AspartameCHAPTER 17

How about a diet soda? Diet sodas are harmless, right? Diet sodas
will help you lose weight, right? Wrong. A worldwide epidemic is
raging. The cause is a poisonous chemical sweetener called
aspartame (marketed as NutraSweet and Equal), which is the most
controversial food additive ever approved. This additive, which we
have been led to believe is completely safe, is in reality a drug which
interacts with other drugs and changes brain chemistry and causes
multiple types of chronic illness, including cancer.
The truth of the matter is that the FDA has always known aspartame
is a carcinogen and the FDA’s own toxicologist, the late Dr. Adrian
Gross told Congress without a shadow of a doubt aspartame can
trigger brain tumors and brain cancers and violated the Delaney
Amendment which forbids putting anything in food you know will
cause cancer. As Dr. James Bowen told the FDA, the manufacturers
FRAUD:
Aspartame helps you lose weight & has no side effects.
FACT:
Aspartame is a neurotoxin, has been linked to brain
cancer, grand mal seizures, and several other central
nervous system disorders.
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of aspartame have damaged a generation of children and should be
criminally prosecuted for genocide for the mass poisoning of the U.S.
and 100 countries of the world.
I briefly mentioned aspartame a couple of times earlier in the book,
but due to the fact that it is extremely toxic, the fact that it is an
ingredient in so many foods and drinks, and the sordid history of
how it obtained FDA approval, I have devoted an entire chapter of
the book. As I mentioned, aspartame is an excitotoxin, which simply
means that it excites your brain cells to death. Dr. Russell Blaylock
states that “the ingredients (in aspartame) stimulate the neurons of
the brain to death causing brain damage of varying degrees.”
Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills, 1994.
So what’s in aspartame? Aspartame is made of 3 components, 50%
phenylalanine, 40% aspartic acid, and 10% methanol (wood
alcohol). The methanol is widely distributed throughout the body
including brain, muscle, fat and nervous tissue. This is important:
when the temperature of aspartame exceeds 86°, the methanol
coverts to formaldehyde (embalming fluid) and formic acid. What is
the normal body temperature again? If I remember correctly, it’s
98.6° isn’t it? So, when you ingest aspartame, it heats up above 86°
and the methanol turns to formaldehyde (a known carcinogen),
which then enters the cells and binds to the proteins and DNA.
Methanol is toxic! Chronic, low-level exposure to methanol has
been seen to cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, ear buzzing, GI
disturbances, weakness, vertigo, chills, memory lapses, numbness &
shooting pains, behavioral disturbances, neuritis, misty vision, vision
tunneling, blurring of vision, conjunctivitis, insomnia, vision loss,
depression, heart problems (including disease of the heart muscle),
and pancreatic inflammation. (Kavet, Robert, Kathleen M. Nauss,
1990. “The Toxicity of Inhaled Methanol Vapors,” Critical Reviews
in Toxicology, Volume 21, Issue 1, pages 21-50)
But don’t many fruits and vegetables contain some methanol? Yes,
they do, but they also contain a large amount of ethanol, which acts
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as a buffer and neutralizes methanol, thus preventing the conversion
of methanol to formaldehyde. In aspartame, there is no such buffer.
The maximum “safe” level of methanol per day, as determined by
the EPA, is 7.8 mg. One liter of “diet” soda contains 56 mg! And if
that’s not enough, remember that aspartame is 50% phenylalanine, a
substance that up to 20 million people cannot metabolize, and this
inability is genetically inherited by children. The inability to
metabolize phenylalanine can lead to mental retardation in children.
This means that aspartame causes an increased risk of mental
retardation for millions of children.
Aspartame was accidentally discovered in 1965 by James Schlatter, a
chemist at G.D. Searle, who licked some of a new ulcer drug from
his fingers and discovered the sweet taste of aspartame. Eureka!
