The International Agency for Research on Cancer is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization of the United Nations. Its role is to conduct and coordinate research into the causes of cancer. It also collects and publishes surveillance data regarding the occurrence of cancer worldwide.

Its IARC monographs programme identifies carcinogenic hazards and evaluates environmental causes of cancer in humans.

IARC has its own governing council, and in 1965 the first members were the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.Today, IARC's membership has grown to 27 countries.