http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1080
Is food endangered by additives? [ MSG, aspartame ]: Liz Koch, Santa Cruz
Sentinel 2004.05.03: Ed Bauman: Bill Strubbe: Murray 2004.05.04 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/927
Donald Rumsfeld, 1977 head of Searle Corp., got aspartame FDA approval:
Turner: Murray 2002.12.23 rmforall

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/May/03/style/stories/01style.htm
May 3, 2004 Is food endangered by additives? By Liz Koch
Special to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, California
[ Liz Koch is the Way of Life health education director. ]

Ever since the Campbell's soup people convinced America they could make soup
"better" than Grandma, some of us actually believed packaged foods were
equivalent to our own home-cooked meals. From there we moved into
convenience or "fast food," delivered to our cars in seconds.

But as people less and less prepare food from scratch, relying on packaged
food and fast foods as their main sources of nutrition, we are seeing the
results in our current health-care crisis.

Ed Bauman, director of the Bauman College nutrition and natural chef
training programs, will speak on this topic Thursday [ May 6 ] at Way of
Life in Capitola.

Processed foods are like plastic chairs, he says. They are designed not for
supporting a body but how well they stack. Foods that need shelf life cannot
be alive. Enzymes, vitamins and life-enhancing bacteria are the living
components that nourish and enrich our bodies, breaking down quickly for
easy digestion.

When preservatives, sugars and coloring are added to hold the color, shape
and smell of food, out goes vulnerable healthy oils found in whole grains,
vegetables and legumes, replaced by refined flour and more sugar.

The chemicals found listed on the side of any packaged food reads more like
a chemistry experiment for building a dirty bomb than food meant for
consumption. For every chemical found dangerous, another is simply put in
its place. Often just a name change is enough. MSG (glutamate) is now
legally relabeled as "hydrolyzed vegetable protein" or even "natural
flavoring."

Controversial Nutrasweet is the now-popular "aspartame."
Aspartame, an artificial sweetener used widely in packaged foods, is in
almost all diet sodas; many drink mixes, instant breakfasts, cereals, cake
mixes, yogurts, puddings, gelatins, chewing gums, breath mints, candies,
toothpastes, laxatives, cough syrups, even vitamins and medicines.

Author Bill Strubbe of "Killing Me Sweetly" explained that aspartame was
discovered when pharmaceutical chemist G.D. Searle testing an anti-ulcer
drug "happened to lick his hand, and the rest is history." Originally
approved for use in dry foods in 1974, aspartame was put on hold several
months later due to objections filed by neuroscience researchers and
consumer attorneys.

But aspartame made it to the market in full force. Even all-American Juicy
Fruit gum now includes aspartame for the flavor that keeps on giving.

Dr. Russell Blaylock, professor of neurosurgery at the University of
Mississippi's medical center and author of "Excitotoxins The Taste That
Kills," explains aspartame-like glutamate in the chemically related
substance MSG are neurotransmitters normally found in the brain and spinal
cord, but when aspartame reaches certain levels it causes the death of brain
neurons.

The break down of aspartame eventually ends in formaldehyde, a known
carcinogen and deadly cumulative poison which at high levels are associated
with causing brain tumors.

More than 10,000 reports of side effects and adverse reactions, many of them
primary brain tumors, have been collected by the so-called Aspartame
Consumer Safety Network.

But why has a known harmful chemical in packaged foods passed FDA
requirements? Critics say aspartame violates the Delaney Amendment, which
forbids anything being put in food known to cause cancer.

More and more groups are trying to get the word out regarding the food
Americans eat.

The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit research organization in
Washington, D.C. believes consumers have a right to know about pesticides in
their food.

Eric Schlosser, author of The New York Times bestseller "Fast Food Nation;
The Dark Side of the All-American Meal," points out that with the rise in
consumerism, there has been a rise in sugar use. With the increasing work
demands, partly a result of rising consumerism, there has been a rise in
convenience and fast foods. This implies more sugar!.

To find food worth eating, many people are looking outside the box. By
returning to simple ideas such as eating fresh, whole, organic foods grown
seasonally and locally, it is possible to find a wealth of life-enhancing
foods.

Slow cooking is once again valued for the exquisite taste, nutritional
richness and social value of sitting down with friends and family to enjoy
real food, real conversation, in real time.

Way of Life offers a free lecture series twice a month on natural remedies
to health challenges and alternative approaches to health. Liz Koch is the
series organizer.

If You Go
WHAT: 'Nutritional Bandits: Foods that Rob Your Family's Health,' with Ed
Bauman, Ph.D., director of Bauman College nutrition and natural chef
training programs.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Thursday. [ May 6 ]
WHERE: Way of Life, 1210 41st Ave., Capitola.
ADMISSION: Free.
DETAILS: 464-4113.

207 Church Street, Santa Cruz CA 95060 USA (831) 423-4242
Copyright © 1999-2004 Santa Cruz Sentinel. All rights reserved.

Health care 429-2401 Shanna McCord smccord@...

Environment 429-2454 Brian Seals bseals@...
429-2463 Kurtis Alexander kalexander@...

Breaking news 429-2411 Len La Barth llabarth@...
429-2467 Julie Copeland jcopeland@...
*************************************************************

http://www.ewg.org/
http://www.ewg.org/about/contact.php
Environmental Working Group
Washington, DC office (Main Headquarters)
1436 U Street NW, Suite 100 Washington, DC 20009 (202) 667-6982

California Office
1904 Franklin Street, Suite 703 Oakland, CA 94612 (510) 444-0973

"The group's influence in and out of Washington
is greatly out of proportion to its size."

