Month: June 2023

I repeat, the IARC is not a food safety agency. | Photo by Yui Mok / PA Images via Getty Images

Yesterday, Reuters broke the news that the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) will declare aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic” next month. However, that doesn’t mean you have to raid your pantry and toss any sugar-free foods containing the artificial sweetener.
Why? Because this is not the agency that consumers should listen to with regard to food safety. The IARC only assesses the hazard of a given substance, not the risk. For example, there is a hazard of a meteor destroying the Earth or the sun causing skin cancer. But that’s not what matters to the average person. What matters is the actual risk of a hazard happening. There are thousands of meteors in space, but only the ones hurtling toward Earth pose a risk. The sun’s rays are dangerous, but you reduce that risk by using sunscreen, wearing protective clothing, and avoiding tanning beds.
The IARC reviews data about a substance and then declares whether it’s carcinogenic, probably carcinogenic, possibly carcinogenic, or unclassifiable. Technically speaking, that means any substance it reviews can’t be ruled out as non-carcinogenic. That’s why IARC can list things like “very hot beverages,” aloe vera, and wood dust as potential causes of cancer, even though your actual risk of developing cancer from these items is low.
The IARC only assesses the “hazard” of a given substance, not the risk
So who does assess risk, and who should you look to for guidance with regard to food safety? Within the WHO, that task falls to the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). In the US, it’s also the purview of the Food and Drug Administration. JECFA has ruled aspartame safe for consumption since 1981, while the FDA has also deemed that aspartame is safe for the general population. On its site, the FDA says it’s reviewed over 100 studies on aspartame and that the agency reevaluates the safety of aspartame anytime there are objections raised to aspartame’s approved uses.
So why is there a renewed hullabaloo around aspartame? One issue is the fact that both IARC and JECFA are currently reviewing aspartame and are set to publish their reports on July 14th. The timing was also flagged by food safety agencies, including the FDA, as potentially confusing to consumers.
“In our opinion, a concurrent review of aspartame by both IARC and JECFA would be detrimental to the scientific advice process and should not occur,” the FDA wrote in a letter to the WHO last summer. “We believe that JECFA is better suited to assess any risk associated with the consumption of aspartame and should be WHO’s lead entity in assessing and providing public health recommendations about the safety of aspartame in food.”
“We believe that JECFA is better suited to assess any risk associated with the consumption of aspartame…”
The letter goes on to explain that the agency views JECFA’s review process to be more reliable than IARC’s as the latter only reviews public data. JECFA reviews all available data, public or otherwise. It also points out that JECFA’s review of aspartame was proposed in 2021 and endorsed by 188 countries.
“JECFA, the FDA, the European Food Safety Authority, they’re doing reviews of a lot of evidence for aspartame,” Daniele Wikoff, PhD, principal scientist and health sciences practice director at ToxStrategies, tells The Verge. Wikoff also notes that there’s a large body of high-quality scientific research that says aspartame is safe for human consumption. “These agencies have evaluated, re-evaluated, and reaffirmed the safety of aspartame repeatedly over the past 40 years. This includes evaluating new science as it becomes available.”
Wikoff explained that JECFA also evaluates food safety from multiple angles, not just cancer, meaning JECFA’s report would be more representative of the totality of aspartame’s health risks.

Photo by Steve Russell / Toronto Star via Getty Images
If you want to avoid aspartame, no one is stopping you. But all this ruling says is there’s limited evidence suggesting that aspartame could cause cancer. Not that it definitively does.

Food safety agencies, like JECFA and the FDA, are also the ones responsible for defining the accepted daily intake (ADI) of any particular food additive.
“ADI just by definition, is the amount that you can have every day over the course of a lifetime without effects,” says Wikoff, adding that scientists include a “safety factor” — a buffer, so to speak — when determining ADI. “The way that it’s set is not the level where you see effects, it’s well below to ensure levels are health-protective.”
The FDA sets the ADI for aspartame at 50mg per kilogram of weight, while JECFA has it at 40mg. So say you weighed 150 pounds. By that measure, you could have roughly 3,400mg per day. A packet of NutraSweet, which contains aspartame, is about 37mg. A 12oz can of Diet Coke has around 200mg. That means you could consume around 91 packets of NutraSweet or 17 cans of Diet Coke every day for the rest of your life. It’s common sense not to do that, but it’s illustrative that toxicity lies in the dose.
Of course, everybody reacts differently to certain substances. If you’re prone to headaches, you might want to avoid aspartame, as some studies indicate the sweetener may trigger headaches and migraines for some people. Similarly, the American Cancer Society points out that carcinogens don’t always cause cancer in every circumstance. Some require constant exposure over a lifetime; others are more likely to cause cancer if you have certain genetic factors. Medications can also be classified as carcinogens for one type of cancer but be an effective treatment for a different type of cancer.
The bottom line is a leaked report from a non-food safety agency is not what you should base your decision to consume aspartame on. It’s one of the most studied sweeteners, and it undergoes periodic, rigorous review by food safety agencies. Until those agencies say otherwise, there’s no need to panic.

