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…