Word: fda
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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After recent tests conducted in Canada found that large doses of saccharin caused bladder cancer in rats, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a ban on the artificial sweetener to take effect within 120 days...
Though the FDA admitted there was no evidence that saccharin had caused cancer in humans during the 80 years the sweetener has been used in the U.S., the agency had no choice but to seek the ban. Under a 1958 amendment to the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, sponsored by former New York Representative James Delaney, any food additive-no matter in what quantities-that causes cancer either in humans or lab animals must be prohibited. The same law may yet be invoked in other bans in the months ahead, though the FDA is clearly not happy with the amendment...
...Surprise. Whatever the results of legal moves now being considered by both manufacturers and consumer groups against the FDA'S latest action, critics of the ban can hardly claim that they were caught by surprise. Ever since animal tests in the early '70s renewed concern that the chemical might be a carcinogen, the FDA has been slowly moving toward a ban. By 1972 it had taken the sweetener from its "generally recognized as safe" list and warned food and beverage companies to limit the saccharin levels in their products...
...very least, the FDA'S action will probably force a sharp change in the eating and drinking habits of many Americans. Such products as diet jams and jellies, sugarless chewing gum and even some familiar toothpaste tastes will have to be drastically altered. Sweet 'n Low and other sugar substitutes may vanish from the table, forcing dieting coffee and tea drinkers to take their favorite brew straight-or with sugar. Leading soft-drink manufacturers like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are promising to continue marketing diet drinks, presumably by reducing sugar content of some beverages, resorting to sweeteners like...
Until then, the search for sugar substitutes will continue on a largely hit-or-miss basis. One chemical, called aspartame, was found by G.D. Searle & Co. during research on an ulcer drug. The FDA had approved aspartame's sale, but stayed that action pending a new look at Searle's test data. Another contender to succeed saccharin is a chemical called xylitol; used as a chewing-gum sweetener in tests in Finland and the U.S., it sharply reduced formation of cavities. But it costs more than sugar and has the same number of calories...