Thomas Mancuso

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Thomas Mancuso (born February 19, 1912 in New York , † July 4, 2004 in Oakland , California ) was an American medic .

After studying medicine , he received his doctorate in 1937 from Creighton University in Omaha , Nebraska .

Until 1962 he headed the Industrial Hygiene Department for the Ohio Department of Health . He then remained a professor at the University of Pittsburgh until he was 70 . He created important foundations for modern occupational medicine. The methodologist conducted long-term studies on the harmful effects of materials such as asbestos , chrome and beryllium .

In 1965 he was commissioned by the State Atomic Energy Commission ( AEC) to investigate the effects of weakly ionizing radiation on approximately 500,000 workers who worked in US atomic bomb factories. His studies were not finished when a colleague's report of cancer cases in workers at the Hanford plutonium factory was published in 1974 .

Manusco should then sign a downplaying declaration. He refused to sign. “There's a rationale here that affects all scientists,” he said. Shortly afterwards, the Ministry of Energy canceled his funds and confiscated all data from his investigations. Nevertheless, he continued to research with colleagues. The results of the investigation were only recognized years later.

In 2000, the US Congress passed a compensation program for former nuclear plant workers, which by 2004 paid out nearly $ 1 billion. His research into the carcinogenic effects of beryllium was also under attack for many years. To this day, says David Michaels of the George Washington University School of Public Health , his studies are "thorns in the flesh of polluters".

While still retired, Mancuso advised the international machinists' association. His last study on the effects of chromium appeared in 1997.

In 2002 he received the Alice Hamilton Award from the American Public Health Association (APHA) Section Occupational Safety and Health (OHS)

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert Del Tredici: Dr. Thomas Mancuso. In: Our bomb (At Work in the Fields of the Bomb). Rik Schulte, August 16, 1982, accessed January 3, 2009 .
  2. ↑ 2006 OHS Section Awards Program. (PDF) APHA, October 23, 2006, p. 6 , archived from the original on July 25, 2008 ; accessed on January 3, 2009 .
personal data
SURNAME Mancuso, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American medic
DATE OF BIRTH February 19, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH new York
DATE OF DEATH 4th July 2004
Place of death Oakland (California)