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U.S. Congressional Committee Demands Answers on WHO Cancer Agency

Kate Kelland, of Reuters, reported in January that the chairman of a U.S. congressional committee investigating taxpayer funding of the World Health Organization cancer agency has asked U.S. health officials to release crucial documents.

In a letter seen by Reuters and sent to the head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Representative Jason Chaffetz questioned whether the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) was trying to "avoid public scrutiny" by asking its experts not to disclose requested information.

IARC staff were not immediately available for comment. An NIH spokeswoman could not confirm receiving the letter, but said the agency would respond if and when it arrived.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which Chaffetz chairs, began looking into the NIH's links with IARC last year after several lawmakers raised questions about why U.S. taxpayers are funding an agency that often faces criticism for its work.

The letter marks the latest salvo in a battle between Congress, NIH and IARC that was fueled by IARC's review of the weedkiller glyphosate [see Lawmakers Looking at EPA Glyphosate Review for Bias, July 21, 2016]

 


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