(Our Health Our Safety • Volume 7 • Issue 1 • Summer 2009) An increasing amount of research has been published that suggests a link exists between night work and cancer. In several major studies, researchers have found that workers on the night shift show increased rates of cancer. The research Workers with atypical work schedules show a higher risk of developing cancer than people in the general population, according to research published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an agency of the World Health Organization, in the December 2007 issue of The Lancet Oncology Medical Journal. A team of 24 scientists found that atypical working hours disturbed the body’s internal biological clock, which could be one cause for the appearance of cancer. They argued that more study was needed on this issue to confirm the cause and effect relationship.