WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Diet soft drink lovers will now have another choice of artificial sweeteners.

The Food and Drug Administration Tuesday approved the use of acesulfame potassium in diet soft drinks.

The calorie-free sweetener is already marketed in the United States under the brand name Sunett in hundreds of sugar-free products ranging from puddings to chewing gum. It is 200 times sweeter than table sugar.

"Blending Sunett with other low-calorie sweeteners creates a beverage with a more sugar-like taste than one sweetened with any single low-calorie sweetener," according to a statement from Nutrinova, the New Jersey-based company that makes Sunett. Nutrinova is a subsidiary of the Hoechst Group of Frankfurt, Germany.

Diet soft drinks made with Sunett are already available in Canada and Europe.

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest, has raised questions about Sunett's safety, saying a few tests on rats indicated "a possibility of cancer," although not proof that the sweetener could cause cancer.

The FDA says there is no evidence of a cancer risk and that the product is safe.

The Calorie Control Council, an industry group, says the safety of acesulfame potassium has been confirmed by more than 90 studies and endorsed by a committee of the World Health Organization.

The FDA approved another new artificial sweetener, sucralose, in April. Sucralose, which will be sold under the brand name Splenda, is 600 times sweeter than sugar.

Other artificial sweeteners already on the market include aspartame, sold under the brand names NutraSweet and Equal, and saccharin, which is sold as Sweet 'n Low.

Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar while saccharin is 300 times sweeter.