International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO)
IARC is the WHO's cancer agency, responsible for global cancer statistics (GLOBOCAN), carcinogen classification, and prevention research.
GLOBOCAN incidence and mortality, IARC Monographs on carcinogens, WHO Classification of Tumours (Blue Books), cervical cancer elimination.
- GLOBOCAN
- Monographs
- WHO tumour classification
The WHO's lead on cancer control, steering the cervical cancer elimination and global breast and childhood cancer initiatives.
Leads the WHO's cancer research agency, which classifies carcinogens and publishes the world's cancer statistics.
Freddie Bray runs GLOBOCAN, the source of the world's cancer incidence and mortality figures.
Ian Cree edits the WHO 'Blue Books', the classification every pathologist uses to name a cancer.
Leads IARC's early detection and prevention work, central to the WHO cervical cancer elimination strategy.
There is no safe level of alcohol for cancer risk, and the risk is highest for cancers of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, liver, bowel and breast. Public awareness is low; most people do not know alcohol causes breast cancer. Warning labels and minimum pricing are the policy levers being debated.
Maintaining a healthy weight is now established cancer prevention for over a dozen cancer types. For clinicians and policymakers, obesity belongs alongside tobacco and alcohol in prevention strategy. Whether intentional weight loss in adulthood reverses risk is still being studied, including in trials of GLP-1 drugs.