Members of the European Parliament Corinne LEPAGE (Cap 21, France) and Antonyia PARVANOVA (National Movement for Stability and Progress, Bulgaria) stated that: "Apparently the Commission finally takes into account our repeated requests for a complete review of the Aspartame safety profile, asking the EFSA to do it before July 2012. This is good news but in the meantime we repeat our call for public information on the uncertainties concerning health implications to be available, and for pregnant women to be informed about suspected risks for the foetus, as voted in the Environment committee."

But MEPs added: "we should denounce how careless the EFSA and the Commission have been handling this case until now; recent exchanges of letter between NGOs and the EFSA seem to indicate that the EFSA never took the time to look at the original evaluation, and that data have even been lost!

In the conclusions of the public hearing they organised in the European Parliament on 16 March 2011, Corinne LEPAGE and Antonyia PARVANOVA notably asked the EFSA to release toxicology data on the Admissible Daily Intake (ADI) and to recalculate these data based on studies that are independent from the manufacturers, and guided according to the Good Laboratory Practice.

This request has been supported by the French NGO Réseau Environnement Santé which asked by letter the EFSA to have access to studies which served as a basis for the original evaluation of aspartame conducted by the Scientific Committee on Food in 1984.

Until now nor the Commission were unwilling to re-open the discussion despite several scientific studies showing aspartame's potential negative impact on pregnant women as well as the carcinogenic potential of the sweetener

For more information please contact:

Neil Corlett: +32-2-284 20 77 or +32-478-78 22 84

neil.corlett@europarl.europa.eu

also consult: http://www.alde.eu