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Silvio Garattini

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Garattini in 1963

Silvio Garattini (born November 12, 1928) is an Italian scientist, pharmacology research scientist, physician and professor in chemotherapy and pharmacology and director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research.

Quotes

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  • Homeopathic remedies are the result of such extreme dilutions of the original active ingredients that, in the vast majority of cases, they no longer contain even a single molecule of those substances. And in the absence of any active ingredient, it is difficult to argue that these preparations can, in themselves, have any therapeutic effect.
  • Organ transplantation, primarily of the liver, kidney, heart and lung, is now well established. A transplant no longer makes the news because it has become almost a routine procedure. The only obstacle to its wider use is the scarcity of organs, unfortunately due to poor organisation and often a lack of willingness.
  • However, the function of transplanted organs unfortunately tends to deteriorate quite rapidly over time. The average survival of a transplanted kidney and heart is around 8 years, as it was two decades ago, and this is despite significant advances in anti-rejection therapy. This means that, all things considered, a significant proportion of transplant patients find themselves back in the same condition as before after a few years. Whilst for the kidney there is the option of returning to dialysis, for the heart and liver it is necessary to find another organ—which is not always available—for a second transplant.
  • If we use the word "vivisection", I am the first to be horrified. Literally, it means ‘dissecting the living’, which is not, however, what happens in laboratories, where animals are not brutally cut open at all, but are subjected to analyses and experiments that are always carried out safely, in compliance with all regulations. The correct term would be ‘animal experimentation’: paradoxically, it would be more accurate to call any surgical procedure we perform on humans "vivisection".
  • A drug or medicine is defined as a substance or compound capable of influencing the physiological or pathological processes of an organism and which is used for the prevention or treatment of a specific disease.
  • [On animal testing] In my view, an important distinction needs to be made: are we discussing this issue from an ethical or a scientific perspective? Because from an ethical standpoint, I can understand people who do not want animals to be mistreated. However, I would expect consistency from them: they should not eat meat, let alone use medicines. Even more so, they should not use medicines for their own dogs and cats, because all medicines used for pets are the result of experiments carried out by humans, through practices that they themselves oppose.
  • Mice, rats and all animal species share many things in common with humans: the same organs, the same blood circulation, a brain, a beating heart, the nervous system, the endocrine system, an immune system made up of the same components... Nowadays, thanks to genomics, we know that the genetic system is fundamentally the same, differing from species to species only in certain specific components. Animal experimentation should be viewed not as a mirror of human experimentation, but as a model. After all, this is the case in all scientific endeavour: if one decides to build an aeroplane, one does not go straight to the workshop to assemble the parts, but first makes scale models and subjects them to testing.

