The US and UK Insist Aspartame is Safe Despite Reports of Serious Side Effects

Aspartame, the controversial artificial sweetener that is broken down to methanol and formaldehyde, has prompted thousands of reports to the FDA about adverse reactions, including Dr. Russell Blalock’s 1994 book Excitotoxins. In some people, aspartame, which is found in over 4,000 consumer products, causes symptoms ranging from headaches to dizziness, vomiting, fatigue and diarrhea.

Nevertheless, the FDA, British Food Standards Agency and European Food Safety Authority have all ruled that the sweetener is safe to consume because there is no firm evidence of any negative impact on health.
A new study to be conduced by Professor Stephen Atkin at the University of Hull will assess whether certain individuals are indeed sensitive to aspartame. The British Food Standards Agency, which is funding the research, has issued a call for volunteers. In response, ANH-UK has posted a comment on its Web site.
In 2007, a long-term animal test by a respected Italian cancer institute found increases in lymphomas, leukemias, and breast cancers in rats fed aspartame. The year before, a National Cancer Institute study seemed to ease cancer fears related to aspartame, but that research relied on imprecise food-frequency questionnaires and included only subjects between the ages of 50 and 69 who had first consumed aspartame as adults. It has been suggested that the effects of consuming aspartame from infancy or childhood might be very different.
Why doesn’t the FDA err on the side of caution?