§ Lord Beaumont of Whitleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in view of concern about the potential health impacts of the artificial sweetener aspartame, they will carry out research with a view to assessing whether (a) the product should be banned; or (b) serious health warnings should be issued. [HL1657]
§ Lord WarnerWe are advised by the Food Standards Agency that there are no plans to ban aspartame or to put out health warnings concerning the use of this sweetener. Legislation on sweeteners and other food additives is harmonised throughout the European Union and all additives permitted for use such as aspartame have been regularly assessed for safety by the independent scientific committees that advise the European Commission and the United Kingdom Government.
At the request of the Food Standards Agency, the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Food undertook a comprehensive review of the safety of aspartame in 2001. The committee concluded that there was no evidence to suggest a need to revise its previous risk assessment of the sweetener, which concluded that aspartame is safe for use in food.