I am more and more dissatisfied with alarmist policies of Skin Deep database. I just realized that they have labeled caramel with carginogenic label. Website editors (not real scientists, mind you) have assumed that caramel, a substance that you get by melting sugar, is carcinogenic.

Based on what? Based on the name of the cancer research scientist who happens to have CARAMEL as his last name.

So before we call all caramel sweets carcinogenic and start testing our children for various cancers, let's see what science says about caramel and its alleged link to cancer. The only link is between Dr. Caramel and his studies on cancer.

As far as Skin Deep is convinced, caramel has never been tested for safety on humans (I'd be the first to take part in the tests. Please?) and it is not an environmental toxin. So far, so good.

As an added brown colorant, caramel is extensively used in food industry. To me, the only two concerns are: whether you'd want your caramel to be non-organic and possibly genetically modified, and second - do you really need any added sweeteners, because, you see, caramel is sugar.

During my latest search at Pubmed.com, caramel did not pop up at any of cancer-related studies. Skin Deep included such search terms as "carmel" and "carmal" in their search results that produced more than 80 sort-of caramel-related results.

And there's also a cancer researcher called Caramel J, Marie Curie Instutute Paris scientist, who's most likely giving caramel all the bad cancer-related rap.

But he (or she?) really has nothing in common with real caramel whose only sin is that being too sweet.