The National Institutes of Health has given the International Agency for Research on Cancer more than $1.2 million so far this year, says Chairman Jason Chaffetz of the House Oversight Committee. In a letter to the NIH director, Chaffetz blasts the IARC, part of the World Health Organization, for “controversy, retractions and inconsistencies,” using its rulings on glyphosate and red meat as examples.
The IARC classified glyphosate, the most widely used weedkiller in the world, as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in March 2015. Glyphosate is the main ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup. The European Food Safety Authority disagreed last November, saying the chemical was unlikely to cause cancer. In an “issue paper” for an upcoming panel of experts, the EPA says its latest analysis suggests glyphosate should be considered not likely to be carcinogenic to humans at dosages people are likely to encounter.
In his letter, Chaffetz, a Utah Repubican, renewed an argument, first raised by the Republican chairman of the House Science Committee, Lamar Smith of Texas, that IARC was trying to influence U.S. decision-making. The letter asks NIH to provide material to the committee by Oct. 10 on how much funding has been provided to IARC since 2011, how much money was spent by NIH on travel to IARC meetings, and all correspondence.
Last October, IARC classed processed meat, such as sausages, as “carcinogenic to humans” – its strongest ranking – and red meat as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” the second-strongest ranking. The U.S. meat industry disagreed over the evidence and accused the IARC of scare-mongering.