Aspartame: Artificial Sweetener, Real Killer
Aspartame is one of the most carcinogenic chemicals commonly used today, and you will find it in drinks such as diet colas and the artificial sweeteners you find in supermarkets in the sugar section.  Aspartame is more toxic than some narcotic drugs, yet it is legal. Aspartame is used in more than 9000 products yet it has been linked to asthma, cancer, multiple sclerosis symptoms, anxiety, impotence, Parkinson’s disease, seizures, and more.  In fact, it is linked to at least about 18 serious diseases or conditions and many other minor ones.

More than 9,000 different foods and pharmaceuticals now contain aspartame and they do not even mention this on the label.  The story of aspartame and its creation is very interesting in a twisted way.  If you look on the Internet, you will find numerous articles and scientifically published papers that clearly show the dangers of aspartame. Today, the places where you find aspartame most commonly are in the diets drinks such as diets colas, and in artificial sweeteners such as Nutrasweet and Canderel.

The reason why aspartame raises so much concern and also causes so many problems and illnesses is because aspartame is actually, scientifically speaking, a member of a group of chemicals that are called excitotoxins and what this group of chemicals does is that it stimulates the neurons and nervous system and makes it fire excessively.  When used in sufficient quantities, these chemicals fatigue and kill the nervous system by making it fire excessively.  And that is why it is listed as such a dangerous chemical.

Aspartame is actually composed of the ingredients a methyl ester, aspartic acid, and phenylalanine.  Now listen to how dangerous these three ingredients are.  Once it gets into the body, methanol is always converted to formaldehyde.  Formaldehyde is that chemical that you find in laboratories that is used to embalm and preserve dead bodies.  Now when you split aspartic acid and phenylalanine, you get a neurotoxin.  The phenylalanine itself also carries some damage that includes the depletion of serotonin, increased mood swings, and the lowering of the seizure threshold.  When it breaks down, aspartame also releases a chemical that is a brain tumor promoter.

Okay, time for a pop quiz. Which is one of the companies that is involved in producing and marketing aspartame to the public?  Monsanto.  What else is Monsanto known for?  Monsanto is one of the world’s biggest producers of genetically modified foods, and it is a large producer of many other kinds of chemicals that go into foods and food production. What else is it known for? Pesticide production!

Ok, which is one of the biggest soft drink markets in the world?  Diet drinks.  Diet drinks are one of the biggest revenue producers for food companies on this planet.  And you cannot have diet colas without a sweetener.  And so they mainly chose aspartame (and the labels usually don’t say).  It is such a multibillion dollar business that a lot of power and money are involved and yet again you see a reason why something that is otherwise insane has become so widespread and with very little information being passed on about it.  The government actually protects the companies that produce these toxins. The FDA, based on questionable “evidence�? approved it.

Aspartame has actually been seen to contribute to the weight problem even though it is used in diets colas.  Although it does not cause overweight issues in the same way that sugar does, it causes it by introducing very harmful toxins to the body.  Excess toxins are often stored in the body in fat, and this is what contributes to the excess weight issues. There are millions of people drinking diets colas every day today and that still has not put a dent in their weight.

Have you heard of the Gulf War syndrome?  Many of the veterans who went to fight in the Gulf War when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991 went back to America with various illnesses that were at first unaccounted for.  At first, the theory was that there was some chemical agent in the air in Saddam’s country that was causing these people to fall sick.  However, they did not understand why some people got sick and others did not, and in fact, the majority did not.  Upon further investigation, some researchers reached the following conclusion and they were supported by many of the people who fell sick.  The aspartame was the actual cause and here is what happened.  During the war, Diet Kool-Aid manufacturers sent Diet Kool-Aid free to the soldiers out there in the desert. You know, to keep them cool. Some of those soldiers drunk very large amounts of this Diet Kool-Aid since it was free.  Now the problem is that aspartame breaks down at 86 degrees Fahrenheit.  The temperature in the Arabian Desert is 120 degrees Fahrenheit.  That Diet Kool-Aid sat in that desert for 8 weeks and was slowly turning into a mixture containing formaldehyde.  By the time the soldiers were drinking it, it was a toxic cocktail that contained formaldehyde among other things. This is what was making them sick.

Research has shown that the formaldehyde that is converted from aspartame accumulates in a person’s cells.  It also damages the liver, hardens fluids in the joints and causes joint pains after prolonged use, damages the liver, damages the DNA, damages the cardiac system, damages the immune system, causes irregular heartbeat, and causes chronic fatigue.  Quite often, it also results in Lou Gehrig’s disease.  The reason it does so is the extensive damage that it does to the central nervous system.

Aspartame is also banned by major airlines for use by its pilots.  Many major airlines do not allow their pilots to consume products that contain aspartame because it increases the risk of memory loss, vertigo, dizziness, and so on.  Don’t you find it strange that airlines will not allow their pilots to take it yet it is distributed to millions of consumers worldwide?

