There are thousands of foods and drinks consumed every day that contain what may be a toxic carcinogen.
A recent study concluded that an artificial sweetener found in more that 6,000 food products could cause cancer.
The sweetener is aspartame, and is sold under the brand names Nutra-Sweet and Equal.
It can be found in diet soda, chewing gum, nutritional bars and many other sugar-free and diet products.
The study was conducted by the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences and found an increase in lymphomas and leukemias in female rats that were administered dose levels of aspartame close to the acceptable daily intake for humans.
The findings have sparked a wave of controversy among some members of the scientific community, and, at the same time, have encouraged many who say aspartame is a dangerous toxin.
The study is flawed, according to Richard Adamson, senior scientific consultant to the American Beverage Association, who has 10 years of experience with the National Cancer Institute.
"There is not a need for concern among consumers of diet sodas. There are numerous studies that do not agree with the Ramazzini study," he said.
The methods used by the Ramazzini Foundation do differ from those of past studies in that the laboratory rats were examined over their entire lifetimes.
"General practice is to study results only until rats reach an age corresponding to about 60 years of human life," said Karen Collins, nutrition advisor to the American Institute for Cancer Research. "After that, cancers can spontaneously develop, and it's difficult to determine the actual cause of cancers that are seen."
For those who have been condemning aspartame as unsafe for consumption since its approval by the FDA in 1981, the study has bolstered their arguments.
"Based on my 20 years of research, I would say that consumers should be very concerned," said Mary Nash Stoddard, consumer advocate, food safety consultant, and co-founder of the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network.
Aspartame may be a trigger for certain health problems, including brain tumors, migraines, and heart disease, according to Stoddard.
She added that methanol is produced as the body metabolizes aspartame, and when the body breaks down methanol, it results in the carcinogen formaldehyde.
"No one drinks a Diet Coke and keels over from leukemia, but the effects are cumulative," she said. " I want to keep people from getting sick. The FDA should look very carefully at [aspartame], and it should have never even been approved it in the first place."
The circumstances surrounding the sweetener's approval are viewed as suspicious by some, including Stoddard.
"The whole process was fraught with ethical problems," she said.
The pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle started to petition for aspartame's approval in the 1970s, and their studies were met with disagreement by the FDA. A public board of inquiry voted against approval until further studies could be conducted. But another review, paid for by Searle, concluded Searle's studies showed aspartame was safe.
In 1981, the new FDA commissioner, Arthur Hull Hayes, approved aspartame, stating, "Few compounds have withstood such detailed testing and repeated, close scrutiny, and the process through which aspartame has gone should provide the public with additional confidence of its' safety."
Aspartame is indeed one of the most scrutinized food products on the market, and has been found safe for use by several organizations, including the World Health Organization and the American Dietetic Association.
Students are not in danger, according to Mary Catherine Schallert, nutrition educator for the Student Health Service.
"The amount consumed that could cause cancer is far greater than the average person consumes," she said.
Collins said there would be no risk unless you consumed 5-6 cans of diet soda a day for a lifetime.
Andy Hendricks, senior health and human performance major, said the FDA should keep an eye on it. "We need to evaluate whether [aspartame] is worth getting rid of. There definitely needs to be more studies to determine all the variables."
