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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 (2 children)

Realistically what it means is that millions of people will react with "meh, still gonna use it." I mean, have you met humans? We knew lead was toxic since at least the Roman era, but that didn't stop us from using it in everything - including food and drink.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

The difference is that you can completely avoid lead poisoning if you eliminate exposure to lead, but you can't completely avoid cancer even if you eliminate exposure to carcinogens.

And eliminating exposure to aspartame would have only a minimal effect, at best, on your overall risk of cancer.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

And they'll do that while standing in bright sunlight without sunscreen, drinking beer, eating red meat, processed food, candy with real sugar and driving in fossil fuel cars which are in the same or higher category of cancer risks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Don't forget cell phones, which are in the same risk category as aspartame.