Beijing rejected German brandies with 6,500 mg/l methanol, over the
legal limit of 2,000 mg/l, while aspartame diet soda has 56 mg/l:
100 mg in alcoholic beverages causes hangovers: Murray 2006.07.15
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1356


http://www.wines-info.com/html/189/2006715114625749.html

Beijing rejected German brandies
with methanol in excess of national standard
www.wines-info.com Summer 2006-7-15

The Bureau of Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine of Beijing
tested six German Brandies and found their contents of methanol
in excess of the national standard of Brandy (GB11856-1997),
which allowed the maximum content of methanol to be 0.2 g/100ml.
[ 2,000 mg/l, the same as from 32.5 liters diet soda,
91 12-oz cans diet soda ]

The above mentioned German Brandies are products
of Alfred Schladerer GmbH.
The highest content of methanol of these brandies is 0.65 g/100ml,
[ 6,500 mg/l, the same as from 105.7 liters diet soda,
295 12-oz cans diet soda ]
and therefore they were rejected by the
Bureau of Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine of Beijing.

The General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the
People's Republic of China
has informed the embassy of Germany of the rejection,
and warned the local organs of inspection and quarantine
to make a stricter sample test on such kind of commodities.

According to experts, a drinking of 10 ml methanol at one time
can cause blindness and the more will cause death.

China Wines Information Website Headquarters
Address: 5th.fl.2nd Bldg. No.39 Gucheng Rd.
Nanning, Guangxi, P. R.China
Post Code: 530022
Telephone Exchange: 00 86 771 2631100
00 86 771 2631111
00 86 771 2631122
FAX: 00 86 771 2631122
Website: http://www.wines-info.com
E-mail
Web affair: info@...
Edit affair: editor@... (Chinese Version)
wine@... (English Version)
Advertisement: info@...
International Affairs department: international@...
Marketing Department: international@...

http://www.schladerer.de/index.php?id=2&lang=en
Alfred Schladerer
Alte Schwarzwälder Hausbrennerei GmbH
Postfach 1152
D-79216 Staufen / Black Forest
Germany
http://www.schladerer.de/kontakt.php?id=8&lang=de email
*******************************************************

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1307
formaldehyde from 11% methanol part of aspartame or from red wine
causes same toxicity (hangover) harm: Murray 2006.05.24

Dark wines and liquors, as well as aspartame, provide
similar levels of methanol, above 120 mg daily, for
long-term heavy users, 2 L daily, about 6 cans.

Within hours, methanol is inevitably largely turned into formaldehyde,
and thence largely into formic acid -- the major causes of the dreaded
symptoms of "next morning" hangover.

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). If 30% of the methanol is turned
into formaldehyde, the amount of formaldehyde, 37 mg,
is 18.5 times the USA EPA limit for daily formaldehyde in
drinking water, 2.0 mg in 2 L average daily drinking water.

Any unsuspected source of methanol, which the body always quickly
and largely turns into formaldehyde and then formic acid, must be
monitored, especially for high responsibility occupations, often with
night shifts, such as pilots and nuclear reactor operators.


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1106
hangover research relevant to toxicity of 11% methanol in aspartame
(formaldehyde, formic acid): Calder I (full text): Jones AW:
Murray 2004.08.05 rmforall

Since no adaquate data has ever been published on the exact disposition
of toxic metabolites in specific tissues in humans of the 11% methanol
component of aspartame, the many studies on morning-after hangover
from the methanol impurity in alcohol drinks are the main available
resource to date.

Jones AW (1987) found next-morning hangover from red wine with
100 to 150 mg methanol
(9.5% w/v ethanol, 100 mg/l methanol, 0.01%,
one part in ten thousand).

Pharmacol Toxicol. 1987 Mar; 60(3): 217-20.
Elimination half-life of methanol during hangover.
Jones AW.
Department of Forensic Toxicology, University Hospital,
SE-581 85 Linkoping, Sweden. wayne.jones@...

This paper reports the elimination half-life of methanol
in human volunteers.
Experiments were made during the morning after the subjects had
consumed 1000-1500 ml red wine
(9.5% w/v ethanol, 100 mg/l methanol) the
previous evening. [ 100 to 150 mg methanol ]
The washout of methanol from the body coincided
with the onset of hangover.
The concentrations of ethanol and methanol in blood were determined
indirectly by analysis of end-expired alveolar air.
In the morning when blood-ethanol dropped below the Km of liver
alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) of about 100 mg/l (2.2 mM),
the disappearance half-life of ethanol
was 21, 22, 18 and 15 min. in 4 test subjects respectively.
The corresponding elimination half-lives of methanol
were 213, 110, 133 and 142 min. in these same individuals.
The experimental design outlined in this paper can be used to obtain
useful data on elimination kinetics of methanol
in human volunteers without undue ethical limitations.
Circumstantial evidence is presented to link methanol or its toxic
metabolic products, formaldehyde and formic acid,
with the pathogenesis of hangover. PMID: 3588516


