American Fitness Professionals & Associates

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC (Reuters) — After a two-day meeting, a panel of National Institute of Health (NIH) advisers voted 4-3 that saccharin should not be dropped from the government’s list of substances with potential to cause cancer. Saccharin should continue to be considered as an “anticipated” human carcinogen, said the panel, a subcommittee of the National Toxicology Program’s (NTP) Board of Scientific Counselors.

That designation is one step lower than a “known” carcinogen, and is the same listing saccharin has had since 1981. An industry group, the Calorie Control Council, had petitioned the government to remove saccharin from the list altogether. That move was supported in previous votes by two other government panels — the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and an NTP working group.

But the NTP subcommittee said that the doses given to rats in animal studies were not as “extreme” as had been popularly pictured, and thus, the results might be more comparable to human use. The panel also said that even though rats and humans might metabolize saccharin differently, it was “unwilling to conclude there was no carcinogenic effect in humans,” said an NTP statement.

“I don’t think anyone thinks (saccharin) is a major cause of bladder cancer,” said a consultant from the National Cancer Institute, but he added that there were some “troubling subgroup” findings in epidemiological studies.

The NTP subcommittee’s recommendations will form the content of the ninth edition on the Report on Carcinogens.
The panel also weighed adding some new substances to the list, and reclassifying some others.

It voted unanimously to add ultraviolet radiation — from natural sunlight or from tanning beds — as a known carcinogen.
“The recommended designation makes it clear that sunlamps, tanning booths and other artificial sources of UV light are also hazardous, regardless of the claims of operators,” said the NTP statement.

Also, for the first time, smokeless tobacco and the smoke from carcinogens was added to the list of known carcinogens. Tamoxifen, a breast cancer drug, was also added to the “known” column, but the panel said the benefits outweigh the risks.

Phenolphthalein, a laxative ingredient that has already been abandoned by drug manufacturers, was listed as an “anticipated” carcinogen. Finally, the panel said that tetrafluoroethylene and chloroprene are “reasonably anticipated” to be cancer-causing. Cadmium and cadmium compounds used in batteries and plastics were upgraded to “known” carcinogens.”

Source: The Lancet, (1997;350:1300), Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, (1996;45:207-209)