Sweetener's 'link to cancer' denied

The artificial sweetener aspartame, which is used in 6,000 diet food and pharmaceutical products, has been linked to cancer.

The additive - also known as NutraSweet - is found in Diet Coke, Candarel, Pepsi Max, Ribena Light, Muller Light strawberry yoghurt, Wrigley's Extra Spearmint chewing gum and many other products.

Fears about its safety have been raised by the Italian-based European Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences, which identified a link to cancer and leukaemia in studies with rats.

Its research, published yesterday, has prompted the European Food Safety Authority to order an expert review of the data "as a matter of high priority".

But the study has been rubbished by two of the producers of aspartame, NutraSweet of America and Ajinomoto in Japan.

They say it has been consumed by hundreds of millions of people around the world for over 20 years and there is no evidence to suggest it causes cancer in humans.

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