Henk Tennekes (toxicologist)

Henk Tennekes (21 November 1950 – 7 July 2020) was a Dutch toxicologist.^[1] Tennekes worked as doctor and researcher at the Philipps-Universiteit Marburg; the German research cancer centre Krebsforschungszentrum in Heidelberg; Sandoz in Muttenz, Switzerland and at the Research and Consulting Company in Itingen. Since 1992 he was an independent researcher.^[2]

Tennekes was born in

Tennekes wrote in 2010 the book "A disaster in the making" , about the dangers of neonicotinoids, a new generation of pesticides for insects and bees in particular.^[3] He discovered that Bayer had researched the effects of neonicotinoid on flies back in 1991, and that the effect was irreversible. Bayer nowadays claims the contrary.^[4][5]

Initially, his vision had strong opposition as his findings were criticized, but follow-up research partially confirmed his warning. Since the end of 2018, the use of three neonicotinoids (clothianidin, thiamethoxam and imidacloprid) has been banned in the European Union.^[6] Tennekes who used to work as a freelance researcher for chemical companies found himself blacklisted, and lost all his clients, but that didn't deter him, because he considered it his moral duty.^[7]

Tennekes was suffering from a rare