Global cancer agency’s funding in the crosshairs

Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives are threatening to withhold funding from the World Health Organization’s cancer research arm, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The U.S. provides about $2.0 million, or about 7.4% of IARC’s annual budget. At issue is a 2015 IARC assessment that classifies the widely used herbicide glyphosate as a probable carcinogen. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup and many other generic herbicide formulations. IARC’s assessment led to lawsuits against Monsanto and an uproar last year in the European Union over whether to continue allowing use of the herbicide. The agrochemical industry and its allies in Congress are intensifying an attack on IARC and its glyphosate assessment. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chair of the House Science Committee, held a hearing on Feb. 6 to examine what he says are “serious problems with the science underlying IARC’s assessment of glyphosate.” The