Business Wars · Podcast summary
The Sweetener Wars | Attack of the Cancer Rats | 1
In the first episode of the Sweetener Wars, Marvin Eisenstadt fights to save his family's business, Cumberland Packing, after the government bans cyclamates, the artificial sweetener in their flagship product, Sweet’N Low.
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In 1969, Marvin Eisenstadt, the Executive Vice President of Cumberland Packing, found himself in a dire situation. The federal government had just banned cyclamates, the artificial sweetener that was the core ingredient in Sweet’N Low, Cumberland Packing's flagship product. This decision, based on a new study claiming cyclamates caused bladder cancer in rats, threatened to decimate his family's billion-dollar business.
The Cyclamate Ban and Marvin's Fury
On October 18, 1969, Marvin Eisenstadt watched in disbelief as the evening news reported the ban on cyclamates. Just months earlier, the FDA had reassured the nation that cyclamates were safe, despite a flawed study suggesting they deformed chicken embryos. However, a new study, bankrolled by the Canadian government, found that rats fed large amounts of cyclamates developed bladder cancer. This led to Canada banning the sweetener, and the US government quickly followed suit, citing the Delaney Amendment, which mandated a ban on any food additive shown to cause cancer, regardless of the risk.
Marvin was furious, dismissing the study as "junk science." He argued that a human would have to consume hundreds of cans of diet soda a day to ingest the same amount of cyclamates given to the rats. Despite his outrage, he knew the government's hands were tied by the Delaney Amendment. Sweet’N Low and the entire family business faced extinction within three months.
Keep reading in The Digest
The full 4-minute article, 5 more sections, and every new episode from Business Wars and the creators you follow.
- A Desperate Pivot to Saccharin
- Sweet’N Low's Triumphant Return
- The Origins of Sweet’N Low and the Sweetener Industry
- Saccharin Under Attack
- Cumberland's Counterattack and a Political Victory
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