One of the world's most common artificial sweeteners is set to be declared a possible carcinogen next month by a leading global health body, according to two sources with knowledge of the process, pitting it against the food industry and regulators.
  • a_rational_llama@lemm.ee
    5·
    2 years ago

    The IARC’s decisions have also faced criticism for sparking needless alarm over hard to avoid substances or situations. It has previously put working overnight and consuming red meat into its “probably cancer-causing” class, and using mobile phones as “possibly cancer-causing”, similar to aspartame.

    • pwacata@beehaw.org
      0·
      2 years ago

      I mean… it can still be cancer causing despite being hard to avoid. If it’s impossible to avoid (“breathing probably cancer-causing”) then I could see the argument. But all-nighters and red meat are pretty avoidable for a sizable fraction - maybe not all - of people who are in that group.

      • Umbrias@beehaw.org
        1·
        2 years ago

        Breathing is cancer causing. Free radicals from blood oxygenation are a source of cancer. As are free radicals from cellular metabolism.

        The point is more “12-36 cans of diet soda per day to begin seeing potential health effects” is a signal to noise ratio so far removed from reality you might as well wander into the woods fully detached from the world forever.

        And then worry about getting cancer from breathing in unknown fungal spores growing in the soils around you, or try to make sure you find a place to settle that has a lower than average uranium content in the rocks and soil, too.

        This is the reverse of “handguns kill cancer cells in a petri dish.” If you introduce so much of a compound around DNA that every other molecular interaction is your compound, eventually you’ll get something to happen, that’s just statistics.