The+Issue+of+Saccharin_12-3

We use it in our iced tea, put it in our cereal and eat it in many reduced-calorie or sugar-free foods and beverages everyday…saccharin. The sugar substitute has been a part of our daily lives for more than 100 years and is used by millions of people to stay in better overall health and control weight. Saccharin also has been the subject of controversy almost since it was discovered, but now it is one of the most thoroughly tested food ingredients. In fact, saccharin’s safety as an artificial sweetener is supported by 30 human studies, a century of use, the approval of the World Health Organization and 100 countries around the world, as well as leading health groups. History

Saccharin was first produced in 1878 by Constantin Fahlberg, a chemist working on coal tar derivatives in Ira Remsen's laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University. The sweet taste of saccharin was discovered when Fahlberg noticed a sweet taste on his hand one evening, and connected this with the compound which he had been working on that day. Fahlberg and Remsen published articles on benzoic sulfimide in 1879 and 1880. In 1884, now working on his own in New York City, Fahlberg applied for patents in several countries describing methods of producing this substance that he named saccharin. Fahlberg would soon grow wealthy, while Remsen merely grew irate, believing that he deserved credit for substances produced in his laboratory. On the matter, Remsen commented, "Fahlberg is a scoundrel. It nauseates me to hear my name mentioned in the same breath with him." Although saccharin was commercialized not long after its discovery, it was not until sugar shortages during world war I that its use became widespread. Its popularity further increased during the 1960s and 1970s among dieters, since saccharin is a calorie-free sweetener. In the United States saccharin is often found in restaurants in pink packets; the most popular brand is Sweet N'Low". Saccharin was delisted by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) of the California environmental Protection Agency from the list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer on April 6, 2001. It had been added to the list in 1989.

Warning label removal
Studies in laboratory rats during the early 1970s linked saccharin with the development of bladder cancer in rodents, resulting in the United States Congress mandating that all food containing saccharin bear a warning label. However, in 2000, the warning labels were removed because scientists learned that rodents, unlike humans, have a unique combination of high pH, high calcium phosphate, and high protein levels in their urine. One or more of the proteins that is more prevalent in male rats combines with calcium phosphate and saccharin to produce microcrystals that damage the lining of the bladder. Over time, the rat's bladder responds to this damage by over-producing cells to repair the damage, and this leads to tumor formation. This does not occur in humans, so there is no bladder cancer risk. The delisting of saccharin led to legislation, which was signed into law on December 21, 2000, repealing the warning label requirement for products containing saccharin.