It is also known to cause birth defects and even in low quantities is transferred to the fetus.  Ever since its introduction, the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease has gone up dramatically and even people as young as 30 are being admitted with this disease due to aspartame consumption.

Do you know where else you can find aspartame?  You can find it in some of the sugar-free chewing gums.  Some, though not all, of these chewing gums contain aspartame.  And even in such low quantities, it has been proven rather dangerous and there have been many instances of children and adults falling ill after just a few weeks of getting into the habit of eating these chewing gums.  As you can see, the effects of aspartame a very varied and the way they manifest in a person very much depends on the person.  However, regardless of who eats them, it is still toxic to some level.  And prolonged use of it greatly increases the chances of a person getting degenerative diseases the more they use it.

Since the 1950s, we have been following some very incorrect and unnatural guidelines regarding food, weight, and its link to health. Ever since then, we have become the only species on earth to have obesity problems and die of degenerative diseases. Paradoxically, we are also the only species that counts calories, is perpetually on a diet, and just can't seem to get lean and healthy. Why is that so? And why did it only start in the 1950s? Recently, the answers have been coming through and the truth is progressively being exposed. Have you ever asked yourself, “What if everything I know about food is wrong?�?What would that mean to your life and your efforts?

Article written by David Cameron, CEO ImagesOfOne.com, author of Diet Liberation: What If Everything You Knew About Food, Health, Weight, Body Shape, Disease And Ageing Was Wrong, A Happy Pocket Full of Money, and more. He is also the developer of the Prova LifeDiet Liberator, LifeGoals Effortless Achiever+, and LifeMap Numerology software packages. Download your free 78-page sampler of the Diet Liberation book at http://www.ImagesOfOne.com.
 

 
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Aspartame: Killing You by Degrees, Part I

By Pat Thomas

This article first appeared in the September 2005 issue of The Ecologist Volume 35, No.7.

Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history. The most recent evidence, linking it to leukemia and lymphoma, has added substantial fuel to the ongoing protests of doctors, scientists and consumer groups who allege that this artificial sweetener should never have been released onto the market and that allowing it to remain in the food chain is killing us by degrees.

Aspartame

Once upon a time, aspartame was listed by the Pentagon as a biochemical warfare agent. Today it's an integral part of the modern diet. Sold commercially under names like NutraSweet and Canderel, aspartame can be found in more than 5,000 foods, including fizzy drinks, chewing gum, table-top sweeteners, diet and diabetic foods, breakfast cereals, jams, sweets, vitamins, prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

This means that there is a good chance that you and your family are among the two-thirds of the adult population and 40 percent of children who regularly ingest this artificial sweetener.

Because it contains no calories, aspartame is considered a boon to health-conscious individuals everywhere; and most of us, if we think about it at all, think it is safe. But independent scientists say aspartame can produce a range of disturbing adverse effects in humans, including headaches, memory loss, mood swings, seizures, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's-like symptoms, tumors and even death.

Concerns over aspartame's toxicity meant that for eight years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) denied it approval, effectively keeping it off the world market.

This caution was based on compelling evidence, brought to light by numerous eminent scientists, litigators and consumer groups, that aspartame contributed to serious central nervous system damage and had been shown to cause cancer in animals. Eventually, however, political muscle won out over scientific rigor, and aspartame was approved for use in 1981 (see timeline for details).

The FDA's about-turn opened the floodgates for aspartame's swift approval by more than 70 regulatory authorities around the world. But, as the remarkable history of the sweetener shows, the clean bill of health given to it by government regulators -- whose raison d'etre should be to protect the public from harm -- is simply not worth the paper it is printed on.

Aspartame Reactions a Hidden Epidemic

When aspartame was approved for use, Dr. H. J. Roberts, director of the Palm Beach Institute for Medical Research, had no reason to doubt the FDA's decision. "But my attitude changed," he says, "after repeatedly encountering serious reactions in my patients that seemed justifiably linked to aspartame."

Twenty years on, Roberts has coined the phrase 'aspartame disease' to describe the wide range of adverse effects he has seen among aspartame-guzzling patients.

He estimates: "Hundreds of thousands of consumers, more likely millions, currently suffer major reactions to products containing aspartame. Today, every physician probably encounters aspartame disease in everyday practice, especially among patients with illnesses that are undiagnosed or difficult to treat."

As a guide for other doctors, Roberts, a recognized expert in difficult diagnoses, has published a lengthy series of case studies, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic (Sunshine Sentinel Press), in which he meticulously details his treatment of 1,200 aspartame-sensitive individuals, or "reactors," encountered in his own practice.

Following accepted medical procedure for detecting sensitivities to foods, Roberts had his patients remove aspartame from their diets. With nearly two-thirds of reactors, symptoms began to improve within days of removing aspartame, and improvements were maintained as long as aspartame was kept out of their diet.

