No plan to ban use of saccharin

Press, 9 November 1978, Page 7

No plan to ban use of saccharin

The Health Department has ;1 no immediate plan to ban the!: use of the artificial sweet-|i ener, saccharin, from food;, and drink. ij The Superintendent ofi< Foods in the department at I Wellington (Mr J. Fraser)!: said that until the report on the recent United! States study which had | linked saccharin with cancer, particularly among the!' young, had been studied byi

} his department, no action I would be taken. He expected that a copy would arrive in New Zealand at the end of this week, and a decision on the matter would be taken next week. The study linking saccharin with cancer was ordered by the United States Congress. It said that the young were more at risk because they were apt to consume saccharin heavily and over long I periods in low calorie soft j drinks. The Health Department is ' also waiting for the results I of another United States j study on saccharin which is ■due in February. This one i cost SI.BM and will be “more

meaningful” than pastj studies because it is assess-: : ing the effect of saccharin ( {consumption on human be-1 ings instead of animals, ac-j i cording to Mr Fraser. He said that the problem i iin New Zealand was much { i less than in the United: I States, where saccharin was { ! used in a whole range of{ I foods. In this country its yse! {was restricted to diabetic! j foods.

I Several Christchurch food (and soft drink manufacturers approached con- ; finned this. They said that lan artificial sweetener con- | taining both saccharin and cyclamates was used in diabetic soft drinks. The manager of Maunders Cordials, Ltd (Mr B. J. Marshall) said ; that there was a saccharincancer or some other cancer I scare about every six ! months. ■ “With some of these ! studies, they force hundreds of bottles of soft drink down rats’ throats a day. If anyone had that much of anything, I would say they were asking for trouble,” Mr Marshall said.

The general manager of T. J, Edmonds, Ltd (Mr G. Williamson) said that his company used saccharin in the diabetic drink, “Tang,” but not in any solid foods. His company had complained to the Health Department about the “irresponsible” attitude taken by another soft drink manufacturer whose sales “pitch” for a diabetic drink containing an artificial sweetener was obviously directed at the young. “The use of artificial sweeteners containing saccharin is permitted by the Health Department for a certain section of the community who cannot take sugar, but the name of this drink and its advertising is 'obviously aimed at the | young, and this could bring i our industry into disrepute,” ■ Mr Williamson said.