Next month, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is set to announce that aspartame, one of the most common artificial sweeteners in the world, is a potential carcinogen, according to two sources familiar with the process, as reported by Reuters. This places the agency in opposition to the food industry and regulators. Aspartame, used in products from Diet Coca-Cola to Mars Extra gum and some Snapple drinks, will be listed in July as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" for the first time by the IARC, which is the cancer research arm of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The IARC's ruling, finalized earlier this month following a meeting of external experts, aims to assess whether something poses a potential risk based on all published evidence. It is noted that the "ruling" does not consider the amount of the product that a person can safely consume. This guidance for individuals comes from a separate panel of experts from the WHO on food additives, known as JECFA (the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives), along with decisions from national regulatory bodies.