- Chronicle of Philanthropy, 11 Jan. 2001

Environmental investigations have been our specialty at the Environmental
Working Group since 1993.
Our team of scientists, engineers, policy experts, lawyers and computer
programmers pores over government data, legal documents, scientific studies
and our own laboratory tests to expose threats to your health and the
environment, and to find solutions.
Our research brings to light unsettling facts that you have a right to know.
It shames and shakes up polluters and their lobbyists. It rattles
politicians and shapes policy. It persuades bureaucracies to rethink science
and strengthen regulation. It provides practical information you can use to
protect your family and community.
And because our investigations and interactive websites tend to make news,
you've probably heard about them. Even if you've never heard of us.
Which is fine. We'd rather you remember our work than our name.
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http://www.centerofbalance.com/html/body_workshops.html

PSOAS Muscle Workshop
A 2-Day Core AwarenessT Workshop
May 22 & 23, 2004
9am - 5pm Saturday; 9am - 2pm Sunday
Cost: $265 (ask about early registration discount)
Enhance Skeletal Balance - Gain Hip Socket Mobility - Free Your Breath

For more information, prerequisites and to register, call Liz Koch
831-335-1851, e-mail liz@... or visit her Web site at
www.coreawareness.com
Core Awareness
P.O. Box 1226
Felton, California 95018

The two-day intensive focuses on developing core awareness by
Understanding the functions and influence of the iliopsoas muscle on
well-being
Learning to release, tone and lengthen the psoas muscle
Exploring the energetic/emotional/spiritual dynamic of the physical core
Application to Pilates, dance, yoga, martial arts, bodywork, psychology,
voice...
Liz Koch is the author of The Psoas Book , a comprehensive guide to the
Iliopsoas muscle and its profound effect on the body/mind/emotions and
Unraveling Scoliosis CD / Tape. She has worked with the psoas for 30 years,
giving lectures and workshops throughout the USA and in the UK. Published in
YOGA JOURNAL (May/June '99), YOGA & HEALTH '98, '01, '02 (London, England),
POSITIVE HEALTH ('01, '02), VEGETARIAN TIMES and contracted for an upcoming
article in MASSAGE magazine, she is the Health Coordinator of the Way of
Life Community TV, audiotape and Health Lecture Series. Previously a staff
member of San Francisco General Hospital's Alternative Therapies Unit and a
Jin Shin Do Acupressure Practitioner, Liz currently resides in Felton,
California.
**************************************************************

http://www.baumancollege.org/web/ed.shtml

Ed Bauman, M.Ed., Ph.D., Bauman College Director
A GROUND-BREAKING LEADER IN HOLISTIC NUTRITION

Edward Bauman, M.Ed., Ph.D. (University of New Mexico), has been a
ground-breaking leader in the field of whole foods nutrition, holistic
health, and community health promotion. After three decades of in-depth
study of worldwide health and nutrition systems, Dr. Bauman created the
'Eating for Health' nutrition system which is the foundation of the Bauman
College Nutrition Consultant and Natural Chef Training Programs. Dr. Bauman
facilitates the Bauman College Vitality Rejuvenation Retreats in the spring
and summer in Northern California.

He is also the Director of Partners in Health natural health clinic in
Cotati, CA, where he provides nutritional consultation to individuals,
families and business groups. His work includes a wide range of functional
metabolic assessment, and health research for serious health problems.

He is the editor and/or author of many books, including the Holistic Health
Handbook, The Nutritional Healing Book, Confronting Cancer in Our Community,
and Recipes/Remedies for Rejuvenation Cookbook.

Dr. Bauman is an Associate Dean of the University of Natural Medicine in
Santa Fe, NM, and a professor in the Master's in Holistic Health program at
JFK University in Orinda, CA.

"My vision of the 21st Century is that health will not be a luxury for those
with income, status and access to specialized services. Health will be
recognized as an essential human right, supported by our policy makers,
business community, and the medical and insurance industries. The outcome of
health is to actualize one's potential, physically, mentally and
spiritually, based upon education, behavior, and a restoration of our
personal and natural environment." Ed Bauman, Ph.D.

"Nutrition is a major form of health investing. It is safer than the stock
market or blind dates to hedge against the inflation of illness. When you
eat poor quality food you are dipping into the nutrient reserves in your
bones, soft tissue, organs, glands, skin and hair. You wear the results of
being overdrawn nutritionally: an unhealthy appearance, fatigue, pain, and
mood disorders." Ed Bauman, Ph.D.

Edward Bauman, Ph.D.

Sustainable Nutrition is the state in which an organism is provided with the
necessary ingredients for it to live, reproduce and function optimally for
the duration of its life cycle. There are seven (7) system requirements for
nutrition to be sustainable. A weakness in any of these system requirements
opens the door to metabolic malfunctioning that expresses itself as fatigue,
weight imbalance, mood disorder, allergy and subsequent degenerative
conditions, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and autoimmune
disorders.

With the assistance of a trained Nutrition Educator or Nutrition Consultant,
an individual can learn about his or her specific system requirements for
sustainable nutrition, and create a diet and lifestyle program that responds
to their unique biochemical needs and health goals.

