Roger Williams

Liberal Democrats | Brecon and Radnorshire

Williams welcomes new FSA Aspartame study

23rd June 2009

Roger Williams, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire and Liberal Democrat Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson, has welcomed the announcement that the Food Standards Agency, FSA, are to reinvestigate the safety of the diet product Aspartame.

Andrew Wadge, Chief Scientist at the FSA has said that "The Agency's view remains that aspartame can be consumed safely and we are not recommending any changes to its current use. However, we know that some people consider they react badly to consuming this sweetener so we think it is important to increase our knowledge about what is happening."

Roger Williams, said:

"Although the FSA say that the safety of this product has already been established, the fact that a fresh scoping study is being carried out points to concern about this product.

"I welcome this new investigation and look forward to seeing what conclusions are drawn by the FSA."

"It is disappointing that the results will not be available until 2011 but nonetheless it is a positive step forward by the FSA.

"In recent years I have done significant work on these chemical compounds and my belief is that they can have profoundly damaging effects on certain individuals. "