I repeat, the IARC is not a food safety agency. | Photo by Yui Mok / PA Images via Getty Images

Yesterday, Reuters broke the news that the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) will declare aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic” next month. However, that doesn’t mean you have to raid your pantry and toss any sugar-free foods containing the artificial sweetener.

Why? Because this is not the agency that consumers should listen to with regard to food safety. The IARC only assesses the hazard of a given substance, not the risk. For example, there is a hazard of a meteor destroying the Earth or the sun causing skin cancer. But that’s not what matters to the average person. What matters is the actual risk of a hazard happening. There are thousands of meteors in space, but only the ones hurtling toward Earth pose a risk. The sun’s rays are dangerous, but you reduce that risk by using sunscreen, wearing protective clothing, and avoiding tanning beds.

The IARC reviews data about a substance and then declares whether it’s carcinogenic, probably carcinogenic, possibly carcinogenic, or unclassifiable. Technically speaking, that means any substance it reviews can’t be ruled out as non-carcinogenic. That’s why IARC can list things like “very hot beverages,” aloe vera, and wood dust as potential causes of cancer, even though your actual risk of developing cancer from these items is low.

So who does assess risk, and who should you look to for guidance with regard to food safety? Within the WHO, that task falls to the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). In the US, it’s also the purview of the Food and Drug Administration. JECFA has ruled aspartame safe for consumption since 1981, while the FDA has also deemed that aspartame is safe for the general population. On its site, the FDA says it’s reviewed over 100 studies on aspartame and that the agency reevaluates the safety of aspartame anytime there are objections raised to aspartame’s approved uses.

So why is there a renewed hullabaloo around aspartame? One issue is the fact that both IARC and JECFA are currently reviewing aspartame and are set to publish their reports on July 14th. The timing was also flagged by food safety agencies, including the FDA, as potentially confusing to consumers.

“In our opinion, a concurrent review of aspartame by both IARC and JECFA would be detrimental to the scientific advice process and should not occur,” the FDA wrote in a letter to the WHO last summer. “We believe that JECFA is better suited to assess any risk associated with the consumption of aspartame and should be WHO’s lead entity in assessing and providing public health recommendations about the safety of aspartame in food.”

The letter goes on to explain that the agency views JECFA’s review process to be more reliable than IARC’s as the latter only reviews public data. JECFA reviews all available data, public or otherwise. It also points out that JECFA’s review of aspartame was proposed in 2021 and endorsed by 188 countries.

“JECFA, the FDA, the European Food Safety Authority, they’re doing reviews of a lot of evidence for aspartame,” Daniele Wikoff, PhD, principal scientist and health sciences practice director at ToxStrategies, tells The Verge. Wikoff also notes that there’s a large body of high-quality scientific research that says aspartame is safe for human consumption. “These agencies have evaluated, re-evaluated, and reaffirmed the safety of aspartame repeatedly over the past 40 years. This includes evaluating new science as it becomes available.”

Wikoff explained that JECFA also evaluates food safety from multiple angles, not just cancer, meaning JECFA’s report would be more representative of the totality of aspartame’s health risks.

Photo by Steve Russell / Toronto Star via Getty Images
If you want to avoid aspartame, no one is stopping you. But all this ruling says is there’s limited evidence suggesting that aspartame could cause cancer. Not that it definitively does.

Food safety agencies, like JECFA and the FDA, are also the ones responsible for defining the accepted daily intake (ADI) of any particular food additive.

“ADI just by definition, is the amount that you can have every day over the course of a lifetime without effects,” says Wikoff, adding that scientists include a “safety factor” — a buffer, so to speak — when determining ADI. “The way that it’s set is not the level where you see effects, it’s well below to ensure levels are health-protective.”

The FDA sets the ADI for aspartame at 50mg per kilogram of weight, while JECFA has it at 40mg. So say you weighed 150 pounds. By that measure, you could have roughly 3,400mg per day. A packet of NutraSweet, which contains aspartame, is about 37mg. A 12oz can of Diet Coke has around 200mg. That means you could consume around 91 packets of NutraSweet or 17 cans of Diet Coke every day for the rest of your life. It’s common sense not to do that, but it’s illustrative that toxicity lies in the dose.

