Two-generation saccharin bioassays.

Abstract

The controversy regarding the safety of saccharin for human consumption started shortly after its discovery over 100 years ago and has yet to subside appreciably. The consumption of saccharin, particularly in North America, began to escalate when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration set new standards of identity which allowed foods containing artificial sweeteners to be promoted as "nonnutritive" or "noncaloric" sweeteners for use by the general public. In 1969, when cyclamates were banned, at least 10 single-generation feeding studies were undertaken with saccharin to more accurately assess the potential toxicological consequences resulting from the anticipated increase in its consumption. None of these studies resulted in any overt regulatory action. Subsequently, the introduction of the two-generation chronic toxicity/carcinogenicity bioassay added a new tool to the toxicologist's arsenal. Three two-generation studies using saccharin have since been conducted. The results from these studies clearly show that when rats were exposed to diets containing 5 or 7.5% sodium saccharin from the time of conception to death, an increased frequency of urinary bladder cancers was found, predominantly in the males. While some study results suggested that impurities in commercial saccharin or the presence of urinary tract calculi may have been responsible for the observed bladder tumors, it now appears that these possibilities are highly unlikely. The mechanism by which saccharin elicited the bladder tumors using the two-generation experiment has not been ascertained.