"Possibly carcinogenic to humans": WHO's dire warning over common ingredient
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for one of the world’s most popular artificial sweeteners to be declared a possible carcinogen.
The push will be led by the WHO’s research team for the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), pitting it against the food industry and regulators.
The sweetener, known as Aspartame, is used in products from Coca-Cola diet drinks, such as Diet Coke and Coke Zero, to Mars’ Extra chewing gum and some Snapple drinks.
Later this month, the IARC will list Aspartame for the first time as “possibly carcinogenic to humans”
The ruling from the IARC has assessed whether the sweetener is hazardous to humans or not, although it does not stipulate how much of the product a person can safely consume.
This advice for individual consumers comes from a different organisation, known as JECFA (the Joint WHO and Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Expert Committee on Food Additives), who make consumption guidelines alongside national regulators.
Despite the claims from the WHO, since as early as 1981 JECFA has said aspartame is safe to consume within accepted daily limits.
An adult weighing 60kg would have to drink between 12 and 36 cans of diet soft drink, depending on the amount of aspartame in the beverage, every day to be at risk.
Its view has been widely shared by national regulators, including in the United States and Europe.
These conflicting reports have angered some regulators and consumers alike, with Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare official Nozomi Tomita writing to the WHO, “kindly asking both bodies to coordinate their efforts in reviewing aspartame to avoid any confusion or concerns among the public.”
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