FDA Says Sweetener is Still Safe, Italian Scientists Not So Sure
Debate over the safety of aspartame has reignited as a result of a second Italian study linking the artificial sweetener to several cancers in rats.
The controversial research, conducted by the European Ramazzini Foundation in Bologna, Italy, showed an increased instance of leukemia, lymphoma and renal cancers in a population of Sprague Dawley rats who consumed high doses of the common additive over the course of their lives. Unlike rats in a previous study who were killed at the two-year point, these rats were allowed to live until they died naturally.
The findings prompted the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) to call for an urgent review of the product by the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, according to an FDA spokesperson, the agency presently has no plans to conduct a review since the conclusions from the European Ramazzini Foundation study are inconsistent with those drawn from a large number of other completed studies evaluating aspartame’s safety.
Aspartame, commonly marketed as Equal or NutraSweet, is widely used in diet soft drinks and is also sold in packets for use in coffee, tea, or other foods.
Source: CNN
Related Articles: NutraSweet and Domino Form Alliance to Market Sweeteners; European Food Safety Authority
Related Podcasts: MSNBC
Tags: Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center; Merisant; United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization; Morando Soffritti; Michael Jacobson; Michael Herndon; Environmental Health Perspectives; U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Coca-Cola
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