Day: July 14, 2023

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Response to World Health Organization Reviews of Aspartame

BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In response to two World Health Organization (WHO) evaluations of aspartame, one of the most thoroughly researched ingredients in the world, released today, the International Sweeteners Association (ISA) applauds the WHO’s reaffirmation of aspartame’s safety by its leading scientific body responsible for evaluating the safety of food additives, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). These conclusions are consistent with the findings of over 90 global food safety agencies who have confirmed aspartame’s safety, including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), that has reviewed aspartame twice, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“JECFA has once again reaffirmed aspartame’s safety after conducting a thorough, comprehensive and scientifically rigorous review,” said ISA Secretary General Frances Hunt-Wood. “Aspartame, like all low/no calorie sweeteners, when used as part of a balanced diet, provides consumers with choice to reduce sugar intake, a critical public health objective.”

As part of its comprehensive assessment, reconfirming the safety of aspartame, JECFA examined IARC’s conclusions and found no concern for human health. Importantly, IARC is not a food safety body and its 2B classification does not consider intake levels nor actual risk, making an IARC review far less comprehensive than the thorough reviews conducted by food safety bodies like JECFA and potentially confusing for consumers.

To put this in context, IARC’s 2B classification puts aspartame in the same category as kimchi and other pickled vegetables. IARC would be the first to say that they don’t suggest people should stop using kimchi at meals.

As part of an overall healthy diet and lifestyle, aspartame can be used to further public health objectives on sugar intake reduction and ultimately assist in weight and diabetes management, as well as with dental health.

For media enquiries, please contact the ISA PR agency:
[email protected] – Phone (24/7): +1 (833) 318-2430

www.sweeteners.org/news

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8874554

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‫رد على مراجعات منظمة الصحة العالمية للأسبرتام

بروكسل، 14 يوليو 2023: ردًا على تقييمين تم إصدارهما اليوم لمنظمة الصحة العالمية (WHO) للأسبرتام، أحد أكثر المكونات التي قُتِلت بحثًا في العالم، تشيد الرابطة الدولية للمُحليِّات (ISA) بإعادة تأكيد المنظمة على سلامة الأسبرتام من خلال هيئتها العلمية الرائدة المسؤولة عن تقييم سلامة المُضافات الغذائية، وهي لجنة الخبراء المشتركة بين منظمة الأغذية والزراعة ومنظمة الصحة العالمية بشأن المُضافات الغذائية (JECFA). تتوافق هذه الاستنتاجات مع النتائج التي توصلت إليها أكثر من 90 وكالة عالمية لسلامة الأغذية أكدت على سلامة الأسبرتام، ومن بينها الهيئة الأوروبية لسلامة الأغذية  (EFSA) التي راجعت الأسبرتام مرتين وإدارة الغذاء والدواء الأمريكية إدارة الغذاء والدواء الأمريكية  (FDA).

“أعادت لجنة الخبراء المشتركة بين منظمة الأغذية والزراعة ومنظمة الصحة العالمية بشأن المُضافات الغذائية (JECFA) التأكيد مرة أخرى على سلامة الأسبرتام بعد إجراء مراجعة شاملة ودقيقة علميًا” حسب ما قالته الأمين العام للرابطة الدولية للمُحليِّات فرانسيس هانت-وود. حيث “يوفر الأسبرتام، مثل جميع المُحليِّات منخفضة السعرات/ الخالية من السعرات الحرارية عند استخدامه كجزء من نظام غذائي متوازن، للمستهلكين خيار تقليل مقدار كمية السكر التي يتناولونها، وهو هدف مهم متعلق بالصحة العامة”.

كجزء من تقييمها الشامل، لإعادة التأكيد على سلامة الأسبرتام، قامت لجنة الخبراء المشتركة بين منظمة الأغذية والزراعة ومنظمة الصحة العالمية بشأن المُضافات الغذائية (JECFA) بفحص استنتاجات الوكالة الدولية لبحوث السرطان (IARC) ولم تجد أي مخاوف متعلقة بصحة الإنسان. والأهم من ذلك، أن الوكالة الدولية لبحوث السرطان ليست هيئة سلامة أغذية ولا يأخذ تصنيفها 2B ممستويات الجرعة ولا المخاطر الفعلية في الحسبان، ما يجعل مراجعتها أقل شمولية بكثير من المراجعات الدقيقة التي أجرتها هيئات سلامة الأغذية مثل JEDFA وقد تكون أكثر تشتيتًا للمستهلكين.

لوضع هذا الأمر في سياق واضح، فإن تصنيف 2B للوكالة الدولية لبحوث السرطان (IARC) يضع الأسبرتام في الفئة نفسها مع الكيمتشي والخضراوات المخللة الأخرى. ستكون IARC أول من تقول بأنها لا تشير إلى أنه ينبغي للأشخاص التوقف عن استخدام الكيمتشي في الوجبات.

كجزء من نظام غذائي ونمط حياة صحيين بشكل عام، يمكن استخدام الأسبرتام لتعزيز أهداف الصحة العامة المتعلقة بتقليل كمية السكر التي يتم تناولها والمساعدة في النهاية على إدارة الوزن ومرض السكري، بالإضافة إلى الحفاظ على صحة الأسنان.

