Title: Alternative Sweeteners

162 Pearson
In 1997, a special International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
panel determined the bladder tumors in male rats resulting from the ingestion of
high doses of sodium saccharin are not relevant to man. In 1998, IARC downgraded
saccharin from a Group 2B substance, possibly carcinogenic to humans,
to Group 3. Substances may be placed in Group 3 when there is strong evidence
that the mechanism of carcinogenicity in experimental animals does not operate
in humans. This was the first time IARC had considered mechanistic data (72).
In 1996, the Calorie Control Council submitted a petition to the U.S. National
Toxicology Program (NTP) requesting that, under the program’s new criteria
allowing for the consideration of mechanistic data, saccharin be delisted from
the NTP’s Ninth Report on Carcinogens. In May 2000, the NTP released the 9th
edition and announced that saccharin had been delisted (73).
X. REGULATORY
Saccharin is a widely used noncaloric sweetener available for use in more than
100 countries. In the United States, it is approved for use under an interim food
additive regulation, permitting use for special dietary and certain technological
purposes (74). In 1977, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban
on saccharin as a result of studies reporting bladder tumors in some male rats
fed high doses of sodium saccharin. The U.S. Congress passed a moratorium
preventing the proposed ban. The moratorium has been extended seven times.
The current moratorium is in effect until May 1, 2002. In 1991, the FDA formally
withdrew its 1977 proposed ban on saccharin. On December 21, 2000,
U.S. President Bill Clinton signed legislation removing the saccharin warning
label that had been required on saccharin-sweetened foods and beverages since
1977 (75).
In 1993, the Joint Food and Agriculture/World Health Organization Expert
Committee on Food Additives reviewed saccharin and doubled its acceptable
daily intake. The Committee noted that the animal data which earlier raised questions
about saccharin are not considered relevant to man (76). Saccharin also has
been evaluated and determined safe by the European Union’s Scientific Committee
for Food (77).
XI. CONCLUSION
Saccharin has been used to sweeten foods and beverages for more than a century
and remains an important sweetener. It is one of the most researched food ingredients
available, having been studied in rats, mice, hamsters, monkeys, and humans
and determined to be safe for human consumption.