Andrea 't Mannetje
Maanetje in 2003
Born(1972-02-05)5 February 1972
Died (aged 51)
Wellington, New Zealand
PartnerJeroen Douwes
Children1
Academic background
Alma materUtrecht University
Academic work
InstitutionsInternational Agency for Research on Cancer
Massey University

Andrea Martine 't Mannetje (5 February 1972[1] – 30 August 2023) was a New Zealand epidemiologist, and was a full professor at Massey University. She specialised in occupational causes of cancer, but also worked on environmental causes of neurodegenerative diseases, birth defects, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Academic career

In 2003, Mannetje completed a PhD on the occupational causes of cancer at the University of Utrecht.[2] Mannetje worked at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France, before moving to Massey University.[3] She was promoted to full professor in 2022.[4]

Mannetje focused on cancer for her early research, but later included a wider range of diseases in her work, covering environmental causes of neurodegenerative diseases, birth defects, and inflammatory bowel disease.[4] Her research showed that lead levels in New Zealander's blood had dropped by 90% over the last 36 years.[5] Her research also showed that combinations of everyday chemicals in people's environments could be causing cancer, even when the individual chemicals were at low levels.[6] She led a team that demonstrated that indoor dust is a source of carcinogenic chemicals in breast milk, through inclusion of brominated compounds found in fire-retardants, but that the levels are likely too low in New Zealand to do any harm.[7] Mannetje also surveyed which chemicals were most likely to be carcinogens in New Zealand work environments, and found more than 50 commonly present carcinogens, including wood dust, asbestos, benzene, and formaldehyde.[8]

More recently Mannetje had looked at New Zealanders' exposure to pesticides, and showed that workplace exposure to pesticides was associated with leukemia, lymphoma, and motor neurone disease.[4] Mannetje was part of a World Health Organisation panel of 18 scientists who examined the safety of glyphosate weedkillers. The panel found "there was 'limited' evidence of cancer in humans exposed to the chemical, and 'sufficient' evidence of cancer in experimental animals".[9] Mannetje said "The human evidence suggests from epidemiological studies that exposure to glyphosate, particularly long-term exposure over multiple years, is associated with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma". She called for the Environmental Protection Authority to reclassify glyphosate in New Zealand so that the public would be aware of the potential risks.[9] The EPA instead commissioned its own report, carried out by one scientist, Wayne Temple, that said glyphosate was not a cancer risk in humans.[9]

Mannetje died at the Mary Potter Hospice in Wellington on 30 August 2023, at the age of 51.[10]

Selected works

  • Manolis Kogevinas; Andrea 't Mannetje; Sylvaine Cordier; et al. (1 December 2003). "Occupation and bladder cancer among men in Western Europe". Cancer Causes & Control. 14 (10): 907–914. doi:10.1023/B:CACO.0000007962.19066.9C. ISSN 0957-5243. PMID 14750529. Wikidata Q38480430.
  • Kyle Steenland; Andrea Mannetje; Paolo Boffetta; et al. (2001). "Pooled exposure-response analyses and risk assessment for lung cancer in 10 cohorts of silica-exposed workers: an IARC multicentre study". Cancer Causes & Control. 12 (9): 773–784. doi:10.1023/A:1012214102061. ISSN 0957-5243. PMID 11714104. Wikidata Q23916472.
  • Amanda Eng; Andrea 't Mannetje; Dave McLean; Lis Ellison-Loschmann; Soo Cheng; Neil Pearce (12 April 2011). "Gender differences in occupational exposure patterns". Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 68 (12): 888–894. doi:10.1136/OEM.2010.064097. ISSN 1351-0711. PMID 21486991. Wikidata Q44776177.
  • Jolanta Lissowska; Alicja Bardin-Mikolajczak; Tony Fletcher; et al. (13 July 2005). "Lung cancer and indoor pollution from heating and cooking with solid fuels: the IARC international multicentre case-control study in Eastern/Central Europe and the United Kingdom". American Journal of Epidemiology. 162 (4): 326–333. doi:10.1093/AJE/KWI204. ISSN 0002-9262. PMID 16014775. Wikidata Q43414699.
  • A 't Mannetje; H Kromhout (1 June 2003). "The use of occupation and industry classifications in general population studies". International Journal of Epidemiology. 32 (3): 419–428. doi:10.1093/IJE/DYG080. ISSN 0300-5771. PMID 12777430. Wikidata Q40584878.

References

  1. ↑ "In memory of Andrea Martine 't Mannetje". Tributes Online. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  2. ↑ "People » Centre for Public Health Research". publichealth.massey.ac.nz. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  3. ↑ "Prof Andrea 't Mannetje - Professor - Massey University". 30 March 2023. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 "2021 Professorial promotions announced". www.massey.ac.nz. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  5. ↑ Harvie, Will (9 February 2020). "NZ lead contamination down 90 per cent in 36 years". Stuff. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  6. ↑ Jamie Morton (26 October 2023). "Cancer threat from chemicals". NZ Herald. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  7. ↑ Massey University, via Medical XPress (13 August 2013). "Study shows links between dust and breast milk". medicalxpress.com. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  8. ↑ Massey University via Medical XPress (9 October 2013). "Workplace cancers study leads occupational disease research". medicalxpress.com. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 Mead, Thomas (1 October 2019). "High-ranking scientist calls on NZ regulators to recognise possible cancer risk with popular weed killer". 1 News. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  10. ↑ "Andrea 't Mannetje obituary". The Post. 2 September 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
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