Coca-Cola has begun an advertising campaign to try to
convince consumers that aspartame is safe for consumption. The advertisements
were printed in Wednesday's copies of of USA Today distributed in the Atlanta
area.
"Time and again, these low- and no-calorie sweeteners have shown to be safe, high-quality alternatives to sugar," reads the ad copy. "In fact, the safety of aspartame is supported by more than 200 studies over the last 40 years."
The ad makes no mention of the studies linking aspartame to cancer and other adverse health effects.
In 2012, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition linked aspartame to cancer. Although the study was at first claimed to be definitive, scientists reviewing the study claimed that the data was too weak to be definitive. Despite this, a weak link exists and the safety of aspartame can not be affirmed.
While Coca-Cola has plenty of profit at risk (their Diet Coke sales were down 3% last year) and are supported by the FDA (which doesn't have the best safety track record), its consumers have much more at risk, their health and livelihood. Some organizations, such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest, suggest that the best course of action would be a full ban on the chemical. (Source)
Coca-Cola wants you to know that it’s totally cool to
consume aspartame. You know, the diet sugar substitute that’s been linked with
cancer in lab animals? It’s the same stuff they swap for the high-fructose corn
syrup to make Diet Coke, and it’s perfectly healthy. Or so says a new
public service-y print ad Coke launched in copies of Wednesday’s USA Today
distributed in the Atlanta area, according to the Associated Press.
“Time and again, these low- and no-calorie sweeteners have
shown to be safe, high-quality alternatives to sugar,” reads the ad copy. “In
fact, the safety of aspartame is supported by more than 200 studies over the
last 40 years.”
So wait. Will it kill us? Will it not? Probably not, but
potentially, possibly so, is the easiest way to sum up the research.
Essentially, the link between the artificial sweetener and cancer is tenuous
(and has frequently been debunked), a fact exhibited by the 2012 study on the
topic published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It had promised
to be a bomb, documenting a definitive link between aspartame and increased
risk of leukemia, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other forms of blood-related
cancer. But then, on the day of it publication, the journal talked down the
hype.
“Upon review of the findings, the consensus of our
scientific leaders is that the data is weak,” and that the promotion of the
study was premature, Erin McDonough, the senior vice-president of Brigham and
Women’s Hospital, where the study was conducted, wrote to NPR.
Weak is not definitive and it is not perfectly safe, of
course. Others, like the Center for Science in the Public Interest, however,
are sticking with the cancer narrative, full-stop. The FDA? The administration,
like Coke, says aspartame is fine.
All in all, it sounds like running an ad saying the jury is
still out on artificial sweeteners would be a more accurate portrayal, but that
wouldn’t help the flagging sales of Diet Coke—down three percent last year—now
would it? (Source)
See also:
* Facebook: National-Anarchist Movement Central Group (N-AM)
* Facebook: National-Anarchist Earth & Animal Activism Network
* Facebook: National-Anarchist Permaculture Information Network
* Facebook: National-Anarchist Survivalist and Preparedness Circle
* Facebook: National-Anarchist Spanish Speaking Resistance
* Contacts: N-AM Links
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