Regulators Health Groups

Back to Saccharin Safety

“Saccharin, consumed in huge doses, has indeed been shown to increase the risk of one tumor in one type of male rat.  But a significant collection of human studies, many of which focused on diabetics who had consumed unusually large amounts of saccharin, found no link with human cancer."

• Dr. Elizabeth M. Whelan, President of the American Council on Science and Health, September 2005

 "Thus, the consumption of acesulfame potassium, aspartame, saccharin, sucralose and neotame within acceptable daily intakes is safe during pregnancy."

• American Dietetic Association, "Position of the American Dietetic Association: Use of Nutritive and Nonnutritive Sweeteners," 2004

"Several years ago, experiments on rats suggested that saccharin might cause cancer.
Since then, however, studies of primates and humans have shown no increased risk of cancer from either saccharin or aspartame."

• American Cancer Society, 1996 Dietary Guidelines

"At current intake levels saccharin is assumed safe for the general public and is approved for use in more than 90 countries."

• American Dietetic Association "Use of Nutritive and Nonnutritive Sweeteners" position statement, July 1993

"Evidence gathered from the numerous animal and human studies of saccharin does not suggest that there is any significant risk to the human population from the normal use of this sweetener. ACSH believes that saccharin should be regarded as a safe food ingredient."

• American Council on Science and Health report, "Low-Calorie Sweeteners," March 1993

"The Council on Scientific Affairs recommends that the AMA support the moratorium on the saccharin ban, since the evidence of its carcinogenicity in humans has not been forthcoming."

• American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs report,
  published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, November 8, 1985

"Common sense dictates that if there is any cancer risk from saccharin consumption in ‘normal’ quantities by humans, it is negligible and can be ignored."

• Members of the British Medical Association were advised in the British Medical Journal

"The major benefits of saccharin are an improved quality of life, low cost, and stability at warm temperatures. A small risk for bladder cancer continues to be found in male rats exposed to high doses of saccharin. However, epidemiologic studies show no evidence of a carcinogenic effect in man."

• American Diabetes Association, July/August 1987

"With currently available data, the Society still believes the benefits of saccharin use far outweigh its alleged risks."

• American Society of Bariatric Physicians, March 21, 1985

"For people who are interested in weight control, and others who must watch what they eat for health reasons, saccharin makes life easier."

• Lois Lindauer, founder and international director, The Diet Workshop, May 17, 1979

"Artificially sweetened beverages and desserts have offered an acceptable alternative to the life of restrictions forced on a diabetic child . . . Parents of diabetics are concerned that in a world without an artificial sweetener for medicines, for cooking and baking the all important birthday cakes and holiday treats, for sodas and snacks, our children will now have an even more difficult medical, social and emotional adjustment."

• Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, statement submitted for the Hearing Record to the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources, May 9, 1979

"The slight risk (if any) of saccharin is more than offset by the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes."

• One of the several conclusions agreed upon by scientists attending the Conference on Sugar Substitutes, sponsored by the European Research Group for Oral Biology (ERGOB) in Geneva, Switzerland, 1978