http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112671
Welcome to Threats, an intermittent assessment of everyday risks.
Of the various instances of alarm over artificial sweeteners in the 126 years since saccharine was first mass produced, the most memorable was probably the one that triggered the diet cola panic of 1977.The crisis began in early March. A lab in Canada had shown that saccharin caused bladder cancer in rats, and the Food and Drug Administration announced that the artificial sweetener—then the only one for sale in the U.S.—would soon be taken off the market. Though the rat study was not yet published, and despite the fact that the crystalline compound had been in steady use since 1886, the FDA declared saccharin a menace. Shares in sugar companies abruptly jumped in value.Many consumers, though were fretting not about cancer but at the prospect of being denied sugar-free soda. There were soon demands for the decision to be repealed.The American Dental Association warned Congress that the country's teeth would slide into decay; the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association said that pills made without saccharin would be too bitter for America's children; doctors theorized that a move away from diet products might produce another 25,000 cases of cardiovascular disease per year. By early summer, the FDA had received 40,000 letters. Lawmakers got many tens of thousands more.
given the medical industries and insurance co.'s propensity to milk us for all we are worth last paragraph surprising sounded like they actually cared.
few days after the agency's announcement, a nine-year-old diabetic named Mike Schindler told the Associated Press that he'd had it up to here with regulators in Washington. "I'd like to punch the daylights out of them," he said. To appease young Mike, and to prevent a diet-soda famine, Congress suspended the FDA's decision and demanded that more research be conducted. Which meant that scientists would have to continue wrestling with the same century-old set of questions: Do artificial sweeteners make us sick or keep us well? Are they dangerous adulterants or inexpensive ways to keep us lean and fit?
congress can be moved to act on testimony of a 9 yr old on a sugar meltdown to take a second look but the voter majoriy's wants and the ever present danger of pollution anf climate change and the Pres. request they do nothing 4 yrs and counting. don't forget 33 attempts to cancel ObamaCares.