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1286
methanol products (formaldehyde and formic acid) are main cause of
alcohol hangover symptoms [same as from similar amounts of
methanol, the 11% part of aspartame]: YS Woo et al, 2005 Dec:
Murray 2006.01.20

Addict Biol. 2005 Dec;10(4): 351-5.
Concentration changes of methanol in blood samples during
an experimentally induced alcohol hangover state.
Woo YS, Yoon SJ, Lee HK, Lee CU, Chae JH, Lee CT, Kim DJ.
Chuncheon National Hospital, Department of Psychiatry,
The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
http://www.cuk.ac.kr/eng/ sysop@...
Songsin Campus: 02-740-9714 Songsim Campus: 02-2164-4116
Songeui Campus: 02-2164-4114
http://www.cuk.ac.kr/eng/sub055.htm eight hospitals

[ Han-Kyu Lee ]

A hangover is characterized by the unpleasant physical and mental
symptoms that occur between 8 and 16 hours after drinking alcohol.
After inducing experimental hangover in normal individuals,
we measured the methanol concentration prior to
and after alcohol consumption
and we assessed the association between the hangover condition
and the blood methanol level.

A total of 18 normal adult males participated in this study.
They did not have any previous histories of psychiatric
or medical disorders.

The blood ethanol concentration prior to the alcohol intake
(2.26+/-2.08) was not significantly different from that
13 hours after the alcohol consumption (3.12+/-2.38).

However, the difference of methanol concentration
between the day of experiment (prior to the alcohol intake)
and the next day (13 hours after the alcohol intake)
was significant (2.62+/-1.33/l vs. 3.88+/-2.10/l, respectively).

[ So, the normal methanol level was 2.62 mg per liter,
and increasing that by 50% = 1.3 mg per liter to 3.88 mg per liter
caused hangover symptoms. The human body has about
5.6 liters blood, so adding 1.3 mg per liter gives an estimate
of 7.3 mg added methanol, as much as 4 oz diet soda.

After 13 hours the methanol, with a half-life of about 2 hours
(Jones AW, 1985), is reduced by about 6 divisions by half
to about 1/64 = 1.56 %, so if hangover in many users results from
an initial 100 mg methanol dose in alcohol beverages,
the amount actually in the body after 13 hours
may be as little as 1.5 mg. Clearly, this deserves thorough research. ]


Diet soda is about 200 mg aspartame per 12 oz can,
which is 22 mg (11% methanol), 1.83 mg methnol per ounce.
Unlike alcoholic beverages, diet foods and drinks with
aspartame immediately release their methanol into the body,
to be quickly made into formaldehyde and then formic acid.

This suggests that alcohol drinkers are more sensitive to methanol
than the average diet soda drinker, some of whom find symptoms
from a third of a diet soda. ]

A significant positive correlation was observed
between the changes of blood methanol concentration
and hangover subjective scale score increment when covarying
for the changes of blood ethanol level (r=0.498, p<0.05).

This result suggests the possible correlation of methanol
as well as its toxic metabolite to hangover. PMID: 16318957
[ The "toxic metabolite" of methanol is formaldehyde, which in turn
partially becomes formic acid -- both potent cumulative toxins
that are the actual cause of the toxicity of methanol.]
*******************************************************


"Of course, everyone chooses, as a natural priority,
to actively find, quickly share, and positively act upon the facts
about healthy and safe food, drink, and environment."

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

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages
group with 72 members, 1,356 posts in a public, searchable archive
http://RMForAll.blogspot.com


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1143
methanol (formaldehyde, formic acid) disposition: Bouchard M
et al, full plain text, 2001: substantial sources are
degradation of fruit pectins, liquors, aspartame, smoke:
Murray 2005.04.02

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1340
aspartame groups and books: updated research review of 2004.07.16:
Murray 2006.05.11

NIH NLM ToxNet HSDB Hazardous Substances Data Bank
inadequate re aspartame (methanol, formaldehyde, formic acid):
Murray 2006.07.14
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1349

http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/f?./temp/~HwoSfJ:1
HSDB Hazardous Substances Data Bank: Aspartame

ASPARTAME CASRN: 22839-47-0
METHANOL CASRN: 67-56-1
FORMALDEHYDE CASRN: 50-00-0
FORMIC ACID CASRN: 64-18-6
*******************************************************