Splenda files lawsuit against scientist, alleging false cancer-causing claims

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Splenda cancer lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Plaintiff TC Heartland LLC, maker of Splenda, has sued Dr. Susan S. Schiffman. 
• Why: TC Heartland claims Schiffman spread falsehoods about the company’s Splenda product and makes false scientific claims about the product.
• Where: The Splenda cancer lawsuit was filed in federal court in North Carolina.

Plaintiff TD Heartland LLC has filed a lawsuit against Dr. Susan S. Schiffman, claiming she made false claims about the company’s Splenda product and how it can lead to health issues, including cancer.

Schiffman claimed Splenda was not something people should be consuming and that it contains a chemical that breaks up DNA and that an ingredient, sucralose-6-acetate, can change genes and cause inflammation and even cancer, the Splenda lawsuit claims.

“Dr. Schiffman spread falsehoods about Splenda, and in doing so she harmed Heartland and the millions of consumers who rely on Splenda as an important part of achieving their health goals,” the Splenda cancer lawsuit says. “Heartland brings this lawsuit to expose the truth and help consumers whose real and urgent health needs are ill-served by Dr. Schiffman’s falsehoods.”

The sucralose Schiffman studied is not the same sucralose in Splenda, Heartland claims in the lawsuit, and Schiffman knew that and said that in her study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, the lawsuit claims.

Splenda lawsuit claims doctor ignores scientific protocols

Heartland calls Schiffman’s paper “shoddy” and said it ignores scientific protocols while coming to its conclusions. The company says those claims have caused substantial harm to Splenda and it is bringing the lawsuit to correct those claims.

Schiffman did a press tour about the paper, which does not show Splenda was tested or provide proof that Splenda includes sucralose-6-acetate, which Heartland says it does not include, according to the Splenda cancer lawsuit.

Heartland claims Schiffman’s statements are slander and libelous; the company is asking for an injunction and damages based on the claims in the lawsuit.

Splenda’s creators previously faced a federal class action lawsuit claiming that Johnson & Johnson and McNeil Nutritional misrepresent the supposed health benefits of Splenda Essentials, a no-calorie sweetener “fortified with antioxidants, B vitamins, or fiber.”

Do you use Splenda instead of sugar? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by Stephen W. Petersen of Fox Rothschild LLP, along with Stephen Shackelford Jr., Gene Chen and Davida Brook of Susman Godfrey LLP.

The Splenda cancer lawsuit is TC Heartland LLC v. Susan S. Schiffman, Case No.  1:23-cv-00665, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Lawsuits accuse food companies, restaurant chains of false advertising
• Knorr soup mix recall announced due to undeclared egg
• Soft Serve on the Go cups recall announced due to possible listeria contamination
• Nestlé announces recall for chocolate chip cookie dough due to potential wood fragments