System Requirements for Sustainable Nutrition
Maximize intake of nutrient-rich foods.
Minimize intake of nutrient-poor foods.
Maintain adequate hydration, natural light and fresh air.
Maintain proper acid-alkaline balance.
Maintain adequate gastrointestinal flora and fiber.
Minimize exposure to harmful substances in air, water and food.
Supplement essential nutrients not adequately provided by the diet to
promote health or support recovery from illness or injury.

by Edward Bauman, Ph.D., Bauman College Director

For the past 30 years I have been guiding people of all ages and stages of
life who struggle with health challenges: some cosmetic, many
life-threatening. I have devised a regenerative food system, not a diet,
called Eating for Health.

Each one of us has unique needs, tastes, tolerances and genetic tendencies,
all of which can be factored into a customized food and nutrition plan. Many
other nutrition approaches, from Atkins to Ornish, feature a
one-size-fits-all ideology, that has little sensitivity and is not amenable
to changes in season and health status.

I encourage a celebration of nutritional diversity and cultural heritage.
Eating for Health draws on the delicious and nutritious elements of Asian,
Mediterranean, European, Hispanic, African and American (especially the
California, organic) food traditions for healing foods.

The goal of a customized Eating for Health diet and nutrition program is to
provide optimal amounts and variety of nutrients to enable individuals to
cope with a fast-paced, stress-filled, toxic world. Our intention is to
locate and support local organic food producers and become less reliant on
the commercial culture that profits from our illness - not from our health.

Step one in Eating for Health is choosing fresh, seasonal, chemical-free,
nutrient-rich, organic foods. These foods add nutrients back into those body
tissues, organs and glands whose reserves have been drained by nutrient
robbers such as caffeine, refined carbohydrates, adulterated fats and food
additives.

The energy of whole foods is stable, deep and persistent. The energy of
refined foods is short-lived, superficial and draining. It is vital to study
the relationship we have with food and appreciate how it drives our mood,
behavior and health. The wrong food choices exacerbate the common complaints
of fatigue, pain and irritability. Consistently eating well will reverse or
ameliorate these conditions and prevent or slow the progression of more
serious life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes and heart
disease.

The Eating for Health chart provides a practical guide to natural food
groups and serving sizes for a regenerative diet. It is a significant
upgrade to the USDA Food Pyramid, that continues to endorse refined
carbohydrates, commercial meat and dairy products.

At the center of the Eating for Health model are fresh seeds and oils to
provide essential fatty acids. Surrounding them are quality proteins that
provide essential amino acids. Booster foods follow, consisting of spices
(such as garlic, ginger, curry, turmeric, basil, oregano, nutmeg and
cinnamon), seaweed, algae and nutritional yeast to provide important trace
elements.

Over 50% of a meal and 75% of snacks can consist of a variety of
antioxidant-rich, fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, rather than chips,
cookies, crackers and ice cream. Pure water, fresh diluted fruit or
vegetable juice, mineral broths (such as miso or a slow cooked concentrated
vegetable and herb bouillon) and herbal teas complete the nourishing array
of an Eating for Health culinary palate. Eating well brings families and
friends together in health, peace and unity. Blessings and health to all!

Bauman College . Copyright © 2003 . All Rights Reserved
Toll Free Number (800) 987-7530
You can reach us by phone Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm, West
Coast time at: 800-987-7530 and 707-795-1284, or fax to 707-795-3375

Mail: Please address all correspondence to:
Bauman College
P.O. Box 940
10151 Main Street, Suite 128
Penngrove, CA 94951 E-Mail: info@...
**************************************************************

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/09.28.00/aspartame-0039.html
Killing Me Sweetly, by Bill Strubbe, from the
September 28-October 4, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/320
Killing Me Sweetly, Sonoma County Independent 2000.09.28 Strubbe:
Murray 2000.10.04 rmforall

http://metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/09.28.00/index.html
>From the September 28-October 4, 2000 issue
of the Sonoma County Independent. letters@...
Copyright © Metro Publishing Inc. Maintained by Boulevards New Media.

MetroActive Central Killing Me Sweetly

Is aspartame really a safe sugar substitute? If not, why is the FDA
blocking the release of a better alternative?

By Bill Strubbe

Bill Strubbe is a California-based freelance writer who confesses to
having once been addicted to SweetTarts.
California-based freelance writer Bill Strubbe has traveled
to more than 80 countries.
Bill Strubbe, a freelance writer and photographer, lives
in a yurt on a hillside in Occidental.
Two years ago, as a rent refugee from San
Francisco, I escaped to Sonoma's west county.
Secluded and tranquil, the setting is spectacular. From
the redwood grove crowning the ridge, the hills roll in
burnished waves down to the Pacific where Point Reyes
juts into the sea and the Farallon Islands dot the horizon.
Now vineyards abut both our fences: to the west, a 35-acre
Kendall-Jackson corporate affair; to the east, a 2-acre vanity vineyard
seeded from a Silicon Valley stock split. Our privacy is invaded daily,
we've planted dozens of trees to block dust and noise, and tractor
sprayers disturb the predawn hours.
[Search www.metor.com for many fine articles by Bill Strubbe.]

