
Aspartame, the low-calorie sweetener that flavors Diet Coke, Trident gum, and sugar replacement packets like Equal, has been deemed “possibly carcinogenic to humans” by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) cancer research branch, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). The WHO released the news on July 14. IARC and FAO/JECFA conducted their research independently of each other.