WHO to declare aspartame a potential cancer-causing substance – SFU experts available

The World Health Organization (WHO) is taking a closer look at aspartame, a widely-used artificial sweetener found in various products including diet sodas and sugar-free gum. 

The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is expected to declare that aspartame is a possible carcinogen, a substance capable of causing cancer, on July 14. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) will also release its findings.

Experts from Simon Fraser University are available to discuss the health and business impacts in relation to the IARC findings regarding aspartame and provide insight on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle: 

AVAILABLE SFU EXPERTS

HEALTH:

SCOTT LEAR, professor, health sciences & Pfizer/Heart & Stroke Foundation Chair in Cardiovascular Prevention Research
SLear@providencehealth.bc.ca                  
Expertise: cardiovascular disease prevention, population health, tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle 

TAMMARA SOMA, assistant professor, resource & environmental management   
tammara_soma@sfu.ca
Expertise: food literacy and education, food system planning, community-based food research and youth food movement 

BUSINESS:

LINDSAY MEREDITH, professor emeritus, marketing, Beedie School of Business
meredith@sfu.ca
Expertise: business marketing, demand estimation, market strategy

AVIVA PHILIPP-MULLER, assistant professor, marketing, Beedie School of Business 
aviva_philipp-muller@sfu.ca
Expertise: consumer morality, perceptions & behaviour and how consumers respond to moral transgressions in the marketplace 

CONTACT

MELISSA SHAW, SFU  Communications & Marketing 
236.880.3297 | melissa_shaw@sfu.ca

Simon Fraser University
Communications & Marketing |  SFU Media Experts Directory
778.782.3210

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As Canada’s engaged university, SFU works with communities, organizations and partners to create, share and embrace knowledge that improves life and generates real change. We deliver a world-class education with lifelong value that shapes change-makers, visionaries and problem-solvers. We connect research and innovation to entrepreneurship and industry to deliver sustainable, relevant solutions to today’s problems. With campuses in British Columbia’s three largest cities—Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey—SFU has eight faculties that deliver 364 undergraduate degree programs and 149 graduate degree programs to more than 37,000 students. The university now boasts more than 180,000 alumni residing in 145+ countries.