Interviews

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Sara Bettoni, Longevità, la ricetta di Silvio Garattini: «Evitare il mercato della medicina. Io non mangio mai a pranzo: e i miei farmaci sono cinema, teatri, conferenze», Corriere della Sera, Milan, 22 March 2024
  • Italy is the EU country with the highest number of elderly people. But if we look at healthy life expectancy, we drop significantly down the rankings. In the later stages of life, people develop numerous illnesses – as many as two or three per person.
  • Interviewer: Where do we start? Garattini: With training for managers. We don’t have a School of Public Health; managers are often just friends of politicians. And we need to talk about health in the classroom too; an hour a week would suffice. It’s ridiculous that the Department for Education can’t find the time to do this. Prevention must also be part of medical school curricula. Doctors shouldn’t just prescribe medication, but also good habits: walking at least 3 kilometres a day, losing a certain number of kilos. And they should be judged on the basis of their patients’ health outcomes: how many have stopped smoking, how many are no longer obese. Another key factor is communication.
  • Health information must be independent, yet it is driven by the market. There is no body monitoring what advertising says. The Medical Association should be clamouring for independent information.
Eleonora Capelli, Silvio Garattini: "Anche l'Emilia non è al riparo, bimbi a scuola solo se vaccinati", La Repubblica, 14 October 2015
  • New regulations are needed to make it compulsory for children wishing to attend state schools to be vaccinated. Children cannot be allowed to attend school if there is a risk of them infecting those who are most vulnerable.
  • We must emphasise that it is the parents’ responsibility to protect their children, and not to believe false claims about links between vaccines and other diseases. It makes no sense to link the administration of a vaccine with the onset of other diseases. The link with autism, for example, is a complete fabrication; the doctor who claimed it in the journal “'Lancet”' [Andrew Wakefield] was struck off the medical register after admitting to having manipulated the data.
  • Our country has two major problems. The first is an anti-scientific mindset, which ranges from vaccine refusal to support for the Stamina method, opposition to GMOs and animal testing. And this is due to the fact that schools ignore science as a cultural component; in other words, they do not teach the scientific method.
Andrea Capocci, Silvio Garattini: «Alla nostra sanità serve una rivoluzione culturale», Ilmanifesto.it, 28 April 2021
  • Over 50% of illnesses are caused by our lifestyle habits. 70% of cancers are preventable, yet 160,000 people die of cancer every year. This is because prevention conflicts with the interests of the huge pharmaceutical market. It is unlikely that the government will launch a major anti-smoking campaign as long as it collects €13 billion a year in tobacco taxes. If chronic diseases such as diabetes, kidney failure and other conditions largely dependent on lifestyle were to disappear, the pharmaceutical market would shrink by 50%.
  • This is not about charity, it is in our own interest: if we do not vaccinate everyone, the variants will return, they will be resistant to vaccines and we will be forced to start all over again. That is why we must produce vaccines ourselves, and if necessary, introduce compulsory licences.
  • I believe that the EU Digital COVID Certificate is discriminatory until everyone is vaccinated. Why can’t a forty-year-old move about whilst others can? And I am also critical because it places vaccination on the same level as a negative test, which is valid for a day at most. Vaccination and a negative test cannot be placed on the same level of safety.
  • Given the context, all things considered, the vaccines have passed the key evaluation stages adequately. We have seen proof of this in practice, from Israel to the UK.
Francesco Rigatelli, Silvio Garattini: “Sbagliato immunizzare i giovani, bisogna avere più informazioni”, La Stampa.it, 14 June 2021
  • There have been two serious and recurring errors in Italy’s handling of the pandemic: the lack of scientific communication from the government and the decision to abandon the criteria of age and underlying health conditions in the vaccination campaign.
  • The truth is that some extremely rare cases of thrombosis have been identified, but it is not clear why they occur. When there were so many deaths, people were more afraid of the virus, whereas now they are unsure what to do. Let’s not hide the fact that there are major economic interests fanning the flames.
  • The whole world needs to be vaccinated, and if dangerous variants emerge, we may have to start all over again. The government has been talking for months about Italian production, but why hasn’t it started yet?
Peter D'Angelo, Vaccino Covid, il professor Garattini: "Non somministrarlo ai bambini sani. Prioritario vaccinare i 3 milioni di over 60 che mancano", Ilfattoquotidiano.it, 18 June 2021.
  • It is generally believed that young people can infect their parents and grandparents. In reality, the priority must be to vaccinate people over the age of 60. Indeed, it is in this age group that we see the vast majority of serious illnesses and deaths.
  • It must be said that we do not know what the threshold is for achieving so-called herd immunity. The claim that 70% of the population needs to be vaccinated lacks objective evidence, as it depends on the type of vaccine. For other diseases, such as measles, 95% of the population needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. We must also bear in mind that we are still lagging far behind because we started late, and today only just over 14–15 million people in Italy have received both doses of the vaccine. It should also be remembered that if we do not vaccinate everyone quickly, we could face the problem of variants that are not controlled by the vaccines.
Linda Varlese, Silvio Garattini: "Le mie risposte a Cacciari sul vaccino, punto per punto", Huffingtonpost.it, 28 July 2021
  • Let us not forget that we are in a state of emergency. If we had waited years, how many deaths would there have been? In any case, the key stages of the clinical trials have been followed. The flu vaccine is tested over a period of just a few months.
  • Given that the virus causes serious heart damage, cases of myocarditis following vaccination are generally mild and reversible.
  • There is no legal obligation to be vaccinated, even under the Constitution. However, my freedom ends where it infringes on the freedom of others. Indeed, healthcare workers may choose not to be vaccinated, but as they risk infecting their patients if they do not, they cannot practise their profession. There are many restrictions on freedom: for example, you cannot drive a car without a driving licence. It should be emphasised that long-term side effects are not known for most of the medicines we use every day. In Italy, there has been a lack of clear information capable of explaining the risk-benefit ratio of the vaccine compared to infection.
Proteste No vax: "Obbligo ultima spiaggia, abbiamo sbagliato la comunicazione", Ilsussidiario.net, 2 September 2021
  • The Green Pass is the document certifying vaccination. In my view, it is somewhat undermined by the fact that it treats the test as equivalent to the vaccine, but the test is not the same as the vaccine, because it simply shows that at a given moment the person is not carrying the virus, yet an hour later they might be. I would remove the test requirement, which would provide an extra incentive to get vaccinated.
  • It is difficult to engage with those who harbour ideological prejudices against vaccines. Given that the vast majority of people currently in hospital are unvaccinated, perhaps we should let the anti-vaxxers hear the voices of those who, despite being opposed to vaccination, contracted the disease and ended up in intensive care, and then admitted: ‘I was wrong to think the vaccine wasn’t useful, because you suffer terribly in an intensive care bed, so don’t make the same mistake yourselves.’
  • In general, pharmacovigilance data confirm that vaccines are well tolerated, as serious adverse reactions occur in one case per 100,000 to 200,000 doses – a threshold far lower than that of almost all medicines, which can cause side effects in as many as one in 100 cases. Aspirin, for example, can cause gastrointestinal bleeding, yet it is taken without any problem.
Federico Fumagalli, Silvio Garattini: «Le liste d'attesa sono anche un po' colpa nostra. Ci sono nove tumori che dipendono dall'alcol», 'Corriere della Sera, Bergamo, 19 April 2026
  • Health education must begin as early as possible and develop over time. But it is never too late to break bad habits. Whatever your age, there are benefits to doing so.
  • There are nine types of cancer linked to alcohol consumption. The first is oesophageal cancer. We live in a free country and everyone is free to take whatever risks they wish. However, as science enthusiasts, we must provide accurate information. We certainly cannot claim that drinking – even in small amounts – is good for you.
  • I lived through 17 years of the Fascist regime. I was fortunate to have a dad who was very attentive and certainly not on the side of the Fascists. In the evenings, we would tune in to Radio London to hear those who thought differently. Today, young people struggle to grasp the difference between dictatorship and democracy, because nobody teaches it to them. The Italian school system is stuck in the past. Instead, we should speak to young people using far more verbs in the future tense.
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