(no subject)
When Tony & I were kids, we used to eat this bubble gum that changed colour as you chewed it. I thought it was really neat and ate a lot of it till I became aware of the warning that came printed on the label: has been known to cause cancer in lab rats. Pretty sketchy candy!
I think that gum contained aspartame. I've always tried to stay away from foods containing aspartame, because I've heard that it can have serious neurological side effects. However, when Zed posted about finding sugar-free Fresca, I decided to do some research before warning him of the dangers of aspartame, since new research is always being done to update information.
Current research indicates that past aspartame scares don't hold up under further study, at least not when taken in moderation:
Of course, the questions of who funded the more current research, how reliable it is and whether even newer information will become available to throw more negative light on aspartame, still remain.
And the company that developed aspartame, Monsanto, is also the company that markets injecting cows with bovine growth hormone, which is considered unsafe in Canada and the EU, but not in the US:
"In 1998, a Canadian committee found that while there were no significant risks to human health, there are increased risks to animal safety due to injections of rbST. According to their report, use of rbST increased the risk of mastitis by up to 25%, of infertility by 18%, and of lameness by up to 50%. Humans who have too much growth hormone develop a disease called acromegaly, and some speculate that it is no more healthy for cows to have too much growth than it is for humans. Many animal rights activists oppose any farming practice that seems to "industrialize" food production from animals in an artificial way.
Milk production in North America, Europe, and Australia is already plentiful and milk is relatively inexpensive, so those opposing the use of the drug have expressed concerns that using the drug to increase milk production (hence depressing prices) primarily benefits large scale producers, and will narrow the margins that small dairy farms receive for their products. Whether this is problematic or not is an economic debate." (http://www.answers.com/topic/bovine-somatotropin)
I think that gum contained aspartame. I've always tried to stay away from foods containing aspartame, because I've heard that it can have serious neurological side effects. However, when Zed posted about finding sugar-free Fresca, I decided to do some research before warning him of the dangers of aspartame, since new research is always being done to update information.
Current research indicates that past aspartame scares don't hold up under further study, at least not when taken in moderation:
- On neurological problems
- Cancer in Rats - where that gum I used to eat comes in!
- More on cancer
- An editorial I'm a bit skeptical of
Of course, the questions of who funded the more current research, how reliable it is and whether even newer information will become available to throw more negative light on aspartame, still remain.
And the company that developed aspartame, Monsanto, is also the company that markets injecting cows with bovine growth hormone, which is considered unsafe in Canada and the EU, but not in the US:
"In 1998, a Canadian committee found that while there were no significant risks to human health, there are increased risks to animal safety due to injections of rbST. According to their report, use of rbST increased the risk of mastitis by up to 25%, of infertility by 18%, and of lameness by up to 50%. Humans who have too much growth hormone develop a disease called acromegaly, and some speculate that it is no more healthy for cows to have too much growth than it is for humans. Many animal rights activists oppose any farming practice that seems to "industrialize" food production from animals in an artificial way.
Milk production in North America, Europe, and Australia is already plentiful and milk is relatively inexpensive, so those opposing the use of the drug have expressed concerns that using the drug to increase milk production (hence depressing prices) primarily benefits large scale producers, and will narrow the margins that small dairy farms receive for their products. Whether this is problematic or not is an economic debate." (http://www.answers.com/topic/bovine-somatotropin)