IARC in the dock over ties with asbestos industry

摘要

Does asbestos corrupt more than just DNA? That is the question now being asked of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) after a series of recent decisions triggered a storm of protest from governments, non-governmental organisations, and health campaigners and left the agency, which is an arm of WHO, open to accusations that range from the relatively benign charge of poor judgment to allegations of corporate capture by the asbestos industry.The row erupted late last year, when IARC accepted an invitation to send one of its scientists, Valerie McCormack, to present data at a conference in Kiev, Ukraine, entitled Chrysotile Asbestos: Risk Assessment and Management (panel 1). That decision sparked a flurry of emails and letters to the Director-General of IARC Christopher Wild, including one seen by The Lancet from the Italian Minister of Health Renato Balduzzi, on behalf of the Italian Government, imploring IARC to shun the conference over suspicions that the organisers were in cahoots with the Russian asbestos industry.