Saccharin: Accidentally discovered in 1879 by Constantin Fahlberg, who failed to wash his hands before eating after working in the lab, the name is derived from the Latin word for 'sugary'. Roughly 300 times sweeter than sugar, saccharin isn't used extensively any more but can still be found with aspartame in some soft drinks and in Sweet 'N Low?. In the 1970s, it was found to potentially cause bladder cancer in rats, and it carried a warning label until the 1990s. However, it was later concluded that the cancer mechanism was different in rats, and saccharin was removed from the US NIH's list of carcinogens in 2000.
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