Alberto Mantovani, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy
Dr Alberto Mantovani with his group presenting their studies, including
CASCADE research on baby food and bread, in their stand at the food safety meeting SICURA in Modena, Italy. Mantovani is vice chair in EFSA’s scientific panel FEEDAP about additives and products or substances used in animal feed.
“Stakeholders should understand the importance of science - but it ismy duty as a scientist to make myself understood. For example in the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) all our opinions must be based on science, but not all readers of EFSA documents are scientific experts. Therefore, we must convey the message so that the final conclusion isunderstandable. This is what CASCADE is trying to do, for instance byCASCADE Newsletters, where complex issues like nuclear receptors and risk assessment are discussed in an understandable way.
CASCADE also made me fully understand the importance to translate basic research into risk assessment. For instance, the risk assessment of compounds such as dioxins shows the opportunities by bridging different stand points: receptor people, chemists, toxicologists andrisk assessors. This, paired with the added value of all the different groups in CASCADE, is the strength of CASCADE. To me – this is fantastic!”
