The new study, published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, claims that their “findings do not support previous data that sucralose is biologically inert,” and instead that they “found a significant dose-related increased incidence of males bearing malignant tumors, and a significant dose-related increased incidence of [leukemia] in males.” They fail to mention in their conclusions that they only found “significant” increases in leukemia for those male mice given doses of sucralose at 2,000 parts per million (ppm) and 16,000 ppm, but not at an intermediate 8,000 ppm. Not only that, but female mice that were fed no sweetener as a control had almost the same rate of leukemia as the males being fed sucralose at 16,000 ppm. Cherry-picking, indeed.
According to Forbes, this isn’t the first time that the Ramazzini Institute in Bologna, Italy, has claimed that sucralose causes cancer, and it isn’t even the first time that they’ve caused concern over sweeteners. Previously, writes Forbes’ Trevor Butterworth, the institute declared that aspartame is carcinogenic, a claim that concerned the European Union’s Food Safety Authority to such a degree that they subsequently commissioned a panel of experts to examine the results. They found that the rats used in the experiment by the Ramazzini Institute probably already had the cancer the researchers claimed was a result of the aspartame.