Roberts' case studies parallel much of what was revealed in the FDA's report on adverse reactions to aspartame -- that toxicity often reveals itself through central nervous system disorders and compromised immunity. His casework shows that aspartame toxicity can mimic the symptoms of and/or worsen several diseases that fall into these broad categories.

Conditions Mimicked by Aspartame Toxicity

Case studies, especially a large series like this, address some of the issues surrounding real-world use in a way that laboratory studies never can; and the conclusions that can be drawn from such observations aren't just startling, they are also potentially highly significant.

In fact, Roberts believes that one of the major problems with aspartame research has been the continued over-emphasis on laboratory studies. This has meant that the input of concerned independent physicians and other interested persons, especially consumers, is 'reflexively discounted as "anecdotal."'

Many of the diseases listed by Roberts fall into the category of medicine's 'mystery diseases' -- conditions with no clear etiology and few effective cures.

And while no one is suggesting that aspartame is the single cause of such diseases, Roberts' research suggests that some people diagnosed with, for example, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's or chronic fatigue syndrome may end up on a regimen of potentially harmful drugs that could have been avoided if they simply stopped ingesting aspartame-laced products.

 Ecologist Online August 30, 2005
 Reported by:  http://www.mercola.com/2005/oct/6/aspartame_killing_us_by_degrees_part_i.htm

Aspartame: Killing You by Degrees -- Part II
 
 By Pat Thomas

This article first appeared in the September 2005 issue of The Ecologist, Volume 35, No.7. This is Part II of the series; this part examines the chemical contents of aspartame.

Aspartame Toxic Contents

Aspartame is made up of three chemicals: the amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine, and methanol. The chemical bond that holds these constituents together is fairly weak.

As a result, aspartame readily breaks down into its component parts in a variety of circumstances: in liquids, during prolonged storage, when exposed to heat in excess of 86° Fahrenheit (30° centigrade), and when ingested. These constituents further break down into other toxic by-products, namely formaldehyde, formic acid and aspartylphenylalanine diketopiperazine (DKP).

Manufacturers argue that the instability of aspartame is irrelevant since its constituents are all found naturally in food. This is only partially true and ignores the fact that in food amino acids like aspartic acid and phenylalanine are bound to proteins, which means that during digestion and metabolism they are released slowly into the body.

In aspartame, these amino acids are in an unbound or 'free' form that releases greater amounts of these chemicals into the system much more quickly. Similarly, the methanol present in natural foods like fruits, for example, is bound to pectin and also has a co-factor, ethanol, to mediate some of its effects. No such chemical 'back-stops' exist in aspartame.

According to neuroscientist Russell Blaylock, the effect of aspartame's breakdown components on brain function is central to its known adverse effects.

Like monosodium glutamate (MSG) and L-cysteine, an amino acid found in hydrolyzed vegetable protein, aspartame is what is known as an 'excitotoxin' -- a chemical transmitter that allows brain cells to communicate.

Blaylock has written a book about them, "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills," and says: "Even a minute over-concentration of these chemicals causes the brain cells to become so over-excited that they very quickly burn themselves out and die."

While aspartame manufacturers say aspartame cannot penetrate the blood-brain barrier -- the tightly-walled membrane that keeps toxins from reaching the brain -- Blaylock counters that a number of factors make the blood-brain barrier more porous, including exposure to pesticides, hypoglycemia, all immune diseases (such as lupus and diabetes), Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, strokes (including silent strokes) and a whole range of medical drugs.

Under these conditions, ingesting aspartame-laced foods may cause a spike in the level of excitotoxins that directly reach the brain, thus increasing the likelihood of adverse effects.

Each of aspartame's main constituents is a known neurotoxin capable of producing a unique array of adverse effects.

Phenylalanine

The essential amino acid phenylalanine comprises 50 percent of aspartame. In people with the genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) the liver cannot metabolize phenylalanine, causing it to build up in the blood and tissues.

Chronically high levels of phenylalanine and some of its breakdown products can cause significant neurological problems, which is why foods and beverages containing aspartame must carry a warning for PKU sufferers.

But according to Dr. HJ Roberts, sensitivity to aspartame is not limited to PKU sufferers. PKU carriers -- people who inherited the gene for the disorder but do not themselves have the condition (around 2 percent of the general population) -- are also more prone to adverse effects. In Roberts' data there is also a high incidence of aspartame reactions among the close relatives of patients who cannot tolerate aspartame.

Furthermore, there is evidence that ingesting aspartame, especially along with carbohydrates, can lead to excess levels of phenylalanine in the brain even among those not affected by PKU.

Although phenylalanine is sometimes used as a treatment for depression, excessive amounts in the brain can cause levels of the mood regulator serotonin to decrease, making depression more serious or likely.

Build-up of phenylalanine in the brain can also worsen schizophrenia or make individuals more susceptible to seizures. Moreover, a decrease in serotonin levels can result in carbohydrate craving. This could explain aspartame's lack of effectiveness as a diet aid.

