In
1966, a study reported that some intestinal bacteria could desulfonate cyclamate to produce
cyclohexylamine, a compound suspected to have some chronic toxicity in animals. Further research resulted in a
1969 study which found the common 10:1 cyclamate:saccharin mixture to increase the incidence of
bladder cancer in
rats. The released study was showing that eight out of 240 rats fed a mixture of saccharin and cyclamates, at levels of humans ingesting 350 cans of diet soda per day, developed bladder tumors. Other studies implicated cyclohexylamine in
testicular atrophy in
mice. On
October 18,
1969, the
Food and Drug Administration citing the
Delaney Amendment banned its sale in the
United States and the
United Kingdom followed suit the next year. Abbott Laboratories claimed that its own studies were unable to reproduce the 1969 study's results, and in
1973, Abbott petitioned the FDA to lift the ban on cyclamate. This petition was eventually denied in
1980 by FDA Commissioner
Jere Goyan. Abbott Labs, together with the
Calorie Control Council (a political
lobby representing the diet foods industry), filed a second petition in
1982. Although the FDA has stated that a review of all available evidence does not implicate cyclamate as a carcinogen in mice or rats, cyclamate remains banned from food products in the United States. The petition is now held in abeyance (it is not actively being considered) though whether this is at the request of Abbott Labs themselves or because the petition is considered to be insufficient by the FDA is unclear. Cyclamate is approved as a sweetener in more than 55 countries: for example, the brand-name beverage sweetener
Sweet'N Low, which contains only
dextrose,
saccharin,
cream of tartar, and
calcium silicate in the United States, contains cyclamate in
Canada (where saccharin is banned except for diabetic usage). Similarly,
Sugar Twin, the brand-name cyclamate sweetener in Canada, contains saccharin in the United States
[1]. (October 1969)