Dean: It's essential that students and staff feel safe and secure
On national television and in podcasts, the Danish TV channel DR is currently focusing on the use of formalin in the dissection hall at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences.
On 22 February, DR published a TV documentary and a podcast series about the use of the chemical formalin. The programmes are based on the use of formalin under the donation scheme at Panum on North Campus, where medical and dental students have dissection classes.
Formalin is used to preserve bodies donated for dissection. Dissection classes, provided by the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine (ICMM), give students key insights into the realities of the human body, which do not always match textbook illustrations.
DR questions whether formalin used for preparing bodies for dissection may have led to four dissection supervisors developing cancer. They all worked in the dissection hall from 2006 to 2012. Three of the four dissection supervisors with cancer have since died of the disease.
A safe and secure everyday life is the highest priority
Students' and employees' safety and security are paramount to the University Leadership.
Since formalin is classified as a carcinogen, the authorities have imposed very strict requirements on formalin handling and exposure.
In 2006, ICMM tightened its safety regulations by starting to rinse the bodies with ethanol and implementing other safety improvements. As a result, the exposure for students and staff has been reduced to a very low level, significantly below the applicable threshold values.
"The most critical thing for us is that our students and staff can feel safe and secure when they go to work or study. ICMM has continuously followed developments in the understanding of the potential harmful effects of formalin and complied with the corresponding changes in the guidelines from the Danish Working Environment Authority," Dean at the Faculty og Health and Medical Sciences, Bente Merete Stallknecht, says.
In 2019, the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Bispebjerg Hospital informed the Faculty og Health and Medical Sciences that four former employees who had worked in the dissection hall had developed cancer at a young age. At the time, the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found no connection between the cancer cases and the former supervisors' dissection work. They also found that the overall exposure to formalin in the dissection hall was moderate and acceptable. The Danish Working Environment Authority has conducted regular inspections, most recently in 2025, which did not result in any comments regarding the dissection hall.
"I'm deeply affected by this issue. DR highlights a possible connection between the cancer cases and working in the dissection hall, as it is notable that so young people have developed – and died of – cancer. Studies have shown that there is no correlation. However, these broadcasts may – quite understandably – foster doubt and uncertainty among current and former students and staff. I take that very seriously. I will therefore initiate a supplementary investigation into the safety conditions in the dissection hall as soon as possible, with external assistance. We are also in dialogue with relevant professionals about how we can best assist in the further work of shedding light on the case. Whether this means that there should be a further investigation of the specific cases, and what such an investigation might look like, is too early to say. We want to make sure that an initiative can provide the answers that are requested", Bente Merete Stallknecht says.
Not recognised as an occupational disease
DR reports that in 2025, the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Department at Bispebjerg Hospital submitted the medical history of one of the former employees to the Danish Labour Market Insurance Agency (AES) for assessment of whether it constituted an occupational disease. The AES has now decided that, with reference to the WHO cancer agency's latest assessment of formaldehyde from 2009, this is not an occupational disease.
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The text has been updated 26 February with an addition to the quote from Bente Merete Stallknecht.
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