Mirosław Jan Stasik (1929–2023). Doctor, toxicologist and promoter of science

Mirosław Jan Stasik was born in Lódź on 27 January 1929. He was the only child of Roman Stasik, an office worker for a factory administration bureau, and Marianna Stasik, née Jurkiewicz. During the Second World War, when he was just 14 years old, he was conscripted into forced labour by the German occupiers. For two years, he worked as a courier for the Geyer factory in Lódź. After the war ended, he attended a boys’ grammar school, (Gimnazjum Męskie im. prez. Gabriela Narutowicza), where he passed his school-leaving exam in 1948. In 1953, he completed his medical studies at the Lódź Medical Academy. The following year, he married Liliana Stasik (née Hansel), who later became a doctor. Their son Jacek was born in 1955. From 1956 to 1962, Mirosław Stasik worked at a specialist voivodeship clinic (Wojewódzki Specjalistyczny Szpital im. Mikołaja Pirogowa) in the department of internal medicine. In 1962, after specialising in internal diseases, he became head of the newly established department for acute intoxication at the Institute for Occupational Medicine (Instytut Medycyny Pracy, IMP) led by Prof. J. Nofer in Lódź, where he conducted pioneering work in the field of toxicology and toxicological information in Poland.

 

Emigration
 

In 1969, Mirosław Stasik travelled to Switzerland on holiday with his wife and son. The family decided to remain abroad and emigrate to West Germany. There, they spent a year in Heidelberg before moving to Rüsselsheim. Liliana Stasik worked there as a doctor at the Opel car factory. In 1982, the Stasiks moved to Niedernhausen near Wiesbaden, to a house designed by their son Jacek, who at that time was still a young architect. After taking a course in German in Heidelberg, Mirosław Stasik joined the chemical company Hoechst AG in Frankfurt/Main, where he headed the centre for toxicology and epidemiological research into the development of cancer. His research focused on determining the carcinogenic potential of certain aromatic amines and disinfectants. While working for Hoechst AG, he completed an internship at the Institute for Toxicology of the Julius Maximilian University in Würzburg, and gained his doctorate at the Ruprecht Karl University in Heidelberg in 1972. On his request, the company also sent him on a course of study to the University of Surrey in Guildford in the UK, which he completed in 1978 with a diploma in toxicology. During the 1980s, Stasik represented Hoechst AG at numerous scientific conferences and was also an advisor to and member of various scientific bodies in Brussels.

In December 1987, Dr Stasik stopped working due to ill health, before later going into full retirement. 

 

Scientific achievements
 

Mirosław Stasik is the author of over 50 scientific publications in Polish, English, German and Japanese scientific journals, as well as articles in the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety published by the International Labour Organization. He presented his research findings at international conferences of the International Commission on Occupational Health.

In 1968, he wrote a paper on the toxicity of tetraethyllead in humans while organising a conference of the toxicological information centres of the voivodeships in Lódź. The material for this article was obtained from the health records of patients in the department for acute intoxications at the Institute for Occupational Medicine (IMP) in Lódź. This was one of the first scientific papers on this topic in the world.[1]

In 1987 Mirosław Stasik proved the carcinogenic effect of 4-Chloro-o-toluidine (4-COT), which at that time was used as a raw material in the production of dyes and pigments, as well as of chlordimeform.[2] Stasik was able to show that this widely used substance can cause urinary bladder cancer among humans. Following the publication of the research results by Dr Stasik, the International Agency for Cancer Research officially recognised the carcinogenic effects of 4-COT on humans. This was the first industrial monocyclical aromatic amine to be recognised as a trigger for urinary bladder cancer. The production and use of this compound were halted in Germany and other countries worldwide.

After retiring, Mirosław Stasik worked as an independent employee of the Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine (Institut für Arbeits-, Sozial- und Umweltmedizin) at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, where he continued his research into aromatic amines. He also collaborated with the professorial Chair for Histology and Embryology at the Medical University in Lódź.

 

Contributions to society
 

During the 1990s, Stasik also became known for his work to promote closer relations between Germany and Poland. He actively contributed to the work of the German-Polish Association (Deutsch-Polnische Gesellschaft) in Mainz-Wiesbaden, as well as the scientific Jablonowski Society (Societas Jablonoviana), for which he founded a branch office in Wiesbaden in 1997. He was co-organiser of presentations about Polish culture and of scientific conferences and symposia, and acted as an advisor and moderator. 

In 2000, he participated in a scientific conference in Singapore, where he made contact with Prof. Konrad Rydzyński, who worked at the Institute for Occupational Medicine in Stasik’s native city of Lódź. In 2001, in response to the difficulties facing Polish scientists, Stasik and his wife Liliana set up the 4-COT Foundation (Stiftung 4-COT), which from 2002 to 2015 offered young scientists from the IMP in Lódź the opportunity to work as interns in scientific institutions abroad. Stasik became chair of the foundation, while Professor Rydziński was a member of the executive board. The foundation’s capital amounted to 130,000 Deutschmarks. This money was used to purchase stocks and shares on the Frankfurt stock exchange. The dividends gained between 2002 and 2015 were channelled into funding research work placements in the fields of medicine, biochemistry, clinical analytics and physics at universities in western Europe and North America. Mirosław Stasik looked through the candidates’ application papers at the foundation’s head office in Niedernhausen. The sum awarded for grants (allowances) totalled EUR 2,500. Dr Stasik himself sought out suitable work placement opportunities for the candidates, and helped on site with the formalities.

During their internships, the young scientists further increased their knowledge in the fields of asthma and occupational allergology, radiation protection and molecular biology. They also forged professional relationships with scientists from other countries in the field of occupational medicine. Most of the recipients of the grants from the 4-COT Foundation completed their work placements, which usually lasted a month, at the Institute for Preventive and Occupational Medicine of the German Statutory Accident Insurance (Institut für Prävention und Arbeitsmedizin der Deutschen Gesetzlichen Unfallversicherung, IPA) at the Ruhr University in Bochum. In addition, two work placements were completed in the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Department of the National Heart and Lung Institute at the highly respected Imperial College London and at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. A two-month placement was also awarded at the Foothills Medical Centre of the University of Calgary in Canada.

Mirosław Jan Stasik died in Niedernhausen on 8 August 2023. 

 

Joanna de Vincenz, January 2024