John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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385. To ask the Minister for Health the efforts his Department is making to investigate the health implications of aspartame in our drinks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44003/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has advised me that the safety of aspartame has been comprehensively evaluated by international scientific experts including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the EU Scientific Committee on Food (SCF), the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These expert committees consider that aspartame is safe for use and have established an acceptable daily intake (ADI) for aspartame of 40-50 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day. This ADI is applicable to both adults and children over the age of 12 weeks.

In 2013, following renewed concerns regarding the safety of aspartame raised by several members of the European Parliament and the publication of several new studies on aspartame, the EFSA undertook a full re-evaluation of the safety of the sweetener. The EFSA’s experts concluded that aspartame and its breakdown products are safe for human consumption at current levels of exposure and reconfirmed the ADI for aspartame of 40 mg/kg/bw/day.

Based on current information available the FSAI consider that aspartame is safe for use.