The discovery wasn’t intentional — just sloppy safety practices. Chemist James M. Schlatter was hunting for an anti-ulcer drug in his lab in 1965 when he licked his finger to pick up some paper.
The announcement this week by a World Health Organization agency that the artificial sweetener aspartame — used in such low-calorie products as Diet Coke, Trident gum and sugar-free Jell-O — is ...