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The WHO declared aspartame "possibly" causes cancer. Here’s what that means. | Vox (www.vox.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago

Ehhh, not so much. Honestly the rating for carcinogenic substances is very shaky and can be very misleading. Like many things, poison depends on the dose and the same with carcinogens. Bacon is a group 1 carcinogen, and cigarettes are a group 1 carcinogen. Despite the same rating, cigarettes are BY FAR much more carcinogenic.

For group 2b "possible carcinogens", it usually coincides with the frequency of the product. For this rating they review what a cancer victim typically eats/consumes/interacts with. Aspartame and many other ingredients, are labeled as possibly carcinogenic, as many victims have eaten them, but there is no strong correlation.

The problem is however, many of these ingredients are so common that almost everybody eats them. It's like saying "everybody who drinks water dies, it's poisonous!".