FDA Reaffirms Aspartame Not A Carcinogen

After reviewing findings first presented in 2005 by an Italian-based research group, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has concluded that there isn't enough evidence to conclude that the artificial sweetener aspartame causes cancer.

Aspartame, which is used in the sweetener Equal, among others and in a variety of soft drinks and other products, had already been found safe to use after a 2005 U.S. study of half a million participants.

But when the laboratory rat study conducted by the European Ramazzini Foundation (ERF) of Bologna, Italy said a few months later that there was evidence of increased tumor activity when aspartame was consumed, the FDA asked that the research be sent to it for review.

"... the data that were provided to FDA do not appear to support the aspartame-related findings reported by ERF," the FDA says in a statement on its Web site. "Based on our review, pathological changes were incidental and appeared spontaneously in the study animals, and none of the histopathological changes reported appear to be related to treatment with aspartame."

The FDA also said that repeated requests for additional information on the study from the ERF, including pathology slides, was never honored.