"Professor Paul Turner, head of the Government committee which approved the controversial artificial sweetener, aspartame, has an indirect link with its manufacturer, G. D. Searle.

Synthelabo, Searle's major partner in Europe, is behind the funding of Professor Turner's research at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London.

Professor Turner told the Guardian on Friday: "The Department of Health and Social security are aware of any commercial relationships I have, including my relationship with Synthelabo and the Charterhouse Unit. These were declared several years ago."

His research is funded by a charity called the Synthelabo Foundation, which receives it money from a limited company called the Charterhouse Clinical Research Unit. The share capital for that company was provided by Lers, a subsidiary of Synthelabo.

Studies have shown that aspartame would seriously damage some children.

The head of the Government committee responsible for approving the controversial new artificial sweetener aspartame - sold as Canderel and NutraSweet - has an indirect but significant link with the manufacturers, G. D. Searle.

A charity set up by Professor Paul Turner, chairman of the toxicity committee, to fund his research at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, is backed by Searle's biggest partner in Europe, Synthelabo.

Chairman and members of expert committees which examine potentially hazardous substances are obliged to declare their commercial interests when they are appointed, and in practice, before each meeting. Although Professor Turner's interest may not qualify as a "commercial interest," senior members of the medical establishment consider it to be in the public interest for such matters to be declared.

The junior health minister, Mr. John Patten, wrote in a letter during the parliamentary row over aspartame in October that Professor Turner had never had any connections with Searle.

Professor Turner's charity is the Synthelabo Foundation, of which he is one of two trustees. The other is the vice-president in charge of research at Synthelabo. Professor Guiseppe Bartholini.

Searle and Synthelabo, the fourth biggest drugs company in France, have set up three joint companies in the last two years -- one, called Lorex, in the UK last year.

Four years ago a Synthelabo subsidiary, Lers, provided the share capital to set up a limited company to fund Professor Turner's charity, the company is called the Charterhouse Clinical Research Unit.

Professor Turner is a consultant to Charterhouse, whose chairman, Mr. Paul Barclay, is the English lawyer for the Synthelabo group. The Charterhouse medical director, Dr. Steven Warrington, is an honorary lecturer in Professor Turner's pharmacology department at St. Bartholomew's.

Mr. Patten said in a letter to the Labour MP, Mr. Dale Campbell-Savours, in October: "Professor Turner has never had any connections with Searle, nor has he or anyone in his department been funded by them."

Professor Turner told the Guardian: "The Department of Health and Social Security is aware of any commercial relationships I have, including my relationship with Synthelabo and the Charterhouse Unit. These were declared several years ago."

Both aspartame and the partnership with Synthelabo are considered essential to Searle's survival, according to City analysts.

When the 1983 results are in, they are likely to show that Searle's operating profits from drugs have "plunged by as much as 75 per cent," while profits from aspartame may have "more than quadrupled," according to the US brokers, Kidder Peabody. Searle is expected to sell nearly $600 million worth of aspartame worldwide this year.