CYCLAMATES. Sa, The ban on cyclamates announced by HEW Secretary Finch in October applted to all cyclamate-containing products, jmcluding soft drinks, canned fruits and vegetables, medi- cations, sugar substitutes and meal substitutes. Since then, the ban has been modified and now applies only - to soft drinks; the other artificially sweetened products will remain available on supermarket shelves. The original -ban derived from the Delaney Amendment, which re- quires the removal of any food addi- tives known to cause cancer in man or animal. At the request of HEW, a medical advisory board was asked to evaluate the benefits versus the potential dangers of cyclamates. The board concluded that for dia- betics and the obese, benefits ‘‘out- weigh the possibility for harm;” they recommended that cyclamate- sweetenéd foods, labeled and han- dled as drugs, be made available to those with a medical reason for use. On November 20th, Secretary Finch lifted his origina! ban from all but soft drinks, stating that cy- clamate- containing food and medi- cine — if drug-labeled — could be sold to the public without a physi- cian’s prescription. FDA and in- dustry representatives are now de- ciding on the wording of the new label. Because cyclamates are now considered a drug and not a food additive, they are no longer subject to the Delaney Amendment. Wheth- er cyclamates will undergo new- drug tests for safety and efficacy has not been announced. An HEW spokesman maintains that Mr. Finch’s change in position is nota reversal but a strengthening of the ban. In the original ruling, he said, all cyclamate products would have been available for health rea- sons, but-with the tightened ruling, diet sodas wilf not be available at all.: Since the first experiments by Abbott Laboratories which showed cyclamates to.¥e ‘gancer-producing in rats/-additional. eviderice of their carcinogenicity“has been. ‘obtained by FDA chemist Elizabeth J. Lethco. Three of 23 rats fed cyclamates for 88 weeks as part of their regular diet developed bladder malignan- cies and 10 others showed pre- malignant bladder changes. The cyclamate doses were as low as 400 mg/kg, much less than the doses reported in the Abbott studies; pure cyclamates were used rather than Abbott’s cyclamate-saccharin-cyclo- hexylamine combination, FDA path- ologist Howard Richardson told ” THE SCIENCES. In another study, FDA biochemist Jacqueline Verrett reports that “even at levels as low as 1/1,000th mg/kg, we still see the teratogenic effects of cyclamates.”’ Pointing out that results from chick embryo studies cannot be directed extrapo- lated for man, she suggests that these findings indicate the need for further research on cyclamate safety. Dr. Verrett maintains that cyclamates would probably not pass new-drug safety tests.