DATE: Saturday, November 1, 1997            TAG: 9711010699
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.      LENGTH:   38 lines

PANEL VOTES, 4-3, TO KEEP SACCHARINE ON LIST AS CANCER-CAUSING SUBSTANCE

A panel of scientists voted Friday to keep saccharin on a list of cancer-causing substances, angering those who say the artificial sweetener is perfectly safe.

The subcommittee of the National Toxicology Program's Board of Scientific Counselors voted 4-3 to keep saccharin on the federal government's list.

``Delisting is going to weigh on my conscience if I'm wrong,'' said panel member Kim Hooper, an expert on toxic substances for the California Department of Health Services.

He and the other three panel members who voted not to change the list argued that there was clear evidence of increased cancer risk among male rats fed saccharin.

Studies suggesting an increased risk among some categories of people, such as men who are heavy smokers, also could not be ignored, they said.

The vote disappointed proponents of saccharin, including the maker of a major brand of the substance.

Dr. Abe Bakal, a consultant for Cumberland Packing Co. in New York, which makes Sweet 'N Low, said the panel's vote ignored scientific data from lab rat experiments. In the experiments, rats were fed the equivalent of hundreds of cans of diet soda a day before developing bladder cancer.

``Those conditions will never occur in humans,'' Bakal said.

Two government review groups already have voted to take the substance off the cancer-causing list. It wasn't known what effect this panel's vote will have on final action by the Food and Drug Administration or Congress.

Besides Sweet 'n Low, saccharin is still used in a few other products, such as Tab soda and Carefree gum. But aspartame, the ingredient in Nutrasweet, is now the most popular artificial sweetener. KEYWORDS: SACCHARINE CANCER

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