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Aspartame Information Service |
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Scientific LibraryBackground on Aspartame Regulatory Review: Prior to its approval for use in food and beverage products, aspartame was subjected to one of the most comprehensive testing programs ever undertaken for a food additive. Since 1967, more than 200 scientific studies have been conducted with laboratory animals and a cross-section of men, women and children. Based on these extensive studies, aspartame has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Canada's Health Protection Branch (HPB), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the regulatory agencies of more than 100 other nations. In 1986 the GAO specifically reviewed the FDA's regulatory process in reviewing aspartame. The Council on Scientific Affairs of the American Medical Association, after reviewing all safety issues, has also confirmed that consuming products sweetened with aspartame is no different than consuming other foods, thus demonstrating that aspartame is not associated with adverse health effects. In the Food and Drug Administration's Final Decision on aspartame's approval (Fed. Reg. 46:38289, 1981), the Commissioner stated: "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." A representative sample of scientific studies is included below.
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