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 WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer

The World Health Organization's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has been a highly respected agency for evaluating the carcinogenicity of chemicals. However, in recent years it has gained a reputation for industry bias, the use of questionable, mechanistic approaches to exculpate chemicals that cause cancer in animals, and refusal to disclose conflicts of interest of working group members. A number of scientists have urged WHO to increase the transparency of IARC.

In September 2004, WHO/IARC published updated conflict of interest guidelines in Environmental Health Perspectives, the Journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. These new guidelines dramatically increased the transparency of the agency's deliberations and, if fully adhered to, will go a long way toward eliminating perceptions that IARC has become biased toward industry.

The new guidelines require that each participant in an IARC monograph meeting:

  • declare, in confidence, any financial ties between a commercial entity and the scientist or his/her administrative unit;
  • disclose and update that declaration at the opening of the meeting.

The guidelines also require that IARC publish the declarations of conflicts of interest in the final IARC monograph.

The new guidelines also create a new category of "invited specialist" for scientists with conflicts of interest who offer relevant knowledge and experience for the meeting's deliberations. Invited specialists:

  • may not serve as meeting or subgroup chairs;
  • may not draft text that discusses cancer data;
  • may not contribute to the evaluations or participate in evaluations reached by either consensus or vote.

To ensure that all scientific perspectives are considered, IARC also agreed to allow a limited number of scientifically qualified observers from different constituencies to attend monograph meetings. However, while they may be afforded a chance to speak, they may not participate in the evaluations or lobby working group members before or during the meeting.

A full report on the new IARC conflict of interest guidelines can be found here:

* September 2004 article in Environmental Health Perspectives, "The science and practice of carcinogen identification and evaluation," by Vincent James Cogliano et al.

The campaign to convince IARC to adopt a more transparent conflict-of-interest policy took place over many years. The campaign's history is documented below:
 
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