DKP

DKP is a breakdown product of phenylalanine that forms when aspartame-containing liquids are stored for prolonged periods. In animal experiments it has produced brain tumors, uterine polyps and changes in blood cholesterol.

Before the FDA approved aspartame, the amount of DKP in our diets was essentially zero. So no claim of DKP's safety can be accepted as genuine until good-quality long-term studies have been performed. No such studies have been done.
 
Aspartic Acid

Aspartic acid (also known as aspartate) is a non-essential amino acid that comprises 40 percent of aspartame. In the brain, it functions as a neurotransmitter -- facilitating the transfer of information from one nerve cell (neuron) to another.

Both human and animal experiments have demonstrated a significant spike in blood-plasma levels of aspartate after the administration of aspartame in liquids. Too much aspartate in the brain produces free radicals, unstable molecules that damage and kill brain cells.

Humans are five times more sensitive to the effects of aspartic acid (as well as glutamic acid, found in MSG) than rodents, and 20 times more sensitive than monkeys, because we concentrate these excitatory amino acids in our blood at much higher levels and for a longer period of time.

Aspartic acid has a cumulative harmful effect on the endocrine and reproductive systems. Several animal experiments have shown that excitotoxins can penetrate the placental barrier and reach the fetus.

In addition, as levels of aspartic acid rise in the body so do levels of the key neurotransmitter norepinephrine (also known as noradrenaline), a 'stress hormone' that affects parts of the human brain where attention and impulsivity are controlled. Excessive norepinephrine is associated with symptoms such as anxiety, agitation and mania.
 
Methanol

Methanol (wood alcohol) comprises 10 percent of aspartame. It is a deadly poison that is liberated from aspartame at temperatures in excess of 86° Fahrenheit (30° centigrade) -- for instance, during storage or inside the human body.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers methanol a 'cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed,' meaning that even small amounts in aspartame-containing foods can build up over time in the body.

The most well known problems from methanol poisoning are vision disorders, including misty or blurry vision, retinal damage and blindness.

Other symptoms include headaches, tinnitus, dizziness, nausea, gastrointestinal disturbances, weakness, vertigo, chills, memory lapses, numbness and shooting pains in the extremities behavioral disturbances and neuritis.

The EPA tightly controls methanol exposure, allowing only very minute levels to be present in foods or in environmental exposures. But Blaylock says: 'The level allowed in NutraSweet is seven times the amount that the EPA will allow anyone else to use.'

Formaldehyde

The methanol absorbed from aspartame is converted to formaldehyde in the liver. Formaldehyde is a neurotoxin and known carcinogen. It causes retinal damage and birth defects, interferes with DNA replication, and has been shown to cause squamous-cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, in animals. Several human studies have found that chronic, low-level formaldehyde exposure has been linked with a variety of symptoms, including headaches, fatigue, chest tightness, dizziness, nausea, poor concentration and seizures.

Formic acid

Formic acid is a cumulative poison produced by the breakdown of formaldehyde. It concentrates in the brain, kidneys, spinal fluid and other organs, and is highly toxic to cells. Formic acid can lead to accumulation of excessive acid in the body fluids -- a condition known as acidosis. The small amounts of formic acid derived from the methanol absorbed from aspartame may or may not be dangerous; there are no human or mammalian studies to enlighten us.

Part III of this series will discuss some of the problems with the aspartame safety studies and approval process.

  
 Ecologist Online August 30, 2005
 Reported in:  http://www.mercola.com/2005/oct/11/aspartame_killing_us_by_degrees_--_part_ii.htm

Aspartame: Killing You By Degrees, Part III
By Pat Thomas

Part three of this continuing series on aspartame looks at the current state of affairs with regard to the chemical, and presents a timeline of its history. This article first appeared in the September 2005 issue of The Ecologist, Volume 35, No.7.

Time for Action

The story of aspartame is the story of the triumph of corporate might over scientific rigor. It shines a spotlight on the archaic and unbalanced procedure for approving food additives.

We ingest food additives daily, yet their approval does not require the same scientific thoroughness as drug approval; and, unlike drugs, there is no requirement for surveillance of adverse effects that crop up once the additive is in use.

Approval does not involve looking at what people are already eating and whether the proposed substance will interact with other additives. Nor does it take into account whether the additive exacerbates damage caused by other aspects of the modern lifestyle (for instance, the neurological damage caused by pesticide ingestion or exposure).

Nor does it look for subtle chronic effects (for instance, the gradual build-up of methanol in the body with regular aspartame ingestion).

There are other problems. Most studies into aspartame are animal studies, which are notoriously difficult to relate to humans. So why bother performing them in the first place?

The answer is, manufacturers and regulators use animal research as a double-edged sword. If an animal study reveals no evidence of harm, the manufacturer can use it to support its case. If it reveals harm, however, the manufacturer is free to flip-flop into the argument that the results of animal studies are inconclusive in relation to humans.

