[Read: Seeking a More Perfect Supply.]

But lest you think I am here to defend rather than bury artificial sweeteners, let me remind you where we started: I won't eat them! There are several reasons why.

The precautionary principle

If any of the widespread artificial sweeteners were causing a whole lot of very direct harm, we would have seen it. But that by no means precludes a whole lot of subtle, perhaps indirect harm we can't see. We don't know why the incidence of ADD/ADHD is rising, although I have some thoughts on the subject. We can't readily account just yet for the rising prevalence of autism. We don't know the specific causes of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia or irritable bowel syndrome, to name just a few.

Is it possible that chemicals in our food, to which we of course have no native adaptations, are contributing to some or all of this? Of course it's possible. It may even be probable. The precautionary principle argues that we don't assume something is entirely safe just because we don't have proof that it's dangerous. These are chemical compounds, not food - and we know our native diet was made up of food.

chāo jīng diǎn mǎi chē xiào huà liǎng zé 

1. yī lǎo hàn jiāng 2000 kuài qián fàng zài shòu chē xiǎo jiě miàn qián ： mǎi chē ！ xiǎo jiě chà yì ：2000 kuài néng mǎi shén me chē ？ sāng tǎ nà ！xiǎo jiě wēi xiào dào ： dà yé ，2000 kuài shì mǎi bú dào chē de 。lǎo hàn shēng qì le ，shēn shǒu yī zhǐ dào ： nǐ bú yào hǔ wǒ ，nà bú shì biāo zhe sāng tǎ nà 2000？！