Gant, N. Gooderham, H. Greim, J. Hackermüller, B. Hubesch, M. Laffont, E. Marczylo, G. Meister, JS Petrick, RJ Rasoulpour, UG Sauer, K Schmidt, H. Seitz, F. Slack, T. Sukata, SM van der Vies, J. Verhaert, KW Witwer, A. Poole: Advancing the use of noncoding RNA in regulatory toxicology: Report of an ECETOC workshop. In: Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 371, 2016, pp. 12-16. doi: 10.1016 / j.tox.2016.09.005
  • GM Williams, M. Aardema, J. Acquavella, SC Berry, D. Brusick, MNM Burns, JL de Camargo, D. Garabrant, HA Greim, LD Kier, DJ Kirkland, G. Marsh, KR Solomon, T. Sorahan, A Roberts, DL Weed: A review of the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate by four independent expert panels and comparison to the IARC assessment. In: Crit Rev Toxicol. 46, 2016, pp. 3–20. doi: 10.1080 / 10408444.2016.1214677
  • GM Williams, C. Berry, M. Burns, JL de Camargo, H. Greim: Glyphosate rodent carcinogenicity bioassay expert panel review. In: Crit Rev Toxicol. 46, 2016, pp. 44-55. doi: 10.1080 / 10408444.2016.1214679
  • R. Solecki, A. Kortenkamp, ​​A. Bergmann, I. Chahoud, GH Degen, D. Dietrich, H. Greim, H. Hakansson, U. Hass, T. Husoy, M. Jacobs, S. Jobling, A. Mantovani , P. Marx-Stoelting, A. Piersma, V. Ritz, R. Slama, R. Stahlmann, M. van den Berg, TR Zoeller, AR Boobis: Scientific principles for the identification of endocrine-disrupting chemicals: a consensus statement. In: Arch Toxicol. 91, 2017, pp. 1001-1006 doi: 10.1007 / s00204-016-1866-9
  • H. Greim, RJ Albertini: Cellular response to the genotoxic insult: the question of threshold for genotoxic carcinogens. In: Toxicol Res. 4, 2015, pp. 36-45. doi: 10.1039 / C4TX00078A
  • H. Greim, D. Saltmiras, V. Mostert, Ch Strupp: Evaluation of carcinogenic potential of the herbicide glyphosate, drawing on tumor incidence data from fourteen chronic / carcinogenicity rodent studies. In: Crit Rev Toxicol. 45 (3), 2015, pp. 185-208. doi: 10.3109 / 10408444.2014.1003423
  • P. Harrison, P. Holmes, R. Bevan, K. Kamps, L. Levy, H. Greim: Regulatory risk assessment approaches for synthetic mineral fibers. In: Reg Tox and Pharmacol. 73, 2015, pp. 425-441. doi: 10.1016 / j.yrtph.2015.07.029
  • Essential MAK value documentations / DFG, German Research Foundation. (= The MAK collection for occupational health and safety ). Wiley-VCH-Verlag, Weinheim 2006, ISBN 3-527-31394-X .
  • with Erhard Deml (Hrsg.): Toxicology - an introduction for scientists and physicians . VCH-Verlag, Weinheim / New York et al. 1996, ISBN 3-527-28483-4 .
  • Toxicology Memorandum . Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2000, ISBN 3-527-27214-3 .
  • Chemicals with endocrine-disruptin potential - a threat to human health? In: Angewandte Chemie . 44, 2005, pp. 5568-5574.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1996, 118, 34.
  2. ↑ a b c 10 Monkeys and a Beetle: Inside VW's Campaign for 'Clean Diesel' . In: The New York Times . January 25, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  3. ↑ Purchased expertise: How an industry-related expert has influenced politics for decades. In: Monitor. October 20, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Can glyphosate cause cancer? (No longer available online.) GENUK eV, archived from the original on November 16, 2016 ; accessed on February 3, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.genuk-ev.de
  5. ↑ Interview with Helmut Greim. In: FACT. MDR, March 28, 2017, accessed September 14, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Answer of the Federal Government to the small question of February 9, 2015, printed matter 18/3978
  7. ↑ taz of August 6, 2004 poison experts lack sensitivity (accessed on February 1, 2018)
  8. ↑ animal experiments. VW tested diesel emissions on monkeys . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . January 26, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  9. ↑ European Research Association for Environment and Health in the Transport Sector eV (EUGT): Activity report 2012–2015 (here: the board, the management, the research advisory board)
  10. ↑ Stefanie Dodt, Max Hägler, Klaus Ott: This lobby association let monkeys inhale diesel exhaust fumes . In: sueddeutsche.de . 2018, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed on January 28, 2018]).
  11. ↑ Interview with Prof. Dr. Thomas Kraus on the Aachen NO2 study . Youtube video of the house channel of the University Clinic Aachen, accessed on January 30, 2018.
  12. ↑ Biological effects of inhaled nitrogen dioxide in healthy human subjects
  13. ↑ Do monkey tests cost the chief researcher his cross of merit? . Die Welt vom February 2, 2018, accessed on February 3, 2018.
  14. ^ Adrian Arab: Toxicologist keeps the Cross of Merit. In: welt.de . March 15, 2018, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Helmut Greim receives the highest German honor for citizens (website of the Technical University of Munich). July 27, 2015, accessed May 19, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Greim, Helmut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German toxicologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin