英国一位下院议员日前提出，一种包含在6000多种食品、饮料和药物中的人造甜味剂——阿斯巴甜（aspartame）应该被禁用，因为有非常“可靠且具有说服力”的证据显示，它能导致癌症。

    据英国《每日邮报》12月15日报道，人们在很多目前很受欢迎的食品（如可乐、谷类食品和巧克力）中，都能发现这种备受争议的甜味剂。今年7月份，意大利科学家公布的一份研究结果称，动物实验证明，阿斯巴甜可导致老鼠患上癌症。但也有人认为，它能使人患癌症这一说法缺乏科学依据。

    日前，英国议会食品与环境特别委员会成员、自由民主党下院议员罗杰·威廉姆斯呼吁说，任何含有阿斯巴甜的食品及饮料都应下架。他说：“有充分的科学证据可以证明，阿斯巴甜的构成成分及代谢物能够对人体产生非常严重的毒性作用。”12月14日晚，一些相关领域的科学家也对威廉姆斯的这一提议表示了支持，认为含有阿斯巴甜的产品应该被撤下货架。

    威廉姆斯对英国国会下院表示，阿斯巴甜的潜在危害性比苏丹红更大。苏丹红是一种被禁止的食品染色剂，被证实能诱发癌症。今年年初，英国一些食品中曾被发现含有苏丹红。威廉姆斯说，阿斯巴甜的使用范围较之苏丹红要广泛得多，因此其影响也就更大。

    目前，世界上至少有6000种食品和饮料将阿斯巴甜作为蔗糖替代品。其中不乏人们经常食用的口香糖、酸奶和咖啡甜味剂等。世界范围内，平均每天15个人中就有一个人食用了含有阿斯巴甜的食品或饮料。

    威廉姆斯说，由于庞大的甜味剂产业施加影响，自上个世纪80年代初，有关阿斯巴甜安全性的争论就被压制了下来。1996年的一项针对阿斯巴甜的回顾性研究显示，凡是甜味剂产业资助的相关研究，其最终结果总是认定这种添加剂是安全的。然而，多达92％的独立研究结果则显示，在安全性上，阿斯巴甜的存在着这样或那样的问题。

    威廉姆斯还进一步揭露了阿斯巴甜是如何得到正式批准的历史内幕。他说，如果当时有某些重要的决策人对阿斯巴甜安全性提出质疑，那么他们就会名声扫地或者被其他人所代替。

    An artificial sweetener found in 6,000 types of food, drink and medicines should be banned, an MP urged last night.

    Politicians were warned of 'compelling and reliable' evidence that aspartame can cause cancer.

    The controversial additive is found in a huge number of popular products such as cola, cereal and chocolate.

    Roger Williams, a member of the parliamentary select committee on food and the environment and Liberal Democrat MP, said any items containing aspartame should be withdrawn from sale.

    His comments came after research published by the European Ramazzini Foundation in Italy over the summer linked aspartame to cancer in rats.

    Leading scientists last night joined Mr Williams in calling for products containing it to be taken off the shelves.

    "There is strong scientific evidence that the components of aspartame and their metabolites can cause very serious toxic effects on humans," Mr Williams said.

    Aspartame is also found in chewing gum, yoghurt, and coffee sweetener. It is consumed on average every day by one in 15 people around the world.

    Mr Williams told the Commons the additive was potentially 'far more dangerous' than Sudan 1, the banned food dye linked to cancer and found in some products in Britain earlier this year. He claimed aspartame was found in ten times more products.

    A debate on its safety had been repressed since the early 1980s with the help of the sweetener industry's legal teams, he claimed.

    In 1996 a review of aspartame research showed every industryfunded study had found the additive safe.

    However 92 per cent of independent studies identified some problems with its safety.

    Mr Williams also told how in 1977 Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. defence secretary and former head of Searle, the company that discovered the sweetener, publicly stated he would "call in his markers" to win a licence for the product. "The history of aspartame's approval is littered with examples showing that if key decision makers found against aspartame's safety, they were discredited or replaced with industry sympathisers, who were recompensed with lucrative jobs," Mr Williams added.

    Responding for the Government, Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said an independent review of aspartame had been conducted in 2001.

    She said the Food Standards Agency advice remained that aspartame is safe for use in food.

    "I am advised that aspartame does not cause cancer," she said.

    But Erik Millstone, professor of science policy at the University of Sussex, remained unconvinced. "There are sufficient grounds for banning aspartame. There are serious problems about how it was approved," he said.

    The Italian research, which was published in July, showed disturbing results.

    The European Ramazzini Foundation study found the incidence of cancer in female rats rose in direct relation to the dose of the sweetener they were given.

    "In our experimental conditions, it has been demonstrated, for the first time, that aspartame causes a dose-related statistically significant increase in lymphomas and leukaemias in females at levels very near those to which humans can be exposed," their report said.

    The scientists suggested the cancer could be triggered by chemicals created by aspartame as it is broken down in the body. Thousands of food products were withdrawn this year in a recall costing an estimated ?100million because of contamination with banned food dye Sudan 1, which has been linked to cancer.

    In 2002, scientists identified a cancer-causing chemical in a huge range of processed foods.

    British experts found 'significant levels' of acrylamide in staples such as potatoes, crisps, crispbreads and breakfast cereals eaten by millions every day.

    Last year scientists also questioned the safety of Scottish farmed salmon. They claimed it should be eaten no more than three times a year after discovering that the feed used in the fish farms was linked to cancer and birth defects.