Postal: Sonoma County Independent Letters, Metrosa Inc.,
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(707) 527-1200 Fax: (707) 527-1288. Email: editor@... .
Emailers, please include name, city of residence and phone number.
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Letters to the editor are not currently published
in the online version of this paper.

http://metroactive.com/about-ma.html
About MetroActive A service of Metro Newspapers
Metroactive is a Northern California meta-site specializing in arts
and entertainment information and featuring content from four of the
San Francisco Bay Area's leading publications: Metro,
Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper; Metro Santa Cruz;
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http://www.metronews.com/
Metro Newspapers publishes weekly newspapers in California's Silicon
Valley and in Santa Cruz and Sonoma counties. Metro's award-winning
publications reach more than half a million readers
in the San Francisco Bay Area every week.

http://www.metroactive.com/sonoma/
North Bay: Sonoma County Independent
http://www.metroactive.com/sonoma/aspartame-0039.html
For the Week of September 28-October 4, 2000
Cover: Sweet 'n' Deadly?
Is aspartame killing dieters sweetly with its siren song?
------------------------------------------------------------------------

EVELYN BLAKE'S downhill spiral began in 1994 when she decided to lose
weight: she switched to diet sodas and began using Equal as a sugar
substitute.

"After about four months I began feeling nervous and uneasy,"
Blake recalls. "My heart was beating so irregularly that
I wondered if I was having a heart attack!
Then one night I woke with this very strange feeling, like I was in a zombie
state. I felt as if my tongue was swelling, my teeth clenched tight."

Blake began to shiver, and by the time she reached her son's room her
body shook uncontrollably and she couldn't talk.
The frightening incident eventually subsided,
and they decided against visiting the emergency room.
"Not making any connection, I continued to use Equal in everything--
coffee, bread, cereal, salad-- and the seizures got worse."

Though millions of people sip diet sodas, ingest yogurt lite, and stir
the contents of those little blue packets into their coffee without
noticeable side effects, Blake's ordeal is only one of thousands of
alleged aspartame-poisoning complaints registered over the last two decades.
By the federal Food and Drug Administration's own admission,
73 percent of all food complaints are aspartame-related--
most commonly headaches, memory loss, depression, heart palpitations, and
vision problems. Some contend that prolonged use of aspartame is the root
cause of their permanent nerve damage, their brain lesions and tumors, and
even the untimely deaths of family members.

"Since many consumers may never make the connection between their
maladies and aspartame intake, conceivably those complaints
are only the tip of the iceberg,"
says Betty Martini, who heads Mission Possible International,
which attempts to educate the public about the dangers of aspartame.

Industry and FDA spokespersons point out that these accounts are
"merely anecdotal" and "unscientific," but the sheer volume of accusations
in itself should raise questions about aspartame's approval process--
the independence of industry-funded research, the ethics of the revolving
door relationships between FDA officials and industry--
and call for the re-examination of this chemical that is now commonly found
in grocery stores, on kitchen shelves, and in children's lunchboxes.

Sweet Nothing: Proponants of stevia, a natural sweetener,
do battle with NutraSweet.

NUTRASWEET-- along with Equal, Spoonful, Indulge, Equal-Measure, etc.-- is a
brand name for aspartame, discovered by accident in 1965 when a chemist
with G. D. Searle pharmaceuticals was testing an anti-ulcer drug: he
happened to lick his hand, and the rest is history.

Originally approved for use in dry foods in July 1974, aspartame was put on
hold several months later owing to objections filed by neuroscience
researchers and consumer attorneys.

When ingested, NutraSweet breaks down into aspartic acid, a chemical
found in the brain; phenylalanine, an amino acid;
and methanol (wood alcohol), which converts to formaldehyde, which at high
levels can cause brain damage and blindness.

Monsanto-- the former manufacturer of NutraSweet-- and the FDA argue that
methanol is present in such a small amount that it poses no health risks and
is harmlessly passed from the body.
They also insist that except for people with the rare disease
phenylketonuria, aspartame is safe.

(G. D. Searle, the original makers of NutraSweet, was bought by Monsanto in
the 1980s. This past year, Monsanto sold NutraSweet to J. W. Childs and
divested itself of Equal, which is now a registered trademark of Merisant
Co.)

Dr. Russell L. Blaylock, professor of neurosurgery at the University of
Mississippi's medical center, explains in his book "Excitotoxins: The
Taste That Kills" that though aspartate
(and glutamate in the chemically related substance MSG)
is a neurotransmitter normally found in the brain and spinal cord,
when aspartate reaches certain levels it causes the death of brain neurons.

The risks to infants, children, and pregnant women are higher because
the blood/brain barrier, which normally protects the brain,
is not fully developed until adulthood.
Dr. Blaylock and numerous other experts believe that long-term exposure to
excitotoxins may play a part in diseases such as early-onset Alzheimer's,
Parkinson's (Michael Fox, coincidentally the former spokesperson for Diet
Pepsi, may be an example), lupus, brain lesions and tumors, epilepsy, memory
loss, multiple sclerosis, and some hearing problems.

Dr. John Olney, a neuroscientist at
Washington University Medical Center in St. Louis,
who has demonstrated the harmful effects of excitotoxins and
testified before Congress, believes that both glutamate and aspartate damage
areas of the brain controlling endocrine functions leading to obesity.
He posits that the 30 percent increase in obesity in America in the past
decade might be related to the increased use of aspartame.

"While there were a few inaccuracies [in the original safety tests],
there was nothing convincing to keep aspartame off the market,"
insists David Hattan, Ph.D., acting director of the
FDA's Division of Health Effects Evaluation.
"The large body of animal and clinical research carried out
in a controlled environment convinces me that aspartame is safe."

But a number of his colleagues have disagreed. During a congressional
investigation in 1985 to scrutinize Searle's aspartame safety tests,
Dr. Jacqueline Verrett, a former FDA toxicologist
and FDA task force member,
testified that the tests were a "disaster" and should have been "thrown
out."

