(Teleborsa) – According to the Reuters agency theInternational Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the agency of theOms specializing in cancer research, may soon classify the sweetener aspartame as a “possible human carcinogen”. The news should be made official on July 14, when the IARC monograph dedicated to aspartame will be made available and the evaluation will be published in the Lancet Oncology journal.
The WHO agency classification system has four categories: the group 1 it is intended for substances for which there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity; the substances included in the group 2A (probably carcinogenic) e 2b (possibly carcinogenic) are considered potentially capable of promoting the development of tumors, but with differing levels of strength of the available scientific evidence. The last group is reserved for substances for which evidence of carcinogenicity is not available. According to the Reuters preview, aspartame would have been included in the category of ‘possible carcinogens‘, in which there are currently 322 substances.