Faced with inconclusive evidence regulators will always err on the side of the manufacturer, who has after all demonstrated proper bureaucratic procedure by funding and submitting its animal tests for consideration.

The approval process for any substance that humans put in their mouths on a daily basis should be based on solid human data and on the precautionary principle when such data is not available.

But, as it stands, the regulation of food additives in the United States, the UK and elsewhere leaves the burden of proof of harm on average people, despite the fact that most of us are either too detached or too timid to complain or simply don't have the energy to take on multinational corporations.

The history of aspartame is all the more remarkable because of the number of motivated people who have refused to accept the mantra 'if it's approved by the government it must be safe.' Nearly every piece of independent research shows the outrage of these people, who have had to withstand threats of litigation and being vilified in the media as 'hysterics,' is justified.

After 30 years of aspartame's commercial success, it would be easy to conclude it is too late to act. And yet earlier this year hundreds of products were swept off supermarket shelves on the chance that they might have contained minuscule amounts of a potentially carcinogenic dye, Sudan 1.

No studies existed to show that Sudan 1 could cause cancer in humans. The likelihood of any one person's exposure to Sudan 1 being high enough to produce a tumor was minute. Nevertheless, on the basis of the precautionary principle, action was taken.

Aspartame is not a life-saving drug. It is not even a very effective diet aid, as  shown by widespread obesity in the West. Until the many concerns about it have been examined in 'corporate-neutral,' large-scale, long-term, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled human trials (the gold standard of scientific proof) it should be taken out of our food.

Aspartame Time Line

December 1965

While working on an ulcer drug, a chemist at pharmaceutical manufacturer GD Searle accidentally discovers aspartame, a substance that is 180 times sweeter than sugar, yet has no calories.

Spring 1967

Searle begins safety tests, necessary for FDA approval.

Autumn 1967

GD Searle approaches eminent biochemist Dr Harry Waisman, director of the University of Wisconsin's Joseph P Kennedy Jr Memorial Laboratory of Mental Retardation Research and a respected expert in the toxicity of phenylalanine (which comprises 50 percent of the aspartame formula), to conduct a study of the effects of aspartame on primates. Of seven monkeys fed aspartame mixed with milk, one dies and five others have grand mal epileptic seizures.

Spring 1971

Dr John Olney, professor of neuropathology and psychiatry at Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine, whose research into the neurotoxic food additive monosodium glutamate (MSG, a chemical cousin of aspartame) was responsible for having it removed from baby foods, informs Searle that his studies show that aspartic acid, one of the main constituents of aspartame, causes holes in the brains of infant mice. One of Searle's researchers, Ann Reynolds, confirms Olney's findings in a similar study.

February 1973

Searle applies for FDA approval and submits over 100 studies it claims support aspartame's safety. Neither the dead monkeys nor the mice with holes in their brains are included in the submission.

September 12, 1973

In a memorandum, Dr. Martha M. Freeman of the FDA Division of Metabolic and Endocrine Drug Products criticizes the inadequacy of the information submitted by Searle with particular regard to one of the compound's toxic breakdown products, diketopiperazine (DKP). She recommends that marketing of aspartame be contingent upon the sweetener's proven clinical safety.

August 1974

Before aspartame can reach the marketplace, Dr. John Olney, James Turner (attorney, consumer advocate and former 'Nader's Raider' who was instrumental in removing the artificial sweetener cyclamate from the U.S. market), and the group Label Inc. (Legal Action for Buyers' Education and Labeling) file a formal objection to aspartame's approval with the FDA, citing evidence that it could cause brain damage, particularly in children.

July 26, 1974

FDA commissioner Dr. Alexander Schmidt grants aspartame its first approval as a 'food additive' for restricted use in dry foods. This approval comes despite the fact that his own scientists found serious deficiencies in the data submitted by Searle.

July 1975

Concerns about the accuracy of test data submitted to the FDA by Searle for a wide range of products prompt Schmidt to appoint a special task force to examine irregularities in 25 key studies for aspartame and Searle drugs Flagyl, Aldactone and Norpace.

December 5, 1975

Searle agrees to an inquiry into aspartame safety concerns. Searle withdraws aspartame from the market pending its results. The sweetener remains off the market for nearly 10 years while investigations into its safety and into Searle's alleged fraudulent testing procedures are ongoing. However, the inquiry board does not convene for another four years.

March 24, 1976

The FDA task force completes its 500-page report on Searle's testing procedures. The final report notes faulty and fraudulent product testing, knowingly misrepresented product testing, knowingly misrepresented and 'manipulated' test data, and instances of irrelevant animal research in all the products reviewed.

Schmidt says: '[Searle's studies were] incredibly sloppy science. What we discovered was reprehensible.'

July 1976

The FDA forms a new task force, headed by veteran inspector Jerome Bressler, to further investigate irregularities in Searle's aspartame studies uncovered by the original task force. The findings of the new body will eventually be incorporated into a document known as the Bressler Report.