Dr. Marvin Legator, professor of environmental toxicology at the
University of Texas, characterized them as
"scientifically irresponsible and disgraceful" and said,
"I've never seen anything as bad as Searle's."

Because of FDA budget limitations, it is standard procedure for the
bulk of initial safety tests to be financed, designed, and carried out by
the company with a vested interest in the product. The reliability of their
results is called into question when 74 out of 74 industry-sponsored
articles attested to aspartame's safety, while 84 out of 91 of the
nonindustry-sponsored articles identified problems with the chemical.

"I'll admit there's validity to these concerns, but it's not unusual for
industry to fund studies, because they're expensive-- and who else will?"
counters a spokeswoman at Merisant Co. "It's a disservice to the fine
scientists involved whose reputations are besmirched by aspartame
detractors."

AND WHAT'S to keep adverse industry test results from disappearing
altogether? According to a reliable source, who chose to remain unnamed
but has signed a sworn affidavit, Searle in the early 1980s conducted
aspartame research in five communities in Central and South America;
the groups were told they were ingesting a papaya extract.
By the end of these 18-month studies, the source recalls from
translating the reports from Spanish into English
that many subjects experienced grand mal seizures and
damage to the central nervous system, causing muscular
and neural instability, hemorrhaging, brain tumors, and other maladies.
"When I finished the project, I was told to destroy all my records and
copies. If those studies had reached the FDA, there's no way they could
have approved aspartame," the source says.
"Imagine my surprise when I found out soon after that aspartame is being
consumed en masse!
I urged my family and everyone I knew not to use anything containing
aspartame because, as I said, 'it would make their brains into mush.' "

The late Dr. M. Adrian Gross, former senior FDA toxicologist, stated in
his testimony before Congress, "Beyond a shadow of a doubt, aspartame
triggers brain tumors," and, "therefore by allowing aspartame to be placed
on the market, the FDA has violated the Delaney Amendment," which makes it
illegal to allow any residues of cancer-causing chemicals in foods.
His last words to Congress were:
"And if the FDA itself elects to violate the law,
who is left to protect the health of the public?"

The cancer-causing agent referred to above is diketopiperazine, or DKP.
So concerned was Searle about toxic DKP that it's mentioned several
times in an early 1970 internal memo distributed by Herbert Helling:

"My prime concern at this time is with the production of DKP and our lack of
complete toxicological data on DKP if [aspartame's chemical code broke down]
completely to DKP. We then must consider how much DKP could be formed
from the time the system is converted to a wet system to the time of
consumption allowing for maximum likely abuse."

"SOUNDS LIKE the tobacco fraud all over again. But this time it's the
drug industry, and it's big," says former U.S. Department of Justice
attorney Ed Johnson,
who for the last 10 years has served as president and CEO of
a large law firm in San Antonio.
Several years ago, he was diagnosed with a pituitary adenoma and underwent
two life-threatening surgeries to remove the tumor,
which he believes was caused by his heavy ingestion of Diet Coke and
NutraSweet.
"When the class actions [lawsuits] hit, and they will, I predict that
they'll rival the tobacco litigation we have seen in the past few years."

Aspartame tests in the United States continued until July 18, 1981 when
FDA Commissioner Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes Jr. disregarded
the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act,
which states that a food additive should not be approved
if tests are inconclusive, overruling six of the nine scientists on two
agency review panels who thought the studies of brain tumors
in rats had been inadequate.
Applying an "acceptable daily intake" measure, the FDA approved the
chemical for use in dry products and then raised the ADI in 1983 to
enable the introduction of aspartame into beverages.

In subsequent years, $30 million to $40 million annually was pumped into
advertising by NutraSweet Co. alone, and ads--featuring the likes of
Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch, Joe Montana, and Geraldine Ferraro--
by diet soft-drink manufacturers and other companies employing
the chemical pushed that figure past $100 million a year,
quickly making NutraSweet a household word.

Soon after, complaints to the FDA began rolling in: headaches,
dizziness, anxiety, depression, memory loss, joint pain, vomiting,
heart palpitations, slurred speech, seizures, brain tumors, comas,
and even deaths attributed to aspartame.

The FDA took "some of these early reports quite seriously,"
and Monsanto performed follow-up studies.
But, according to the principles of science,

"if test results cannot be reproduced in a controlled setting, then you
cannot preclude other factors that might have caused seizure
expressions," explains Hattan at the FDA, who declares that he consumes
copious amounts of aspartame with no ill effects.
"I think that many of the symptoms attributed to aspartame are actually
caused by something else in the individual's environment."

EVELYN BLAKE'S seizures got worse, racking her body on a regular basis,
sometimes twice a day. She recalls entering into a "zombie stare . . .
looking but not seeing," and feeling as if her body
"were attached to an electrical current," her heart racing.

More EKGs, EEGs, and blood tests followed, but the doctor could
determine only low blood pressure and a slight thyroid problem.
Meanwhile, she says, her hair started falling out by "the handful."
Temporary relief finally arrived when she visited her brother
in Georgia and she skipped her "diet," which included the use of Equal.
For three weeks, she began to recover.
Upon returning home-- and back to her use of Equal-- the nightmare
revved up again.
"I thought it might be stress from the house remodeling and other
duties," she says.
"My memory was getting so bad I couldn't remember where I was
going when I got into my car. My eyesight suddenly got worse. I was
afraid of being alone, never knowing when the next seizure would hit!
The doctors could find nothing wrong with me."

