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Comment by rmrfrmrf | Hacker News Reader

Why, because aspartame is a \gasp\ chemical? Yes, please disregard the numerous studies that all find aspartame to be completely safe for human consumption. Gates probably drinks Diet Coke for the same reason that many educated people do: they're actually able to read and understand primary sources. Aspartame conspiracy theorists are just as woefully uninformed as anti-vaxxers.

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I agree. Not that the FDA is always right, but after the debacle with saccharin they wanted to be sure that aspartame was safe.

Studies that say something is safe are irrelevant, we only care about the studies that say something is not safe and their follow ups.

That leads to confirmation bias, which is a bad thing. You want both positive and negative results.

I can totally see it now!

After the study shows us that something is safe the dead people hop out of the grave.

Imagine their surprice!

Oh, I thought I died but then the new research came in.

What you're saying is that you can tell a police officer that you're innocent 50 times, but if you say that you're guilty even once, it's that one that counts. Cops do that because people make conscious effort to look innocent.

However, Nature is not out to deceive you. Nature is not saying to itself, "I'm going to make diet soft drinks look better than they really are".

All scientific studies, whether giving positive or negative results, must count.

Depends on the backer. I would give more credit to a study by the FDA than by coca-cola

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