WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it has removed the common artificial sweetener saccharine from its list of hazardous substances.
Saccharin -- a white crystalline powder used to sweeten diet soft drinks, chewing gum and juice -- is no longer considered a potential hazard to human health, the EPA said in a release Tuesday.
Saccharin had been labeled a potentially cancer-causing substance in the 1980s.
In the late 1990s, the National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer re-evaluated the available scientific information on saccharin and concluded it is not a potential human carcinogen.
Because the scientific basis for remaining on the EPA's lists no longer applied, the agency proposed the removal of saccharin from the lists on April 22, 2010, and did not receive any comments opposing the proposal.
