In May of this year science and the National Toxicology Program (NTP) agreed that when it comes to saccharin, humans aren't rats. Supported by a preponderance of scientific evidence accumulated over 20 years, the government has removed saccharin from its list of substances reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens.

The sweetener saccharin has been in use for nearly a century and, since the growing interest in the development of diet foods that began in the 1950s, has been a valued component of foods and beverages used by consumers interested in calorie control and by people with diabetes.

In 1977, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban on saccharin based on studies conducted on a sensitive strain of laboratory rats fed extremely high doses of sodium saccharin that linked it to bladder cancer. Although Congress overrode the ban, it required labels warning about the evidence.

There is now a large body of scientific evidence supporting the conclusion that sodium saccharin is not related to bladder cancer in humans. The sweetener has been removed from NTP's "Report on Carcinogens," and consumers can be assured of the safety of saccharin along with other trustworthy and versatile low-calorie sweeteners such as aspartame, acesulfame potassium and sucralose. Sweet news, indeed.