Medicine: Total Eclipse for Cyclamates

Soon after the Food and Drug Administration barred the use of the artificial sweetener cyclamate last fall, it modified its proscription. Although the chemical had been found to cause bladder cancer in mice and rats, the FDA decided that a limited amount could still be added to food and drugs for persons suffering from diabetes, hypertension or obesity. Last week, however, the federal agency closed even this narrow loophole. Acting on the recommendations of its medical advisory group on cyclamates, the FDA issued a total ban on the additive, forbidding its use in all foods, soft drinks and drugsĀ—even those prescribed...

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