January 10, 1977

FDA chief counsel Richard Merrill formally requests the U.S. Attorney's office to begin grand jury proceedings to investigate whether indictments should be filed against Searle for knowingly misrepresenting findings and 'concealing material facts and making false statements' in aspartame safety tests. This is the first time in the FDA's history that it requests a criminal investigation of a manufacturer.

January 26, 1977

While the grand jury investigation is underway, Sidley & Austin, the law firm representing Searle, begins recruitment negotiations with Samuel Skinner, the U.S. attorney in charge of the investigation. Skinner removes himself form the investigation and the case is passed to William Conlon.

March 8, 1977

Searle hires prominent Washington insider Donald Rumsfeld as its new CEO to try to turn the beleaguered company around. A former member of Congress and defense secretary in the Ford administration, Rumsfeld brings several of his Washington colleagues in as top management.

July 1, 1977

Samuel Skinner leaves the US Attorney's office and takes a job with Searle's law firm. Conlon takes over Skinner's old job.

August 1, 1977

The Bressler Report is released. It focuses on three key aspartame studies conducted by Searle. The report finds that in one study 98 of the 196 animals died but weren't autopsied until later dates, making it impossible to ascertain the actual cause of death.

Tumors were removed from live animals and the animals placed back in the study. Many other errors and inconsistencies are noted. For example, a rat was reported alive, then dead, then alive, then dead again. Bressler comments: 'The question you have got to ask yourself is: why wasn't greater care taken? Why didn't Searle, with their scientists, closely evaluate this, knowing full well that the whole society, from the youngest to the elderly, from the sick to the unsick? will have access to this product.'

The FDA creates yet another task force to review the Bressler Report. The review is carried out by a team at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and headed by senior scientist Jacqueline Verrett.

September 28, 1977

The FDA publishes a report exonerating Searle of any wrongdoing in its testing procedures. Jacqueline Verrett will later testify to the U.S. Senate that her team was pressured into validating data from experiments that were clearly a 'disaster'.

December 8, 1977

Despite complaints from the Justice Department, Conlon stalls the grand jury prosecution for so long that the statute of limitations on the aspartame charges runs out and the investigation is dropped. Just over a year later Conlon joins Searle's law firm, Sidley & Austin.

1978

The journal Medical World News reports that the methanol content of aspartame is 1,000 times greater than most foods under FDA control. In high concentrations methanol, or wood alcohol, is a lethal poison.

June 1, 1979

The FDA finally establishes a public board of inquiry (PBOI), comprising three scientists whose job it is to review the objections of Olney and Turner to the approval of aspartame and rule on safety issues surrounding the sweetener.

1979

In spite of the uncertainties over aspartame's safety in the United States, aspartame becomes available, primarily in pharmaceutical products, in France. It is sold under the brand name Canderel and manufactured by the food corporation Merisant.

September 30, 1980

The FDA's PBOI votes unanimously against aspartame's approval, pending further investigations of brain tumors in animals. The board says it 'has not been presented with proof of reasonable certainty that aspartame is safe for use as a food additive'.

1980

Canderel is now marketed throughout much of Europe (but not in the UK) as a low-calorie sweetener.

January 1981

Rumsfeld states in a Searle sales meeting that he is going to make a big push to get aspartame approved within the year. Rumsfeld vows to 'call in his markers' and use political rather than scientific means to get the FDA on side.

January 20, 1981

Ronald Reagan is sworn in as president of the United States. Reagan's transition team, which includes Rumsfeld, nominates Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes Jr. to be the new FDA commissioner.

January 21, 1981

One day after Reagan's inauguration, Searle re-applies to the FDA for approval to use aspartame as a food sweetener.

March 1981

An FDA commissioner's panel is established to review issues raised by the PBOI.

May 19, 1981

Arthur Hull Hayes Jr., appoints a five-person commission to review the PBOI's decision. Three of the five FDA scientists on it advise against approval of aspartame, stating on the record that Searle's tests are unreliable and not adequate to determine the safety of aspartame. Hayes installs a sixth member on the commission, and the vote becomes deadlocked.

July 15, 1981

Hayes ignores the recommendations of his own internal FDA team, overrules the PBOI findings and gives initial approval for aspartame to be used in dry products on the basis that it has been shown to be safe for its proposed uses.

October 22, 1981

The FDA approves aspartame as a tabletop sweetener and for use in tablets, breakfast cereals, chewing gum, dry bases for beverages, instant coffee and tea, gelatins, puddings, fillings, dairy-product toppings and as a flavor enhancer for chewing gum.

1982

The aspartame-based sweetener Equal, manufactured by Merisant, is launched in the US.

October 15, 1982

The FDA announces that Searle has filed a petition for aspartame to be approved as a sweetener in carbonated beverages, children's vitamins and other liquids.

