Goose the FDA regarding Splenda

On April 7, 2006, Citizens For Health (CFH) filed a formal Petition with the FDA, demanding that the FDA revoke its approval of sucralose, which you know as Splenda.  The reasons at the time were numerous, as you can learn below. The FDA acknowledged receipt of the CFH Petition the day it was received, but the agency hasn’t been heard from since.  The Petition remains pending to this day under FDA Docket no. 2006P-0158.

By way of background, an FDA Petition is a formal procedure for prompting action by the FDA.  In theory, any citizen can do it.  In practice, the Petition process is almost always used by industry, mainly because it’s so complex.  See for yourself by clicking on the PDF for the Citizens For Health Petition here. 

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/06p0158/06p0158.htm 

Next, you should know that it’s a requirement that the FDA “must respond within 180 days by either approving or denying the Petition (in whole or in part), or providing a tentative response indicating why FDA has been unable to reach a decision.”  That hasn’t happened in this case, and we’re coming up on the 3-year anniversary of the Petition.

Since we filed our Petition, we’ve raised awareness about the Splenda issue several times. You can read some of our pieces by clicking here.  Also, you can get another look at CFH Chairman Jim Turner‘s recent press release about the subject here. http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=150785 

But the most striking news are the results of a very recent research study about Splenda from the Duke University Medical Center.  This report contains the following conclusion:  

“The findings of this study indicate the Splenda suppresses beneficial bacteria and directly affects the expression of . . . isozymes that are known to interfere with the bioavailability of drugs and nutrients.  Furthermore, these effects occur at Splenda doses that contain sucralose levels that are approved by the FDA for use in the food supply.”

In other words, Splenda interferes with the body’s ability to use food and drugs properly.

Enough is enough!  It’s not as if we need it, but this is one more reason to support AAHF’s petition to Reform the FDA.  More specifically, the FDA must act now on our formal Petition. The FDA is putting American citizens at risk.  Here’s a specific opportunity to prove our mettle, and hold the FDA accountable.  This is the chief enforcer of our nation‘s food and drug laws that we’re talking about here.  And what’s more, this isn’t even controversial -all we’re doing is demanding that the FDA do its job and follow its own rules.

Act now!   Take Action: 

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/750/t/1086/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26419

 to sign our email letter to the FDA Docket Manager and the FDA Ombudsperson.  You can help further by forwarding this to friends, family and colleagues.  Let’s make a difference on this one.

And as always, thanks for your support.

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