Irving J. Selikoff | |
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| Born | (1915-01-15)January 15, 1915 Brooklyn, New York |
| Died | May 20, 1992(1992-05-20) (aged 77) Ridgewood, New Jersey |
| Alma mater | Columbia University, Royal Colleges Scotland |
| Known for | Seminal research onasbestos-related illness, his tireless advocacy for worker safety and health protections, and his contributions to the establishment of federal asbestos regulations. |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Occupational safety and health |
Irving J. Selikoff (January 15, 1915 – May 20, 1992) was a medical researcher who in the 1960s established a link between the inhalation of asbestos particles and lung-related ailments. His work is largely responsible for the regulation of asbestos today. He also co-discovered a treatment fortuberculosis.[1]
Irving J. Selikoff was born to aJewish family[2] in Brooklyn in 1915. He graduated fromColumbia University in 1935 and attended Royal Colleges Scotland for his medical degree, graduating in 1941.[1] He later interned in Newark, New Jersey, and joined the Mount Sinai Medical Center as an assistant in anatomy and physiology.[3]
Selikoff was married to Cecelia Shiffrin.
In the 1960s, Selikoff documentedasbestos-related diseases among industrial workers.[4] He found that workers exposed to asbestos often had scarred lung tissue 30 years after exposure. His research is credited with having pressured theOccupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to limit workplace exposure to asbestos.[5]
In the 1950s, Selikoff had opened a general-medicine practice called the Paterson Clinic inPaterson, New Jersey. A few years later, the Asbestos Workers Union asked him to add their membership to his practice. He agreed, and business picked up noticeably. In a few years, however, Selikoff noticed surprising events; several new cases ofpleural mesothelioma were diagnosed in a year—the expected incidence was about 5/100,000. (The new cohort (asbestos workers) were still a small fraction of the clinic's patient list, but this small group faced grave and novel risks.)
This anomaly led Selikoff into an examination of the relation between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma. He became aware of hundreds of articles previously published on this issue. He engaged in additional studies of groups of asbestos workers, in particular shipyard workers including those at theLong Beach Naval Shipyard. By 1965, he had conducted various studies, published several articles, conducted special scientific symposia, and been interviewed byThe New York Times. Each of these raised public awareness of the issue, which had been known to the occupational health community but which had not yet reached widespread public awareness. One of the most well-known and important was the international conference on the "Biological Effects of Asbestos" under the auspices of the renowned New York Academy of Sciences. The results of these presentations were publiced in Volume 132 of theAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences published in 1965.[6]
He has received awards from theAmerican Public Health Association, theNew York Academy of Sciences, and theAmerican Cancer Society. He was also awarded the AlbertLasker Award for Clinical Medical Research in 1955. In 1982 he co-founded theCollegium Ramazzini along with Cesare Maltoni and other scientists.[7] He wrote more than 350 scientific articles and two books, edited 11 books and founded two journals. He was the former head of the American Thoracic Society, the Collegium Ramazzini and New York Academy of Medicine. He was a consultant to the World Health Organization, the National Cancer Institute and other agencies, businesses and unions.
U.S. RepresentativeCarolyn B. Maloney presented a Congressional Record tribute in honor of Dr. Selikoff in October 2015.[8] The tribute was presented at theIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and is on display at the Mount SinaiSelikoff Centers for Occupational Health.
Prior to Selikoff's publications in this area, the US "had been the world's greatest consumer of asbestos."[9] Selikoff's efforts to publicize his research and that of others placed him at the center of controversies surrounding asbestos. In efforts to protect the industry, criticisms were made of Selikoff exaggerating the risks of asbestos and even committing medical fraud. However, most of these claims were inspired by the asbestos industry or its sympathizers, "and for much of his career he was the victim of a sustained and orchestrated campaign to discredit him. The most serious criticisms usually more accurately describe his detractors than Selikoff himself".[10]
In 1966 Selikoff founded and became the director of the Environmental and Occupational Health Division[5] ofMount Sinai Hospital in New York, the nation's first hospital division dedicated to the field. He retired as division director at Mount Sinai in 1985 but remained active in research. After his death, it was renamed the "Irving J. Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine" in his honor, and subsequently named "Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health".[11]
The Irving J. Selikoff Award and Lecture was instituted in 1993 by the Collegium Ramazzini. The award is given periodically to a scientist or humanist whose studies and achievements have contributed to the protection of workers' health and the environment.[7]
Recipients of this award include:[citation needed]
Selikoff continued to research the effects of asbestos up to the age of 75.[5] A resident ofRidgewood, New Jersey, he died on May 20, 1992, at the age of 77 from cancer atThe Valley Hospital in Ridgewood.[1][12]
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