1983

Searle attorney Robert Shapiro gives aspartame its commercial name, NutraSweet. The name is trademarked the following year. Shapiro later becomes president of Searle. He eventually becomes president and then chairman and CEO of Monsanto, which will buy Searle in 1985.

July 8, 1983

Aspartame is approved for use in carbonated beverages and syrup bases in the United States and, three months later, Britain. Before the end of the year Canderel tablets are launched in the UK. Granular Canderel follows in 1985.

August 8, 1983

James Turner, on behalf of himself and the Community Nutrition Institute, and Dr. Woodrow Monte, Arizona State University's director of food science and nutritional laboratories, file petitions with the FDA objecting to aspartame approval based on possible serious adverse effects from the chronic intake of the sweetener. Monet also cites concern about the chronic intake of methanol associated with aspartame ingestion.

September 1983

Hayes resigns as FDA commissioner under a cloud of controversy about his taking unauthorized rides aboard a General Foods jet (General Foods was and is a major purchaser of aspartame). He serves briefly as provost at New York Medical College, and then takes a position as senior scientific consultant with Burston-Marsteller, the chief public relations firm for both Searle and Monsanto.

Autumn 1983

The first carbonated beverages containing aspartame go on sale in the United States.

February 17, 1984

The FDA denies Turner and Monte's requests for a hearing, noting that aspartame's critics had not presented any unresolved safety questions. Regarding aspartame's breakdown components, the FDA says that it has reviewed animal, clinical and consumption studies submitted by the sweetener's manufacturer, as well as the existing body of scientific data, and concludes that 'the studies demonstrated the safety of these components'.

March 1984

Public complaints about the adverse effects of aspartame begin to come in. The FDA requests that the U.S. agency the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) begins investigations of a select number of cases of adverse reactions to aspartame.

May 30, 1984

The FDA approves aspartame for use in multivitamins.

July 1984

A study by the state of Arizona Department of Health into aspartame is published in the Journal of Applied Nutrition. It determines that soft drinks stored at elevated temperatures promote more rapid deterioration of aspartame into poisonous methanol.

November 2, 1984

The CDC review of public complaints relating to aspartame culminates in a report, Evaluation of Consumer Complaints Related to Aspartame Use, which reviews 213 of 592 cases and notes that re-challenge tests show that sensitive individuals consistently produce the same adverse symptoms each time they ingested aspartame.

The reported symptoms include: aggressive behavior, disorientation, hyperactivity, extreme numbness, excitability, memory loss, loss of depth perception, liver impairment, cardiac arrest, seizures, suicidal tendencies and severe mood swings.

The CDC nevertheless concludes that aspartame is safe to ingest. On the same day that the CDC exonerates aspartame, Pepsi announces that it is dropping saccharin and adopting aspartame as the sweetener in all its diet drinks. Others quickly follow suit.

October 1, 1985

Monsanto, the producer of recombinant bovine growth hormone, genetically engineered soy beans, the pesticide Roundup and many other industrial and agricultural chemicals, purchases Searle for $2.7 billion.

April 21, 1986

The U.S. Supreme Court, headed by Justice Clarence Thomas, a former Monsanto attorney, refuses to consider arguments from the Community Nutrition Institute and other consumer groups that the FDA has not followed proper procedures in approving aspartame, and that the liquid form of the artificial sweetener may cause brain damage in heavy users of low-calorie soft drinks.

October 16, 1986

Turner files another citizen's petition, this time concerning the risk of seizures and eye damage from aspartame. The petition argues that medical records of 140 aspartame users show them to have suffered from epileptic seizures and eye damage after consuming products containing the sweetener and that the FDA should ban aspartame as an 'imminent hazard to the public health'.

November 21, 1986

The FDA denies Turner's new petition, saying: 'The data and information supporting the safety of aspartame are extensive. It is likely that no food product has ever been so closely examined for safety. Moreover, the decisions of the agency to approve aspartame for its uses have been given the fullest airing that the legal process requires.'

November 28, 1986

The FDA approves aspartame for non-carbonated frozen or refrigerated concentrates and single-strength fruit juice, fruit drinks, fruit-flavored drinks, imitation fruit-flavored drinks, frozen stock-type confections and novelties, breath mints and tea beverages.

December 1986

The FDA declares aspartame safe for use as an inactive ingredient, provided labeling meets certain specifications.

1987

An FDA report on adverse reactions associated with aspartame states the majority of the complaints about aspartame -- now numbering 3,133 -- refer to neurological effects.

January 2, 1987

NutraSweet's aspartame patent runs out in Europe, Canada and Japan. More companies are now free to produce aspartame sweeteners in these countries.

October 12, 1987

United Press International, a leading global news-syndication organization, reports that more than 10 federal officials involved in the decision to approve aspartame have now taken jobs in the private sector that are linked to the aspartame industry.

November 3, 1987

A U.S. Senate hearing is held to address the issue of aspartame safety and labeling. The hearing reviews the faulty testing procedures and the 'psychological strategy' used by Searle to help ensure aspartame's approval. Other information that comes to light includes the fact that aspartame was once on a Pentagon list of prospective biochemical-warfare weapons.

