Giovanni Berlinguer

Interview

• "Biotechnology in Italy" (Rome 04/02/99)

Biography

Born in Sassari in July 1924, Giovanni Berlinguer  graduated in Medicine and Surgery. Immediately after his studies he began his university as assistant lecturer in Hygiene and parasitology and lecturer in Social Medicine (1958) and then lecturer in Hygiene (1964). Professor of social Medicine and Hygiene in Sassari from 1964 to 1974, he currently teaches Physiology and the Hygiene of Work at the Department of Animal and Human Biology  of "La Sapienza" University in Rome, and is Director of the specialist course in Bioethics.

He has been honorary professor of the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (1982) and doctor honoris causa of the Université de Montréal (1996).
He has a wide range of research interests, which include both general and work hygiene, welfare, the politics of health, the history of illness and medicine, demographics and bioethics.

Parallel to his academic career, he has also pursued a career in politics. He joined the Italian Communist Party in 1944 and was regional secretary for Lazio, and then provincial councillor. He has been director of the Social Security section and the Commission for Schools, the Environment and Scientific Research of the PCI Executive.

He has been elected to Parliament on several occasions, both to the House of Deputies  (in 1972, 1976 and 1979) and the Senate  (1983 and 1987) and has participated in the work of various parliamentary commissions: Health, Education and the Arts.

He is president of the National Bioethics Committee.
He has also held a number of international positions: he was vice-president of the International Association for the Study of Living Conditions and Health (1971-78) the Mediterranean Medical Society (1992-95), an expert on the European Parliament’s Environment and Health Commission, honorary president of the European Association for Health Policy (1997), member of the Global Equity in Health Initiative (1997), and a speaker at the World Forum for Health on ‘Globalization and Health’ (1998).He is editor of the review Qualità Equità.

Bibliography

He has published over 200 articles both in Italy and abroad on the history of illness, urban sociology, health policy, the relationships between politics and science, health and society, and science and the environment.

His most recent books include:

• Rapporto sulla salute. Coniugare risparmio e qualità (1998).
  Lezioni di bioetica (1997).
• La merce finale. Saggio sulla compravendita di parti del corpo umano (1996) (also published in Brasil and Portugal).
• Etica della salute (1994) (also published in Brasil and Argentina).