Word: saccharine
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...Saccharin seems pretty safe
...Saccharin appeared to be on the way out three years ago. A Canadian research team had just reported that "large amounts" of the artificial sweetener caused bladder cancer in rats. It hardly seemed to matter that the "large amounts" were the equivalent of 800 eight-ounce glasses of diet soda per human adult per day over a lifetime. The Food and Drug Administration ordered a general ban on the use of saccharin in food or drink after mid-1977. Reason: the Delaney Clause in the 1958 Food and Drug Act prohibited any food additive that causes cancer in laboratory animals...
...uproar among the millions of Americans-particularly diabetics and the obese-who use the sweetener. Rats are not people, they said, and anyway the risk seemed small. Congress responded by putting off the ban for 18 months, then delayed it again while consumers, only slightly concerned, continued their saccharin binge. Last week they heard some sweet news. Two new studies gave saccharin a nearly clean bill of health and probably ensured that the FDA ban would never take effect...
...subject has been controversial since 1977, when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a ban on saccharin due to the discovery that large doses of saccharin cause bladder cancer in rats. Congress postponed the ban pending the outcome of further studies, but the FDA requires diet-drink bottlers to label their soda with warnings of the possible risk...
...Robert Hoover, an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute, yesterday advised cautious use of saccharin since it may be at least "weakly carcinogenic," and has shown no "measurable medical benefits...