Numerous medical and scientific experts testify as to the toxicity of aspartame. Among them is Dr. Verrett, who reveals that, while compiling its 1977 report, her team was instructed not to comment on or be concerned with the overall validity of the studies.

She states that questions about birth defects have not been answered. She also states that increasing the temperature of the product leads to an increase in production of DKP, a substance shown to increase uterine polyps and change blood cholesterol levels. Verrett comments: 'It was pretty obvious that somewhere along the line, the bureau officials were working up to a whitewash.'

February 21, 2006:-  For several years now at HSI we've been warning you about the dangers associated with one of the most widely used artificial sweeteners in the world -- aspartame (better known as NutraSweet and Equal).

For instance, in the e-Alert "16,000 Tons and What Do You Get?" (7/27/05), I told you about an Italian study in which 19,000 rats were fed varying amounts of aspartame. Results showed a significant increase in leukemias and lymphomas among rats that received the same amount of aspartame as contained in about five 20-ounce diet sodas per day for someone weighing 150 pounds.

Last week, the New York Times published an article about that same study, raising this controversial question: Should humans be concerned about aspartame safety based on the results of a single rat study?

I'll get to the bottom of that question by looking at a few quotes about the study. And we'll start off by letting the man who headed up the research - Dr. Morando Soffritti - have his say. Dr. Soffritti told the Times that he was most concerned that children and pregnant women may be consuming an abundance of aspartame. He stated his position bluntly: "If something is a carcinogen in animals, then it should not be added to food."

Well put

Let's jump to a Times quote from George H. Pauli, an associate director in the Office of Food Additive Safety at the FDA. Regarding the Italian study, Mr. Pauli told the Times that FDA officials don't see any concerns "at this stage." He adds that FDA scientists have "gone through a humongous amount of data on aspartame over the years."

I have a rule of thumb about the use of the word "humongous." If you're telling a story about, say, that time you saw a hummingbird the size of a baseball mitt, "humongous" is an appropriate adjective. But if you're, say, a government official speaking to a New York Times reporter about a public safety issue, the use of "humongous" is so inappropriately casual that it's a tip off that something is fishy. That's my take on it anyway.

Notice that Mr. Pauli doesn't mention any assessments that have come out of that humongous amount of data. His implication, of course, is that - except for that pesky rat study - aspartame is hunky dory. But it certainly is not.

For instance, in 1994 the Department of Health and Human Services released a daunting list of the reported adverse reactions to aspartame, including: chest pains, asthma, arthritis, migraine headaches, insomnia, seizures, tremors, vertigo, and weight gain.

Questionable defense

For a few especially fun quotes we'll go to an ABC News report that covered the Times article and the Italian study.

David Katz, M.D., (the ABC News medical contributor) stated that if aspartame caused any significant harm "we would know about it." And how would we know about it? Personally, I would think the volume of adverse reaction complaints on record at the FDA would be a good starting point.

But Dr. Katz might want more science than anecdote. So let's look at the studies. The Times article quotes a doctor who notes that in more than 90 independently funded studies, 84 found aspartame to cause adverse health effects.

Phew! Now we "know about it."

On the issue of cancer and aspartame, Dr. Katz helpfully points out that foods such as broccoli, spinach and beans contain compounds that are potentially carcinogenic. Three questions: 1.) Why is Dr. Katz going out of his way to defend aspartame? 2.) Why is he using such a laughably lame defense? And 3.) How many lab rats have died from leukemias and lymphomas associated with broccoli, spinach or bean consumption?

Tell your friends and family (and any lab rats you may know): There are warning signs galore that regular consumption of aspartame products may be "humongously" dangerous.

To Your Good Health, Jenny Thompson

Sources:
"Artificial Sweeteners: Are They Safe?" ABC News, 2/13/06, abcnews.go.com
"The Lowdown on Sweet?" Melanie Warner, New York Times, 2/12/06, nytimes.com

Feb 12 2008:-  A colleague sent a link to a rat experiment conducted outside the halls of ivy:

[http://www.myaspartameexperiment.com/index.php?page=1]

I have posted quite a bit on this reprehensible substance, but I wonder how many still consume it because it's lower in calories than something else?

Aspartame should be the subject of a mini-series like "Damages" (yes, and starring Glenn Close wound make it as good as its namesake.) There has probably never been a profit-making drug with so much political protection as aspartame, but we pay for the revolving doors between industry and government and we will probably pay more if the Monsanto Madam gets back into the White House.

Warning: these pictures are probably going to upset a lot of people.  Actually, if they are not upsetting, something is no doubt wrong, like  aspartame on the brain.

I might contact the person who ran the study to see if she is open to devising a study to see what heals the poor creatures.

Many blessings,

Ingrid

[http://www.sacredmedicinesanctuary.com]