Editor COMMENTS

According to the 1958 Delaney clause, no substance known to induce cancer in man or animals can be used as a food additive: thus, the ban on sugar substitute saccharin.

At first glance, the Delaney clause sounds like a very practical law. After all, who wants to eat under the fear of getting cancer? But the research that determined saccharin to be unsafe is not altogether significant. According to the Canadian tests, thirteen out of 200 rats gorged with saccharin developed bladder cancer. If this information is to be extrapolated into human terms, that would mean that an equal ratio of humans whould get bladder cancer after consuming 800 cans of diet soda per day for a lifetime. The FDA has looked at the test results a little bit more resonably: they conclude that four cases of bladder cancer would occur among every 10,000 people who drink one can of diet pop per day for a lifetime. This four-hundredths of one per cent of the population need not fear, according to Dr. Kurt J. Isselbacher of the Harvard Medical School. He says, "Actually, cancer of the bladder is one of the more treatable kinds of cancer."

The big issue at hand is not so much whether saccharin should be banned or not, although it is the short-term problem. After all, according to recent estimates, it could be a minimum of ten years before a suitable substitute for sugar is happened upon and is tested thoroughly and found safe. During this ten years, 619 separate medications that rely on saccharin will be eliminated from the market, 10 million diabetics will be left without a sugar-free sweetener, and fat people will remain fat.

The real issue, the long-range problem, is the question of just how much should the government protect the people? According to the tests, saccharin is dangerous--but then, so is water. According to a recent article in the newspaper, a woman who was fanatical about cleanliness, in an effort to keep her body "pure" of bad substances, consumed gallons of water daily until she eventually over-loaded her body and drowned. Surely it is time for congress to pass legislation, long overdue, to get the dangerous substance water off the market and out of the home where little children might accidently abuse it.

--Rick Hines