The U.S. has also used chemical weapons on it's own citizens.

3. How is the safety of food additives evaluated in Europe?

All food additives must have a demonstrated useful purpose and undergo a rigorous scientific safety evaluation before they can be approved for use. Until the creation of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the safety evaluation of additives in Europe was done by the Scientific Committee on Food (SCF). At present, it is the EFSA Panel on Food Additives, Flavourings, Processing Aids and Materials in Contact with Food (AFC Panel), who is in charge of this task. At an international level there is a Joint Expert Committee, from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), on Food Additives (JECFA).

Assessments are based on reviews of all available toxicological data in both humans and animal models. From the available data, the maximum level of additive that has no demonstrable toxic effect is determined. This is called the "no-observed-adverse-effect level" (NOAEL) and is used to determine the "Acceptable Daily Intake" (ADI) for each food additive. The ADI provides a large safety margin and is the amount of a food additive that can be consumed daily over a lifetime without any adverse effect on health.

The SCF before and now the European Food Safety Authority, encourage the lowest possible levels of an additive in a food. To ensure people do not exceed the ADI by consuming too much of, or too many products containing a particular additive, EU legislation requires that studies are done to look at the ranges of intakes across a population and to address any changes in consumption patterns. Occasional intakes over the ADI are unlikely to cause any harm because of the 100-fold safety margin. However, if the ADI might be exceeded by particular sectors of the population, the Commission would assess the need to review levels in foods or reduce the range of foods in which the additive is permitted.

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4. How are food additives regulated in Europe?

A true single market for food products could not exist without harmonised rules for authorisation and conditions for the use of additives. In 1989, the European Community adopted a Framework Directive (89/107/EEC) which set out the criteria by which additives would be assessed and provided for the adoption of three specific technical directives: Directive 94/35/EC on sweeteners; Directive 94/36/EC on colours and Directive 95/2/EC on additives other than sweeteners and colours. These three directives establish the list of additives which could be used (to the exclusion of others), the foods in which they could be used and any maximum levels. The purity required for these additives is laid down in directives defining specific purity criteria.

5. What is an E-number?

An E-number signifies approval of an additive by the EU. To obtain an E-number, the additive must have been fully evaluated for safety by the SCF or the European Food Safety Authority...

European Economic Community, Scientific Committee on Foods

During December, 1984, the EEC's Scientific Committee on Foods delivered its analytical report on sweeteners to the Directorate General for Internal Market and Industrial Affairs. That report noted: "The data provided no evidence that the occasional transient changes in blood amino acid levels, following simultaneous ingestion of aspartame and glucose, could produce changes in neurotransmitter levels which might affect mood or behavior".

"The Committee saw not reason for concern over the amounts of methanol likely to be produced by the metabolism of aspartame when compared with those present naturally in food".

"The blood level of phenylalanine in these individuals were raised only slightly and none of them showed any neurological or other clinical abnormal findings, thus supporting the view that large intakes of aspartame in the diet would not cause any untoward effects in these geneotypes".

December 1984