cormack12
Gold Member
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66057216
The sweetener aspartame, which is found in a variety of foods and fizzy drinks, is set to be officially classified as "possibly carcinogenic" to humans, reports claim.
The label frequently causes confusion as it gives no sense of whether the potential risk is big or miniscule.
Other "possibly carcinogenic" substances include aloe vera, diesel and pickled Asian vegetables.
IARC uses four possible classifications:
"The IARC categorisation won't tell us anything about the actual level of risk from aspartame, because that's not what IARC categorisations mean," says Kevin McConway, professor of statistics at the Open University.
IARC tells us how strong the evidence is, not how risky a substance is to your health.
The "possibly" category is used when there is "limited" evidence in people or data from animal experiments. It includes diesel, talc on the perineum, nickel, aloe vera, Asian pickled vegetables and a host of chemical substances.
"I emphasise though that the evidence that these things could cause cancer is not very strong or they would have been put in group 1 or 2A," added Prof McConway.
The sweetener aspartame, which is found in a variety of foods and fizzy drinks, is set to be officially classified as "possibly carcinogenic" to humans, reports claim.
The label frequently causes confusion as it gives no sense of whether the potential risk is big or miniscule.
Other "possibly carcinogenic" substances include aloe vera, diesel and pickled Asian vegetables.
IARC uses four possible classifications:
- Group 1 - Carcinogenic to humans
- Group 2A - Probably carcinogenic to humans
- Group 2B - Possibly carcinogenic to humans
- Group 3- Not classifiable
"The IARC categorisation won't tell us anything about the actual level of risk from aspartame, because that's not what IARC categorisations mean," says Kevin McConway, professor of statistics at the Open University.
IARC tells us how strong the evidence is, not how risky a substance is to your health.
The "possibly" category is used when there is "limited" evidence in people or data from animal experiments. It includes diesel, talc on the perineum, nickel, aloe vera, Asian pickled vegetables and a host of chemical substances.
"I emphasise though that the evidence that these things could cause cancer is not very strong or they would have been put in group 1 or 2A," added Prof McConway.