Saccharin Panel

Brian H. MacMahon, Wolcott Professor of Epidemiology in the Faculty of Public Health, is serving on a panel which will evaluate the Food and Drug Administration's proposed saccharin ban for a Congressional committee.

The panel, chosen by the congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) met for the first time last weekend. It will report to the Senate Subcommittee on Health on the risks and benefits of saccharin consumption, and the availability of other sweeteners in a report due June 1.

The OTA chose MacMahon because "he is a first rate scientist and the best epidemiologist the OTA could find," a spokesman for the OTA said yesterday.

MacMahon said the panel reached general agreement about the contents of its report at the weekend meeting and its staff has begun to write a final draft of its conclusions.

He added that the contents of the report are confidential until the final version is produced and declined comment on his personal opinions about saccharin's risks.

Senators Edward M. Kennedy '54(D.-Mass.) and Richard S. Schweiker (R-Pa.), requested the OTA appoint the panel to study saccharin.

A spokesman in Kennedy's office said yesterday the members of the panel would probably be called to testify before the Senate health subcommittee during hearings on June 6 and 7.