International Agency for Research on Cancer

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC short (of English. International Agency for Research on Cancer, French Centre international de recherche sur le cancer, CIRC ) is an agency of the World Health Organization ( WHO) in Lyon / France.

The tasks of the Agency

The main objective of the IARC is the directing and coordinating research into the causes of cancer. The IARC conducts a number of global epidemiological studies of cancer. Furthermore, to develop scientific prevention strategies. The IARC publishes a series of monographs on cancer risks. So far, 100 volumes were published (as of February 14, 2012), with the monographs of the past 20 years are available online. The works here include exposures (including work-related ) with various chemicals (eg, formaldehyde, lead compounds ), physical agents (eg, ionizing radiation, electromagnetic pollution ), biological pathogens (eg, Helicobacter pylori, Epstein -Barr virus) and related to lifestyle factors (eg,: tobacco use, ethanol consumption, sunbathing ).

Since 1971, the more than 900 active ingredients and variables were examined, and about 400 have been identified as carcinogenic or potentially carcinogenic to humans ..

The IARC also assumes the classification of chemicals and mixtures thereof into five categories, from known human carcinogen to probably not carcinogenic, (see: carcinogen ).

Research on the treatment of cancer is not a task of the IARC. The prevention (prevention) of cancer is the focus of the agency.

The IARC involved in the definition of disease designations and classifications in the field of tumor diseases and are with the WHO, the book series " WHO Classification of Tumours " - " WHO classification of tumors " out. These volumes are each based on consensus meetings proven international experts and try to unify divergent classification systems.

Management of the IARC

Since January 2009, the Briton Christopher Wild is director of the IARC.

List former head

  • Peter Boyle (2004-2008)
  • Paul Kleihues (1994-2003)
  • Lorenzo Tomatis (1982-1993)
  • John Higginson (1967-1981)

Further information on the IARC

Approximately 300 employees working on the IARC from around 50 countries in the headquarters in Lyon, each year in addition many visiting scholars and interns are employed. The bi-annual budget 2014/2015 amounts to approximately EUR 40 million. In addition, per year raised around 13 million EUR for individual research projects on average.

Epstein–Barr virus Peter Boyle (epidemiologist)
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