Selling this chemical as a food additive to hundreds of millions of
healthy people every day would mean many more dollars than
limited sales to the much smaller group of ulcer sufferers. So, in
1967, Searle began the safety tests on aspartame which were
necessary for applying for FDA approval of food additives. Its early
tests of the substance showed it produced microscopic holes and
tumors in the brains of experimental mice, epileptic seizures in
monkeys, and was converted by animals into dangerous substances,
including formaldehyde.
In 1969, Searle hired Dr. Harold Waisman, a biochemist at the
University of Wisconsin, to conduct aspartame safety tests on seven
infant monkeys, who were fed aspartame mixed with milk. After
300 days, five of the monkeys had grand mal seizures and one died.
Dr. Waisman died before all of his studies were completed. In the
spring of 1971, Dr. John Olney (a neuroscientist) informed Searle
that his studies show that aspartame caused holes in the brains of
infant mice. Later that year, one of Searle’s own researchers
confirmed Dr. Olney’s findings in a similar study. But Searle didn’t
care…they were after their cash cow!
In 1973, the G.D. Searle Company applied for FDA approval and
submitted over 100 studies they claimed supported the safety of
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aspartame. One of the first FDA scientists to review the aspartame
safety data stated that “the information provided (by Searle) is
inadequate to permit an evaluation of the potential toxicity of
aspartame”. According to FDA toxicologist, Dr. Andrian Gross,
Searle “…took great pains to camouflage these shortcomings of the
study. As I say filter and just present to the FDA what they wished
the FDA to know and they did other terrible things for instance
animals would develop tumors while they were under study. Well
they would remove these tumors from the animals.” Nevertheless,
on July 26, 1974, the FDA approved aspartame for limited use in dry
foods, making available to the public for the first time the data
supporting their decision. This data was subsequently reviewed by
renowned brain researcher John Olney from Washington University
in St. Louis, who filed the first objection against aspartame’s
approval.
Two years later in 1976, triggered by Olney’s objection, the FDA
began an investigation of the laboratory practices of G.D. Searle. The
investigation found Searle’s testing procedures shoddy, full of
inaccuracies, and “manipulated” test data. The investigators reported
that they “had never seen anything as bad as Searle’s testing.” Then
in 1977, a governmental task force uncovered that Searle had
falsified data by submitting inaccurate blood tests. In another study,
a closer look revealed that uterine tumors had developed in many of
the test animals, and Searle admitted that these tumors were related
to the ingestion of aspartame. The FDA formally requested that the
U.S. Attorney’s office 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.
While the grand jury probe was underway, Sidley & Austin, the law
firm representing Searle, begins job negotiations with the U.S.
Attorney in charge of the investigation, Samuel Skinner. In July
1977, Skinner resigned and took a job with Searle’s law firm. The
resignation of Skinner stalled the grand jury investigation for so long
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that the statue of limitations lapsed. Eventually, the grand jury
investigation was dropped.
In 1979, the FDA established a Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) to
rule on safety issues surrounding aspartame. A year later, the PBOI
concluded that aspartame should not be approved pending further
investigations of brain tumors in animals, and based on its limited
review, the PBOI blocked aspartame marketing until the tumor
studies could be explained. Unless the FDA commissioner overruled
the board, the matter was closed. But in 1980, Ronald Reagan was
elected President of the United States, and his transition team
included Donald Rumsfeld, CEO of G. D. Searle. According to a
former G.D. Searle salesperson, Patty Wood-Allott, Rumsfeld told
his sales force that, if necessary, “he would call in all his markers and
that no matter what, he would see to it that aspartame would be
approved that year.” (Gordon 1987, page 499 of U.S. Senate 1987).
Not surprisingly, the transition team picked Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes
Jr. to be the new FDA Commissioner. Hayes was widely profiled as
a man who believed that approval for new drugs and additives was
too slow because “the FDA demanded too much information.”