Of course, everybody reacts differently to certain substances. If you’re prone to headaches, you might want to avoid aspartame, as some studies indicate the sweetener may trigger headaches and migraines for some people. Similarly, the American Cancer Society points out that carcinogens don’t always cause cancer in every circumstance. Some require constant exposure over a lifetime; others are more likely to cause cancer if you have certain genetic factors. Medications can also be classified as carcinogens for one type of cancer but be an effective treatment for a different type of cancer.

The bottom line is a leaked report from a non-food safety agency is not what you should base your decision to consume aspartame on. It’s one of the most studied sweeteners, and it undergoes periodic, rigorous review by food safety agencies. Until those agencies say otherwise, there’s no need to panic.

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

If you’re looking for a third-party Reddit app for Android after rif is fun for Reddit (RIF) goes away soon, you’re going to have a few options. The developer of Relay for Reddit announced Friday that the app would continue to be available after July 1st, while the developer of Now and Nara for Reddit said those apps will continue on, too.
Relay will be moving the app to a subscription model, developer DBrady announced in a Reddit post. Reddit will start charging for its paid API on July 1st, and the potential costs of that are forcing apps like RIF and Apollo for Reddit to shut down. But DBrady seems to have found a way to make the numbers work with subscriptions — something they said they were contemplating earlier this month.
Relay will be free — for a bit
However, Relay users won’t be charged a monthly subscription right away. For now, the app will be free “while I continue optimizing API calls and finalizing subscription prices,” DBrady said. (On Google Play, I see the app listed with a $3.99 price, but DBrady says it “should now be free to use,” so maybe that will change soon.) DBrady is working to get API call volumes down and is aiming to hit “as low a price point as possible” for a base subscription tier that covers 85 to 90 percent of users. For power users, DBrady says they might have to introduce “a few different price points.” Sometime in the “coming weeks,” the app will switch to the subscription model.
The developer of Now for Reddit, Miloco, issued a similar post. Now will continue to be available after July 1st, and it will be free until they switch it over to the subscription model. “The timeline for releasing the update which removes free use of the app isn’t confirmed yet but I will share this information with you when I can,” Miloco wrote. Miloco also didn’t share details on potential pricing. Miloco added that Nara for Reddit, a gesture-based Reddit client, will also remain available, and although they didn’t clarify if it would also move over to a subscription, I’m guessing that’s what’s going to happen.

The developers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Like with my Thursday story about Narwhal’s switch to subscriptions, Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt said that the company doesn’t disclose private business discussions or agreements.
Other apps like Apollo for Reddit, RIF, and Sync are set to shut down on Friday. Fans of the apps are sending them off with tributes.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

If you’re looking for a third-party Reddit app for Android after rif is fun for Reddit (RIF) goes away soon, you’re going to have a few options. The developer of Relay for Reddit announced Friday that the app would continue to be available after July 1st, while the developer of Now and Nara for Reddit said those apps will continue on, too.

Relay will be moving the app to a subscription model, developer DBrady announced in a Reddit post. Reddit will start charging for its paid API on July 1st, and the potential costs of that are forcing apps like RIF and Apollo for Reddit to shut down. But DBrady seems to have found a way to make the numbers work with subscriptions — something they said they were contemplating earlier this month.

However, Relay users won’t be charged a monthly subscription right away. For now, the app will be free “while I continue optimizing API calls and finalizing subscription prices,” DBrady said. (On Google Play, I see the app listed with a $3.99 price, but DBrady says it “should now be free to use,” so maybe that will change soon.) DBrady is working to get API call volumes down and is aiming to hit “as low a price point as possible” for a base subscription tier that covers 85 to 90 percent of users. For power users, DBrady says they might have to introduce “a few different price points.” Sometime in the “coming weeks,” the app will switch to the subscription model.

The developer of Now for Reddit, Miloco, issued a similar post. Now will continue to be available after July 1st, and it will be free until they switch it over to the subscription model. “The timeline for releasing the update which removes free use of the app isn’t confirmed yet but I will share this information with you when I can,” Miloco wrote. Miloco also didn’t share details on potential pricing. Miloco added that Nara for Reddit, a gesture-based Reddit client, will also remain available, and although they didn’t clarify if it would also move over to a subscription, I’m guessing that’s what’s going to happen.

The developers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Like with my Thursday story about Narwhal’s switch to subscriptions, Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt said that the company doesn’t disclose private business discussions or agreements.

Other apps like Apollo for Reddit, RIF, and Sync are set to shut down on Friday. Fans of the apps are sending them off with tributes.

Read More