WITHIN SEVERAL years of aspartame's appearance on the market,
a number of FDA and government officials left their posts and
took jobs closely linked to the food, beverage, and NutraSweet
industries.
Shortly after pushing aspartame's approval,
Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes left the FDA under a shadow
of improprieties and became a consultant-- at $1,000 a day-- with
Burston-Marsteller, Searle's public relations firm. Wayne Pines, Hayes'
former top spokesman, previously had joined the firm.
In July 1986, Anthony Brunetti, an FDA consumer product officer who
drafted the 1983 notice approving NutraSweet's use in soft drinks,
joined the Soft Drink Association as a science adviser.

In the late 1970s, Samuel Skinner and William Conlon, two senior
Justice Department prosecutors investigating criminal allegations
against G. D. Searle & Co. for falsifying NutraSweet safety-test results,
later joined the law firm of Sidley & Austin,
which represented Searle during the lengthy investigation.
Skinner, who knew of the statute-of-limitations deadline,
delayed pursuing prosecution, thus placing Searle out of reach.
He subsequently defected to Sidley & Austin in July 1977.

"The aspartame manufacturer has a lot of political influence, and when
the FDA director refused to allow aspartame on the market, he was
replaced by one who would, and did," says attorney Ed Johnson,
former assistant U.S. attorney under William S. Sessions
(who went on to become the head of the FBI).

"Though it's against ethics laws for an FDA official to sit in on any
action regarding a firm with which they had any prior relationship,"
explains former FDA investigator Arthur Evangelista, "there is nothing
to stop federal officials from being influenced with promises of a position
in a firm they are meant to be regulating."
Evangelista believes that influence-peddling is rife throughout
the FDA, both directly and indirectly, via government PAC monies influencing
politicians, who in turn use their influence on regulatory agencies.
And the revolving door continues to spin. In 1999, Dr. Virginia Weldon,
vice-president for public policy at Monsanto (the former parent
corporation of NutraSweet), was considered for the FDA's commissioner post.
On June 14, 1999, retiring FDA Commissioner Michael Friedman
became the senior vice president for clinical affairs at Searle's drug unit.

How can the FDA effectively safeguard the public's health while being
influenced by the corporations it is meant to regulate?

For two decades the aspartame controversy has continued to simmer,
leaving respectable organizations with opposing verdicts.
The American Diabetes Association,
the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical
Association, and the Epilepsy Institute endorse aspartame as safe
(though it is a matter of record that several of these organizations
have received donations from NutraSweet).

But hundreds of airline pilots reporting adverse effects from aspartame,
including grand mal seizures while in the cockpit, led a dozen aviation
publications, including Navy Physiology, Planes & Pilot, Canadian General
Aviation News, and Flying Safety, to warn pilots not to consume aspartame
before or while flying.

"I am not denying these people's symptoms," says Hattan at the FDA,
"but it is entirely possible that when patients stopped using aspartame
they might also coincidentally have had remission of their symptoms."

Both the FDA's and NutraSweet's categorical dismissal of the thousands
of aspartame consumer complaints as coincidental, anecdotal, or
unscientific has not diminished the convictions of thousands of unpaid
volunteers at Aspartame Victims and Their Friends;
the Aspartame Detoxification Center in Atlanta;
and chapters in dozens of countries of Mission Possible International that
compile aspartame-related articles and personal accounts.

As of 1987, the last year that NutraSweet publicized records, Americans
consumed about 17.l million pounds of aspartame, and the number is now
estimated to top 25 million pounds. Since the chemical additive is now
sold in dozens of other countries, aspartame-poisoning complaints now
are fielded from around the world.

Those who suspect that they have any symptoms of aspartame poisoning,
nutritionists say, should take the aspartame test:
For one month stop using aspartame-containing products and see if your
symptoms subside.

Evelyn Blake decided to try eliminating, one by one, everything she was
eating, but the seizures continued.
"When I finally eliminated Equal, I never had any more attacks or
seizures!
Since I stopped Equal on Sept. 13, 1997, my health has slowly improved:
my eyesight and memory returned, my hair quit falling out, my blood
pressure is good. My heart continues with an irregular beat, which my
cardiologist says only a pacemaker can correct," Blake says.
"Because of Equal, my life for four years was one living hell. Can't
someone do something about this unregulated chemically engineered drug
called Equal/aspartame that has affected thousands?"

BLACKLIST
BEWARE of any food product that contains the words "lite," "diet,"
"low-calorie," or "no calorie."
Among these are:
diet iced teas
diet soft drinks
Crystal Light
yogurt lite
Diet Jell-O
some cereals
some children's vitamins.
**************************************************************

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1071
research on aspartame (methanol, formaldehyde, formic acid) toxicity:
Murray 2004.05.04 rmforall

Rich Murray, MA Room For All rmforall@...
1943 Otowi Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505 USA 505-501-2298

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/927
Donald Rumsfeld, 1977 head of Searle Corp., got aspartame FDA approval:
Turner: Murray 2002.12.23 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1039
three-page review: aspartame (methanol, formaldehyde) toxicity:
Murray 2003.11.22 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1026
brief aspartame review: formaldehyde toxicity: Murray 2003.09.11 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1025
aspartame & formaldehyde toxicity: Murray 2003.09.09 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1067
eyelid contact dermatitis by formaldehyde from aspartame, AM Hill & DV
Belsito, Nov 2003: Murray 2004.03.30 rmforall [ 150 KB ]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1070
critique of aspartame review, French Food Safety Agency AFSSA 2002.05.07
aspartamgb.pdf (18 pages, in English), Martin Hirsch:
Murray 2004.04.13

