O n 29 June 2023, the soda industry was bracing for a fresh wave of controversy. A media leak had suggested that a research arm of the World Health Organization (WHO), which had been reviewing the artificial sweetener aspartame, was planning to classify the additive as possibly cancer-causing. The sweetener – included in candy, soft drinks such as Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, and common items such as toothpaste – has long been dogged by questions about potential health risks.
And such a determination could disrupt consumers’ spending and billions in annual sales. Should I worry about drinking diet soda? Read more By the end of the day, the International Council of Beverage Associations – a global group representing soft drinks manufacturers and regional industry groups – issued a statement to pre-empt the coming report. In the press release, the group’s executive director, Kate Loatman, said: “Public health authorities should be deeply concerned that this leaked opinion contradicts decades of high-quality scientific evidence and could needlessly mislead consumers.
” A few weeks later, the WHO group, formally known as the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), made its evaluation public: aspartame was “possibly carcinogenic to humans”, it said, calling for further research on the link between the additive and cancer. The announcement made waves in the press and drew support from public interest groups. But it wasn’t the radical industry-gutting s.
