#FakeFood: Another ‘safe’ ingredient may pose health threat

The World Health Organization this month is expected to declare artificial sweetener aspartame a possible carcinogen despite claims by food regulators that it does not cause cancer.

Aspartame, first developed in 1965 as a sugar alternative, is used in diet sodas, chewing gum, mouthwash, jelly, and a host of other products marketed as low in calories. The substance is a blend of the amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine and estimated to be 200 times sweeter than sugar.

Early on it became clear that aspartame, branded as NutraSweet by the G.D. Searle corporation, came with serious health concerns. When University of Wisconsin biochemist Dr. Harold Waisman tested it on seven infant monkeys in 1967, he found that one died and three suffered grand mal seizures.

By 1980, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the artificial sweetener after a Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) determined that it "might induce brain tumors”. FDA officials had been so appalled at G.D. Searle’s negligent testing and data manipulation that they asked the US Attorney’s Office to pursue an indictment against the corporation, then under the leadership of a man named Donald Rumsfeld.

But a few months after the FDA’s decision, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as America’s 40th president. Rumsfeld, a political operative and Washington insider, was on Reagan’s transition team. In a January 1981 sales meeting, Rumsfeld reportedly vowed to use his Washington connections to bring NutraSweet back to market.

Rumsfeld’s promise was fulfilled when Reagan appointed Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes Jr as the new FDA commissioner. In July 1981, as one of his first official acts, Hayes overruled the agency’s PBOI and approved NutraSweet for use in dry foods, against vehement objections from scientists on his own internal team. By 1983, aspartame was also approved for soft drinks. Two years later, the company was acquired by Monsanto.

"The history of aspartame's approval is littered with examples showing that if key decision makers found against aspartame's safety, they were discredited or replaced by industry sympathizers, who were recompensed with lucrative jobs,” said former British MP Roger  Williams.

Since then, there have been several studies showing an association between aspartame and cancer. Other studies suggest links to neurological and behavioral disturbances, such as mood disorders, stroke, dementia, anxiety and depression. Last week, Reuters reported that the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is prepared to declare the ingredient a possible carcinogen this month.

Nevertheless, as of this report, medical establishment bodies insist on aspartame’s safety, with WebMD even suggesting that those who doubt aspartame’s safety are not following science:

[T]he debate over the safety of aspartame seems to be mostly between science and public opinion. 

While it is true that some evidence was found in early studies of a link between the consumption of aspartame and cancer in rats, later studies could not find a link between aspartame consumption and cancer in nonhuman primates or human beings.‌

Also, aspartame has been used widely all over the world for over thirty years now, and no link has been found between its consumption and cancer or any other disease or illness. Still, the court of public opinion is unsure about the safety of this product. This despite the fact that the US FDA and the European Food Safety Authority — after decades of studies and anecdotal evidence — have deemed aspartame to [be] safe for your consumption, even in large quantities.

The American Cancer Society claims that “[a]spartame hasn’t been linked conclusively to any specific health problems, other than for people with phenylketonuria (PKU)”, a rare genetic disorder. To support its claim, the American Cancer Society also points to the FDA and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), both of whom have declared aspartame safe below certain consumption levels.

“Though research into a possible link between aspartame and cancer continues, these agencies agree that studies done so far have not found such a link,” says the association.