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/957
safety of aspartame Part 1/2 12.4.2: EC HCPD-G SCF:
Murray 2003.01.12 rmforall EU Scientific Committee on Food, a whitewash

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1045
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/scf2002-response.htm
Mark Gold exhaustively critiques European Commission Scientific
Committee on Food re aspartame ( 2002.12.04 ): 59 pages, 230 references

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/989 On 2003.04.10
the European Union Parliament voted 440 to 20 to approve sucralose,
limit cyclamates & reevaluate aspartame & stevia: Murray 2003.04.12 rmforall

http://www.eatright.org/Nutritive(1).pdf
J Am Diet Assoc. 2004 Feb; 104(2): 255-75.
Position of the American Dietetic Association: use of nutritive and
nonnutritive sweeteners. American Dietetic Association.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1068
critique of aspartame review by American Dietetic Association Feb 2004,
Valerie B. Duffy & Madeleine J. Sigman-Grant: Murray 2004.04.03 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages
120 members, 1080 posts in a public searchable archive

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartame/messages
794 members, 16,839 posts in a public, searchable archive

It is certain that high levels of aspartame use, above 2 liters daily for
months and years, must lead to chronic formaldehyde-formic acid toxicity.

Fully 11% of aspartame is methanol-- 1,120 mg aspartame in 2 L diet soda,
almost six 12-oz cans, gives 123 mg methanol (wood alcohol).
The methanol is immediately released into the body after drinking--
unlike the large levels of methanol locked up in complex molecules inside
many fruits and vegetables.
Within hours, the liver turns much of the methanol into formaldehyde, and
then much of that into formic acid, both of which in time are partially
eliminated as carbon dioxide and water.

However, about 30% of the methanol remains in the body as cumulative
durable toxic metabolites of formaldehyde and formic acid-- 37 mg daily,
a gram every month, accumulating in and affecting every tissue.

If only 10% of the methanol is retained daily as formaldehyde, that would
give 12 mg daily formaldehyde accumulation-- about 60 times more than the
0.2 mg from 10% retention of the 2 mg EPA daily limit for formaldehyde in
drinking water.

Bear in mind that the EPA limit for formaldehyde in drinking water is
1 ppm, or 2 mg daily for a typical daily consumption of 2 L of water.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/835
ATSDR: EPA limit 1 ppm formaldehyde in drinking water July 1999:
Murray 2002.05.30 rmforall

This long-term low-level chronic toxic exposure leads to typical patterns of
increasingly severe complex symptoms, starting with headache, fatigue, joint
pain, irritability, memory loss, rashes, and leading to vision and eye
problems, and even seizures. In many cases there is addiction. Probably
there are immune system disorders, with a hypersensitivity to these toxins
and other chemicals.

J. Nutrition 1973 Oct; 103(10): 1454-1459.
Metabolism of aspartame in monkeys.
Oppermann JA, Muldoon E, Ranney RE.
Dept. of Biochemistry, Searle Laboratories,
Division of G.D. Searle and Co. Box 5110, Chicago, IL 60680
They found that about 70% of the radioactive methanol in aspartame put into
the stomachs of 3 to 7 kg monkeys was eliminated within 8 hours, with little
additional elimination, as carbon dioxide in exhaled air and as water in
the urine.
They did not mention that this meant that about 30% of the methanol must
transform into formaldehyde and then into formic acid, both of which must
remain as toxic products in all parts of the body.
They did not report any studies on the distribution of radioactivity in body
tissues, except that blood plasma proteins after 4 days held 4% of the
initial methanol.
This study did not monitor long-term use of aspartame.

The low oral dose of aspartame and for methanol was 0.068 mmol/kg, about 1
part per million [ppm] of the acute toxicity level of 2,000 mg/kg, 67,000
mmol/kg, used by McMartin (1979).
Two L daily use of diet soda provides 123 mg methanol, 2 mg/kg for a 60 kg
person, a dose of 67 mmole/kg, a thousand times more than the dose in this
study.
By eight hours excretion of the dose in air and urine had leveled off at
67.1 +-2.1% as CO2 in the exhaled air and 1.57+-0.32% in the urine, so 68.7
% was excreted, and 31.3% was retained.
This data is the average of 4 monkeys.
"...the 14C in the feces was negligible."
"That fraction not so excreted (about 31%) was converted to body
constituents through the one-carbon metabolic pool."
"All radioactivity measurements were counted to +-1% accuracy..."
This indicates that the results could not be claimed to have a precision of
a tenth of a percent. OK, so this is a nit-pick-- but I believe espousing
spurious accuracy is a sign of scientific insecurity.

The abstract ends, "It was concluded that aspartame was digested to its
three constituents that were then absorbed as natural constituents of the
diet."
Thus, the concept is very subtly insinuated that methanol, as a
constituent of aspartame, is absorbed as a natural constituent of the diet.
"Dietary methanol is derived in large part from fresh fruits and
vegetables."
This is a serious error, since the large amounts of methanol in fresh fruits
and vegetables are not readily released by human digestion. (W. C. Monte,
1984)
Nowhere in this report are mentioned the dread words, "formaldehyde" and
"formic acid".

