I have nothing against improving vaccines. That would be great to make them even safer. But I do worry that by appealing to the anti-vaxx crowd, that is moving in a very dangerous direction. Measles is already making a big comeback. What's next—large numbers of people getting polio and being trapped in iron lungs again? Despite the risks, vaccines are a huge net positive, and any pandering to the anti-vaxxers is playing with fire.

Isn't there now another chemical that is even sweeter than aspartame? Aspartame has been pretty common in the US since the 80s. Diet sodas were one of the first to embrace it. Even after the studies linking it to cancer came out, usage of it just increased. Unfortunately it's the same in Japan. I don't drink soda so I'm safe there, but it shows up in an alarming number of traditional sweets.