Saccharin Study and Labeling Act of 1977

Saccharin Study and Labeling Act of 1977
Citations

Long title	An Act to require studies concerning carcinogenic and other toxic substances in food, the regulation of such food, the impurities in and toxicity of saccharin, and the health benefits, if any, resulting from the use of nonnutritive sweeteners; to prohibit for 18 months the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from taking certain action restricting the continued use of saccharin as a food, drug, and cosmetic; to require certain labels and notices for foods containing saccharin; and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	SSLA, SSLAA
Nicknames	Saccharin Study, Labeling and Advertising Act
Enacted by	the 95th United States Congress
Effective	November 23, 1977
Public law	95-203
Statutes at Large	91 Stat. 1451
Codification
Titles amended	21 U.S.C.: Food and Drugs
U.S.C. sections amended	21 U.S.C. ch. 9, subch. I § 301 21 U.S.C. ch. 9, subch. IV § 343a
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 1750 by Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) on June 23, 1977 Committee consideration by Senate Human Resources, Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation, House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Passed the Senate on September 15, 1977 (87-7) Passed the House on October 17, 1977 (375-23, in lieu of H.R. 8518) Reported by the joint conference committee on November 3, 1977; agreed to by the House on November 3, 1977 (agreed) and by the Senate on November 4, 1977 (agreed) Signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on November 23, 1977

Saccharin Study and Labeling Act of 1977 or Saccharin Study, Labeling and Advertising Act was a United States federal statute enacting requirements for a scientific observation regarding the impurities in, potential toxicity, and problematic carcinogenicity of a non-nutritive sweetener better known as saccharin. The Act of Congress invoked an immediate eighteen month moratorium prohibiting the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from pursuing regulatory implications by limiting the production and use of saccharin. The Act codified a warning label requirement advocating the non-nutritive sweetener had been discovered to yield carcinogenicity in laboratory animals.

The S. 1750 legislation was passed by the 95th Congressional session and signed into law by the 39th President of the United States Jimmy Carter on November 23, 1977.

In 1948 to 1949, U.S. Food and Drug Administration pathologists conducted laboratory analyses on specimens concluding lymphosarcoma after a two year laboratory analysis. In 1951, scientists collaboratively suggested the white crystalline sweetening agent could be a possible carcinogen. In 1958, saccharin was registered Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by decree of the food additives amendment retaining the non-nutritive sweetener as a marketable product for human consumption.