International union bodies have raised their concerns about industry bias in the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC) deliberations on substances being evaluated for their cancer risks. The 10 October 2002 letter to Jerry M Rice, the head of IARC’s identification and evaluation unit, expresses concern at “reports of conflicts of interest, bias toward industry and of questionable evaluation practices by IARC.” The letter was signed by five global union federations, the European TUC’s health and safety unit and the national union federations from the UK (TUC), US (AFL-CIO) and Australia (ACTU). The letter noted: “As international and national union organisations representing tens of millions of workers worldwide, we call on you to address as a matter of urgency” issues raised by the US Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), “particularly its charge that meetings can be dominated by an industry perspective that ‘has not historically represented the interests of public health, worker safety, or environmental protection’.” The union letter concludes: “We feel at this time, it is particularly important IARC distances itself – and is seen to distance itself – from any suggestion of improper corporate influence.”

Reported in Cancer in the system: Corporate disease infects the international cancer agency, Hazards, number 80, page 16, October-December 2002.