النهاية

للاستفسارات الإعلامية، يُرجى الاتصال بوكالة العلاقات العامة للرابطة الدولية للمُحليِّات:

[email protected] – هاتف (متاح على مدار الساعة طوال أيام الأسبوع): 318-2430 (833) 1+
www.sweeteners.org/news

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 3597658

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Vytelle Expands to Brisbane, Australia with Sixteenth Global Bovine In Vitro Fertilisation Laboratory

BRISBANE, Australia,, July 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Vytelle, a precision livestock company, is progressing on their five-year plan to provide accessible, hormone-free, bovine in vitro fertilisation to producers across the globe. Announced today, Vytelle has expanded to Brisbane, Australia with its sixteenth global laboratory.

Vytelle’s integrated technology platform combines Vytelle ADVANCE, a breakthrough in vitro fertilisation (IVF) technology, with Vytelle SENSE, an animal performance data capture system, and Vytelle INSIGHT, an artificial intelligence based genetic analytics engine.  The platform provides progressive cattle producers the technology to make reliable data-driven mating decisions that improve the predictability of genetic progress, replicating the right genetics faster.

The Brisbane-based, Australia laboratory brings accessibility to modern reproduction technology like never before to Australia’s eastern states’ beef herds. Vytelle’s hormone-free in vitro fertilisation process, including their proprietary media, will deliver high-quality embryos to producers allowing them to make more valuable calves, faster to maximise sustainability.

“Vytelle is the fastest growing bovine IVF company in the world,” commented Kerryann Kocher, CEO of Vytelle. She continued, “We are thrilled to open our doors in Brisbane, positioning Vytelle to serve 70% of the total beef herd in Australia from this location.”

 Vytelle has a long history in Australia through its Vytelle SENSE phenotypic data capture technology to measure and select for feed efficiency. With this investment, Vytelle is positioned to help Australian producers improve efficiencies and make faster genetic progress across the supply chain to consistently market more efficient and sustainable beef. “The large-scale adoption of IVF will be driven by the successful use of frozen embryos,” stated Andrew Donoghue, Regional Manager for Australia and New Zealand. He continued, “Unlike other technologies, the Vytelle system allows us to deliver frozen results producers can count on, providing reliable IVF to herds historically underserved with fresh programs.”

The Australian-based team is serving beef and dairy producers with on-farm ovum pick-ups immediately. Visit www.vytelle.com or contact Andrew Donoghue at [email protected] or +61 428 442 1555 to accelerate your herd’s genetic progress today.

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Andrew Donoghue
Vytelle
+61 428 442 1555
[email protected]

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8874359

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Pakistan PM Sharif signals national elections in October

Indicating that general elections in Pakistan will be held on time in October, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that his government would dissolve next month and hand over the reigns to a caretaker setup.

Sharif’s televised address on Thursday to the nation and announcement of the caretaker government came three months before the general elections scheduled in October.

The current five-year term of the National Assembly, or the lower house of the bicameral parliament, ends on August 13 and is the 10th elected parliament since 1973, when Pakistan adopted its current constitution.

It first elected Imran Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf [PTI], as prime minister on August 18, 2018, but removed his government in a no-confidence vote in April last year and then elected Sharif, the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz [PML-N], to the coveted position.

Sharif was elected with support from a coalition of 11 parties — known as Pakistan Democratic Movement.

Khan has blamed a conspiracy to topple his government and has been demanding elections ever since being removed from office.

According to the Constitution, the lower house is elected for a five-year term, and before new elections, an “apolitical” setup is installed with the mandate to hold fresh elections.

Sharif said he was given the “sacred responsibility” of running the country by the nation as prime minister in April last year.

“We will return this responsibility in August 2023 to the caretaker government,” he maintained.

Parliamentary system of government

The caretaker prime minister is jointly chosen by the sitting prime minister and the opposition leader.

If the two fail to pick a candidate, a parliamentary committee of the lower house with equal representation of the Treasury and opposition decides the matter.

If the committee also fails to do so, the matter goes to the Election Commission of Pakistan, which picks one of four candidates proposed by the government and the opposition, as caretaker prime minister.

The current parliament came into being in the wake of the 2018 elections, when Khan’s PTI party emerged as the single largest party.

It secured 155 seats in a 342-member house, followed by the now-ruling PML-N with 91 seats, and coalition partner Pakistan Peoples Party with 53 seats.

According to the 1973 Constitution, Pakistan follows a parliamentary system of government, where the prime minister is elected by the National Assembly.

The leader of the house must secure the support of more than half of parliament.

Following the 18th Constitutional amendment passed in 2010, a ruling government steps down three months ahead of the general elections and a caretaker setup is installed to hold the polls.

Source: TRTworld.com

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Pakistan’s central bank forex reserves rise 61 mln USD

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said its foreign exchange reserves have increased by 61 million U.S. dollars.

During the week ending on July 7, the total foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan’s central bank moved to around 4.5 billion dollars, the SBP said in a statement on Thursday night.

“Subsequently, during the current week, the SBP received inflows of 2 billion dollars from Saudi Arabia, 1 billion dollars from the United Arab Emirates, and around 1.2 billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund,” the statement said.

These inflows will be reflected in the SBP’s reserves for the week ending on July 14, it added

Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks came at 5.3 billion dollars, the central bank said.

Total liquid foreign reserves held by the South Asian country stood at about 9.8 billion dollars, according to the SBP.

Source: Xinhua Finance Agency