It never ceases to surprise me that people are stunned when I tell them that saccharin is safe to use, and always has been.
“What!” they say. “I thought saccharin caused cancer.”
Well, this is yet another example of the misinformation sold to us for decades by mainstream media channels, Big Pharma, and government agencies.
Despite the misleading reports starting fifty years ago telling us that saccharin causes cancer, saccharin remains one of the safer artificial sweeteners to choose today – if you insist on using an artificial sweetener, that is.
Why? Because saccharin never caused cancer in lab rats, and the FDA made a deal with Monsanto Chemical Company in the 1960s when they proposed the cancer warning and it’s imminent removal from the pink packets in 2001, right before Splenda came on to the American market.
In the corporate saccharin cancer studies done in the 1960s, saccharin was blended with cyclamate, and the amount of both saccharin and cyclamate given to the lab rats was enough to warrant animal abuse because it was so high. The cancer causing agent was the cyclamate – not the saccharin.
Needless to say, these safety studies were shoddy and flawed, but they were done so aspartame could take over the markets.
Saccharin
Saccharin is made in the laboratory today from all synthesized ingredients, but its original simplicity was the key to its ability to be used by your body as a safer chemical sugar substitute, especially for diabetics.
Compared to the other manmade chemical sugars, saccharin is not as “toxically chemically combined”, and is still one of the safer choices for diabetics from the group of manufactured sugar replacements.
Years Of Safe Use
As a kid in the 1960s, I watched my dad use tiny, white pellets of saccharin in his daily morning coffee. Daddy started using saccharin in India during WWII in the 1940s. Saccharin was brought to India from China, where it was made from a plant root in China.
Even back then, the amount of saccharin used was very small because it is bitter if you use too much.
Monsanto didn’t make enough money off these tiny pellets, and the first soft drinks using saccharin just didn’t taste good. Tab® and Fresca® didn’t make the millions that diet colas with aspartame have made the Big Corps.
Hence, saccharin gets labeled a carcinogen at the same time aspartame came on the market – both products owned by Monsanto Chemical Company.
Monsanto
Does it surprise anyone that Monsanto was behind saccharin’s ban?
In 1902, Monsanto gained its reputation manufacturing saccharin, the company’s first product. In 1903 to 1905, their entire saccharin output was shipped to the growing soft drink company in Georgia called Coca-Cola®.
In 1917, the U.S. government filed suit over the safety of saccharin. Filed at Monsanto’s request as a test case, the suit was dismissed in 1925, ending the government’s unsuccessful attempts to prove saccharin as harmful.
In 1981, saccharin was again questioned as a carcinogen, but no conclusive scientific proof was ever presented. In 2001, the cancer warning was removed from saccharin products as saccharin was shown, once again, to be safe for human consumption.
Actually, it never really mattered to Monsanto if you picked the pink or blue packet because for over twenty years Monsanto Chemical Company owned both products (saccharin and aspartame). Blue or pink – they won your dollar.
In the year 2000, they sold their sweetener division for $440 million, just in time for the competitor’s yellow packet of Splenda® to join the sweetener market.
So, Is Saccharin Safe To Use?
I don’t advocate using any of the artificial sweeteners made in a laboratory, but based on its history and the research – saccharin is your safest bet when choosing a colored sweetener packet placed on your dining table. Especially for diabetics.
Saccharin has never done harm to people like the blue, yellow, or white packets.
Hum, I wonder if it’s still used in the 1903 bottled Coca Cola formula?
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If you want to learn more about healthy living, contact me at janethull.com. Remember that you are never alone when you are looking for good health!
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only, and is educational in nature. The FDA may not have evaluated some of the statements. This article is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Please discuss with your own, qualified health care provider before adding supplements or making any changes to your dietary program.
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