CHE has previously highlighted the experiences of Dr. Tyrone Hayes and Dr. David Carpenter, who were both targeted for their research on health effects of chemicals. We have also highlighted the broader patterns that affect scientists working on controversial topics.
In January 2026, The New Lede reported on the abrupt dismissal of Dr. Daniele Mandrioli from his position as Director of the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center, within the highly respected Ramazzini Institute in Italy. Dr. Mandrioli had been leading the Global Glyphosate Study, investigating health effects of glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicide formulations. The sudden dismissal of Dr. Mandrioli has raised significant questions and concerns.
Statements from the Collegium Ramazzini & the Italian Epidemiology Association
The Collegium Ramazzini, which is distinct from but closely connected to the Ramazzini Institute, published a statement making clear that the institution is “deeply distressed” by the dismissal of Dr. Mandrioli. According to the statement, the Ramazzini Institute’s President and Board of Directors “offered no rationale for their decision other than to say that it was undertaken in the context of a ‘reorganization’ of the Ramazzini Institute.”
As described in the Collegium Ramazzini statement, Dr. Mandrioli, a highly respected scientist, “has led research on the health hazards of multiple substances including pesticides, asbestos and other fibers, air pollutants, food additives and contaminants, plastics, tobacco and electronic cigarettes, and radiofrequency radiation,” and has also made key contributions in the fields of “scientific ethics and methodology.”
The statement has also been published in the European Journal of Oncology and Environmental Health.
Epidemiologia & Prevenzione, the publication of the Italian Epidemiology Association, has also published a statement expressing serious concerns about Dr. Mandrioli’s dismissal and expressing hope that he will be reinstated. The statement emphasizes the importance for public health of the high-quality, long-term experimental studies conducted at the Institute.
International Scientific Advisory Committee letter
As reported in the New Lede, there were also strong objections from the Ramazzini Institute’s International Scientific Advisory Committee. Dr. Philip Landrigan, the head of the Committee, wrote a letter to the President of the Ramazzini Institute. The letter expresses “deep disappointment” that the Committee was not consulted about the Institute’s decision to dismiss Dr. Mandrioli:
“For many years, we on the International Scientific Advisory Committee have viewed ourselves as partners to your office and to the League of Cooperatives in Bologna in the direction of the Ramazzini Institute. . . . Now you have made a major decision with great implications for the future of the Institute without even consulting us.”
The letter continues,
“But beyond the dismissal of Dr. Mandrioli, we are deeply concerned that your decision may signal an end to the independence of the Ramazzini Institute’s research. Dr. Mandrioli, like Drs. Maltoni, Soffritti, and Belpoggi before him, has been subjected to vicious attacks by the chemical industry because the findings of the Institute’s independent research have cost these companies money and hurt their bottom line. The attacks on Dr. Mandrioli have increased in intensity in recent months since publication of the results of the Global Glyphosate Study, which found that glyphosate causes dose-related increases in cancer at multiple anatomic sites in experimental animals, most notably increases in leukemia.”
Press interview & official inquiry in Italy
Dr. Mandrioli was interviewed by the Corriere di Bologna about the situation. Portions of the interview are translated in an article published in GM Watch: “Glyphosate-cancer research director’s departure from Ramazzini Institute was not ‘by mutual agreement.’” In the interview, Dr. Mandrioli explained that his dismissal was a unilateral decision – not, as the Institute’s President had told the press, “by mutual agreement.”
GM Watch further quotes Dr. Mandrioli:
“Every time we publish a study on adverse effects, manufacturers or lobbyists react. The attacks are all the more abrupt the greater the interests at stake. I’ve been doing this job for 15 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s the best-selling pesticide in the world... We addressed the substance on a scientific level, but many are influenced by sales. The scientific approach should be immune to this, but it is not always so.”
(Note: On March 14th, GM Watch added an editor’s note to this article.)
In late February, an inquiry was initiated in the Italian Senate, requesting information from the Minister of Health regarding the circumstances of Dr. Mandrioli’s dismissal.
Research on glyphosate
The Collegium Ramazzini statement explains that “[m]ost recently, Dr. Mandrioli and his colleagues published the results of the carcinogenicity arm of the Global Glyphosate Study, the largest international toxicological study ever performed on glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides.” Glyphosate was classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as “probably carcinogenic to humans” (IARC Group 2A) in 2015.
The recent study findings were published in Panzacchi et al., Carcinogenic effects of long-term exposure from prenatal life to glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides in Sprague–Dawley rats. In this study, rats were exposed to glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides beginning in utero. As summarized by the Collegium Ramazzini statement:
“The main finding of this study was that pure glyphosate and two commercial glyphosate-based herbicide formulations produced dose-related increases in benign and malignant tumors at multiple anatomic sites in experimental animals. The most notable of these increases was a striking elevation in incidence and mortality from leukemia, with more than 40% of the leukemias occurring in the first year of life.”
A June 2025 article in Le Monde, translated into English by Sustainable Pulse, examined some of the responses to this study. Sustainable Pulse calls these responses a “Textbook Case of ‘Manufacturing Doubt.’” According to the article, misleading media posts criticizing the study were amplified in press coverage.
For more information about the study and its implications, see this press release by George Mason University: International Study Reveals Glyphosate Weed Killers Cause Multiple Types of Cancer. According to the press release, “The next step in the GGS [Global Glyphosate Study] will be the neurotoxicity arm, which is vital for understanding any role glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides may be playing in the rise of neurological related diseases and disorders.”
Other publications resulting from the Global Glyphosate Study have included studies of the effects of glyphosate and its formulations on the microbiome and on the urine metabolome in laboratory animals and a study of maternal urinary levels of glyphosate and anogenital distance in newborns, among others.
Additional resources
To learn more about efforts to protect scientists and scientific integrity, see:
- Scientific Integrity page
- Webinar: CHE Café: Protecting scientists from industry intimidation with Lariah Edwards and Lisa Bero (July 2024)
- Webinar: Industry Influence & Scientists: Protecting scientific integrity with Tyrone Hayes, David Carpenter, and Stacy Malkan (May 2023)
- Blog post: Haleigh Cavalier, Safeguarding Science: Protecting researchers & scientific integrity (August 2024)
- Blog post: Stacy Malkan, Attacks on Scientists: Lessons from the Monsanto papers (July 2024)
Other glyphosate-related resources on the CHE website include:
- EDC Strategies Partnership webinar with Dr. Brenda Eskenazi, Long-term Health Effects of Childhood Glyphosate Exposure (April 2023)
- Science Snippet (90-second video): Dr. Brenda Eskenazi on Childhood Glyphosate Exposure
Citations for sources linked above:1
Dr. Rachel Massey is Senior Science and Policy Advisor at the Collaborative for Health and Environment and Senior Research Associate at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.