In May of 1981, three of six in-house FDA scientists who were
responsible for reviewing the brain tumor issues advised against
approval of aspartame, stating on the record that the Searle tests
were unreliable and not adequate to determine the safety of
aspartame. However, in July of that same year, in one of his first
official acts, Dr. Hayes, the new FDA commissioner, overruled the
PBOI and officially approved aspartame for dry all products. In
1982, Searle filed a petition that aspartame be approved as a
sweetener in carbonated beverages and other liquids.
Almost immediately, the National Soft Drink Association (NSDA)
urges the FDA to delay approval of aspartame for carbonated
beverages pending further testing because aspartame is very unstable
in liquid form. When liquid aspartame is stored in temperatures
above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, it breaks down into DKP and
formaldehyde, both of which are known toxins. Despite the public
outcry, in 1983, the FDA approved aspartame for soft drinks and the
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first carbonated beverages containing aspartame were sold for public
consumption. (Much of the previous section on the history of
aspartame was taken from: www.rense.com/general33/legal.htm)
Shortly after aspartame was approved for beverages, complaints
began to arrive at the FDA. Reactions such as dizziness, blurred
vision, memory loss, slurred speech, headaches, and seizures were
common with consumption of drinks containing aspartame. The
complaints were more serious than the agency had ever received on
any food additive. In just the first several years after aspartame was
approved for beverages, the FDA received over 10,000 complaints
about aspartame. In February of 1994, the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services released the listing of adverse reactions
reported to the FDA. Amazingly, aspartame accounted for more
than 75% of all adverse reactions reported to the FDA’s Adverse
Reaction Monitoring System. By the FDA’s own admission, fewer
than 1% of consumers who have adverse reactions to products ever
report it to the FDA. This balloons the 10,000 complaints to around
a million!
In 1985, an FDA toxicologist who tried to stop the approval of
aspartame, the late Dr. Adrian Gross, told Congress that because
aspartame was capable of producing brain tumors and brain cancer,
FDA should not have been able to set an allowable daily intake of
the substance at any level. He said without a shadow of a doubt that
aspartame can cause brain tumors and brain cancer, and violated the
Delaney Amendment which forbid putting anything in food you
know will cause cancer. His last words to Congress were “And if the
FDA violates its own law, who is left to protect the public?”
[Congressional Record SID835:131 (August 1, l985)]
From 1985 to 1995, researchers did about 400 aspartame studies. Dr.
Ralph G. Walton, M.D., reviewed all the studies on aspartame and
found 166 with relevance for human safety. Of those 166 studies, 74
were funded by G.D. Searle, 85 were independent, and 7 were
funded by the FDA. The results will amaze you, but probably won’t
surprise you. Of the 74 studies funded by Searle, 100% of them gave
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aspartame a clean bill of health. However, of the 85 studies that
were not funded by Big Pharma or the FDA, 84 of them (99%) found
aspartame to be dangerous to one’s health.
So, when the FDA tells us that aspartame has been proven to be safe,
rest assured that it is basing its findings on the fraudulent Searle
studies. Then, when the JAMA, examining the FDA findings (which
are based on the fraudulent Searle studies), announces that “the
consumption of aspartame poses no health risk for most people.”
Don’t believe it! We recently watched a documentary on aspartame
called Sweet Misery. It was amazing. You can see the trailer for the
DVD and also see the first 5 minutes here: http://aspartamekills.com
The toxic effects of aspartame are documented by the FDA’s own
data. In 1995, the FDA was forced, under the Freedom of
Information Act, to release a list of 92 aspartame symptoms reported
by thousands of victims. It appears this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Dr. H. J. Roberts, M.D., published the medical text “Aspartame
Disease: An Ignored Epidemic” which contains over 1,000 pages of
symptoms and diseases triggered by this excitotoxin, including the
sordid history of its approval. Got a sweet tooth? I recommend
stevia, an herbal sweetener, as a healthy alternative.