Of course, methanol and formaldehyde toxicity studies are highly relevant to
the issue of aspartame toxicity. [ Aspartame has to be turned into its
toxic products, formaldehyde and formic acid, in the body, before it is
toxic, so some pro-aspartame reseach studies test aspartame outside the
body, and then proclaim that they have proved that it is not toxic. ]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/915
formaldehyde toxicity: Thrasher & Kilburn: Shaham: EPA: Gold:
Wilson: CIIN: Murray 2002.12.12 rmforall

Thrasher (2001): "The major difference is that the Japanese demonstrated
the incorporation of FA and its metabolites into the placenta and fetus.
The quantity of radioactivity remaining in maternal and fetal tissues
at 48 hours was 26.9% of the administered dose." [ Ref. 14-16 ]

Arch Environ Health 2001 Jul-Aug; 56(4): 300-11.
Embryo toxicity and teratogenicity of formaldehyde. [100 references]
Thrasher JD, Kilburn KH. toxicology@...
Sam-1 Trust, Alto, New Mexico, USA.
http://www.drthrasher.org/formaldehyde_embryo_toxicity.html full text

http://www.drthrasher.org/formaldehyde_1990.html full text Jack Dwayne
Thrasher, Alan Broughton, Roberta Madison. Immune activation and
autoantibodies in humans with long-term inhalation exposure to formaldehyde.
Archives of Environmental Health. 1990; 45: 217-223. "Immune activation,
autoantibodies, and anti-HCHO-HSA antibodies are associated with long-term
formaldehyde inhalation." PMID: 2400243

Confirming evidence and a general theory are given by Pall (2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/909
testable theory of MCS type diseases, vicious cycle of nitric oxide &
peroxynitrite: MSG: formaldehyde-methanol-aspartame:
Martin L. Pall: Murray: 2002.12.09 rmforall

Environ Health Perspect. 2003 Sep; 111(12): 1461-4.
Elevated nitric oxide/peroxynitrite theory of multiple chemical sensitivity:
central role of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors in the sensitivity mechanism.
Pall ML.
School of Molecular Biosciences, 301 Abelson Hall, Washington State
University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA. martin_pall@...

The elevated nitric oxide/peroxynitrite and the neural sensitization
theories of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) are extended here to propose
a central mechanism for the exquisite sensitivity to organic solvents
apparently induced by previous chemical exposure in MCS.
This mechanism is centered on the activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)
receptors by organic solvents producing elevated nitric oxide and
peroxynitrite, leading in turn to increased stimulating of and
hypersensitivity of NMDA receptors.
In this way, organic solvent exposure may produce progressive sensitivity to
organic solvents.
Pesticides such as organophosphates and carbamates may act via muscarinic
stimulation to produce a similar biochemical and sensitivity response.
Accessory mechanisms of sensitivity may involve both increased blood-brain
barrier permeability, induced by peroxynitrite, and cytochrome P450
inhibition by nitric oxide.
The NMDA hyperactivity/hypersensitivity and excessive nitric
oxide/peroxynitrite view of MCS provides answers to many of the most
puzzling aspects of MCS while building on previous studies and views of this
condition. PMID: 12948884

Prof. Pall describes processes by which an initial trigger exposure, such as
carbon monoxide or formaldehyde, can generate hypersensitivity to many
substances. He himself had recovered from a sudden, debilitating attack of
multiple chemical sensitity in June/July 1997.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1055
hormesis: possible benefits of low-level aspartame (methanol, formaldehyde)
use: Calabrese: Soffritti: Murray 2004.03.11 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1056
disorders of NMDA glutamate receptors in brain range from high activity
(MCS, CF, PTSD, FM, from carbon monoxide or formaldehyde (methanol,
aspartame)-- Pall)
to low activity (schizophrenia-- Coyle, Goff, Javitts):
Murray 2004.03.13 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/946
Functional Therapeutics in Neurodegenerative Disease Part 1/2:
Perlmutter 1999.07.15: Murray 2003.01.10 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/97
Lancet website aspartame letter 1999.07.29:
Excitotoxins 1999 Part 1/3 Blaylock: Murray 2000.01.14 rmforall
The Medical Sentinel Journal 1999 Fall; (95 references)
http://www.dorway.com/blayenn.html

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1034
Brain cell damage from amino acid isolates (aspartame releases
phenylalanine, aspartate, methanol [formaldehyde, formic acid] Bowen &
Evangelista May 6 2002: Murray 2003.11.10 rmforall

http://www.aspartame.ca/Brain%20Cell%20Damage.pdf
Brain cell damage from amino acid isolates 5.6.2 41 references
detailed 22 page review by James D. Bowen, MD and Arthur M. Evangelista,
former FDA Investigator orwilly@...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/628
Professional House Doctors: Singer: EPA: CPSC:
formaldehyde toxicity: Murray 2001.06.10 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1047
Avoiding Hangover Hell 2003.12.31 Mark Sherman, AP writer: Robert Swift, MD,
[ formaldehyde from methanol in aspartame ]: Murray 2004.01.16 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1048
hangovers from formaldehyde from methanol (aspartame?):
Schwarcz: Linsley: Murray 2004.01.18

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1052
DMDC: Dimethyl dicarbonate 200mg/L in drinks adds methanol 98 mg/L
( becomes formaldehyde in body ): EU Scientific Committee on Foods
2001.07.12: Murray 2004.01.22 rmforall
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