widespread formaldehyde and other toxins in foods in all Asia, Agence
France-Presse: Murray 2007.05.20
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1433

" Formaldehyde seems to be one of the most widely found chemicals,
used for everything from keeping flies off fresh meat in wet markets
to prolonging freshness and enhancing the colour of manufactured foodstuffs. "

www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,21762976-23109,00.html

Food safety 'an issue across Asia'

May 20, 2007 11:08 am
Article from: Agence France-Presse

WHEN Bangladeshi magistrate Rokon-ud-Dowla raided a local fish market to check
on the quality of the food for sale, he was shocked by what he discovered.

"We found all 176 tonnes of fish in the market containing harmful
formaldehydes," he said.

"We also sealed off dozens of bakeries and confectionery shops for using textile
and tannery dyes on sweets in a bid to make them colourful."

Across Asia governments appear to be struggling to control the use of toxic
chemicals in manufactured and fresh food, chemicals that experts believe are
responsible for deteriorating public health.

Formaldehyde seems to be one of the most widely found chemicals, used for
everything from keeping flies off fresh meat in wet markets to prolonging
freshness and enhancing the colour of manufactured foodstuffs.

Boric and benzoic acid, industrial dyes, fertilisers and pesticides,
antibiotics, bad oil and sulphur dioxide are among the substances found in fresh
and packaged foodstuffs throughout Asia.

Experts across the region are beginning to blame a range of illnesses, including
rising cancer rates, liver and kidney ailments, stunted mental and physical
development in children -- and, in extreme cases, death -- on adulterated food.

"We have been eating these foods for decades. I think these foods are the reason
why we have increasing numbers of liver and kidney ailments," said
Rokon-ud-Dowla.

"These manufacturers are killing thousands of people, yet we didn't notice."

The March raid on the fish market was part of an official clamp down on what he
called the rampant use of toxins in food.

"Use of chemicals, fertiliser, poor quality oil, textile and tannery dyes and
food additives (such as) formaldehyde are being practised rampantly in
Bangladesh, said Rokon-ud-Dowla, who has been at the forefront of the fight.

"Some of the practices that we have seen in their shops and factories are
horrible," he said.

Among the most notorious violators of food safety standards is China, where two
companies were found this month to have added a lethal chemical, melamine, to
wheat gluten and rice protein which was later used in pet food believed to have
killed thousands of dogs and cats in the US.

In an effort to clean up the country's reputation as an exporter of dodgy
foodstuffs, authorities in Shanghai have launched a mobile food testing van they
say can quickly tell whether food is safe to eat.

The addition of dangerous substances to foods in China is chronic and
widespread.

The government's apparent inability to police a huge and growing food-product
sector and widespread ignorance of the harmful effects of many substances have
combined with a rush for profit to create a major health threat.

Reports of farmers using dangerous pesticides and fertilisers to increase yields
are routine, and livestock are often given questionable medicines or
antibiotics.

In one recent case, Hong Kong and various local governments along China's east
coast banned sales of turbot produced in eastern China after some were found to
contain cancer-causing residues.

A similar problem is playing out in the US, where several states have banned
imports of Chinese catfish after traces of a poisonous antibiotic were found.

Sometimes health risks are created for merely cosmetic reasons, as when Chinese
producers last year used the cancer-causing dye Sudan Red, normally used for
colouring solvents and shoe and floor polish, to colour duck egg yolks and
chilli oil.

Perhaps the highest-profile recent case was in 2004, when 13 babies died in
central China and nearly 200 suffered malnutrition after drinking milk made with
fake powder.

Chinese chemicals have also made their way into the foodchain in Vietnam where
authorities have become so alarmed at the prevalence of adulterated food that
Professor Nguyen Ba Duc of the Vietnam Cancer Association has blamed one third
of the 150,000 annual cancer cases on tainted food.

Government health inspectors have found formaldehyde in the national dish, pho
noodle soup, borax in traditional cakes, and whitening chemicals in rice
noodles.

In March, the health ministry's drug administration ordered the nationwide
confiscation of Chinese-made lipsticks, other cosmetics and foods containing
Sudan Red.

State media reported suspicions it was also used in eggs and chilli products.

Formaldehyde has also been problematic in Indonesia, where the Food and Drug
Agency found that nearly 60 per cent of noodles, salty fish, tofu and meatballs
sold in Jakarta markets contained high levels of the preservative.

Producers had been hard hit by fuel price rises in late 2005 and so had cut back
on more expensive ingredients in their foods, said Tulus Abadi, of the
Indonesian Consumers Foundation.

Random checks of markets and street vendors in Jakarta this year found banned
dangerous substances, including formaldehyde and sodium borate, were still being
used, he said.

India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare says the most common forms of food
adulteration or excess preservatives concern cooking oil and milk, and in
packaged foods that are now flooding the market.

While poor labelling was a major problem, widespread use of preservatives to
keep food fresh as it is transported over long distances was also a concern.

Radna Krishnan, editor of the All India Food Preservers Association newsletter
said: "Most of the focus is on preservatives because of transport difficulties
in India and the most widely used are sulfur dioxide, a gas, for fruits and
vegetables."

The gas, important in wine making and processing of dried fruits, is used widely
globally but when used in excess, can cause breathing and heart problems,
according to the US Environmental Protection Administration.

All India Food Preservers Association
Executive Secretary
206, Aurobindo Place 2nd Floor
Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110016
Phone : + 91-11-6518848 Fax : + 91-11-6510860
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1427
more from The Independent, UK, Martin Hickman, re ASDA (unit of Wal-
Mart Stores) and Marks & Spencer ban of aspartame, MSG, artificial
chemical additives and dyes to prevent ADHD in kids: Murray 2007.05.16

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1426
ASDA (unit of Wal-Mart Stores WMT.N) and Marks & Spencer
will join Tesco and also Sainsbury to ban and limit aspartame,
MSG, artificial flavors dyes preservatives additives, trans fats,
salt "nasties" to protect kids from ADHD: leading UK media:
Murray 2007.05.15

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1271
combining aspartame and quinoline yellow, or MSG and
brilliant blue, harms nerve cells, eminent C. Vyvyan
Howard et al, 2005 education.guardian.co.uk,
Felicity Lawrence: Murray 2005.12.21

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1277
50% UK baby food is now organic -- aspartame or MSG
with food dyes harm nerve cells, CV Howard 3 year study
funded by Lizzy Vann, CEO, Organix Brands,
Children's Food Advisory Service: Murray 2006.01.13


http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2548747.ece


aspartame (methanol, formaldehyde) toxicity research summary: Rich
Murray 2007.05.20
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1404

One liter aspartame diet soda, about 3 12-oz cans,
gives 61.5 mg methanol,
so if 30% is turned into formaldehyde, the formaldehyde
dose of 18.5 mg is 37 times the recent EPA limit of
0.5 mg per liter daily drinking water for a 10-kg child:
www.epa.gov/teach/chem_summ/Formaldehyde_summary.pdf
2007.01.05 [ does not discuss formaldehyde from methanol
or aspartame ]
http://www.epa.gov/teach/teachsurvey.html comments
teach@...


"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 74 members, 1,433 posts in a public, searchable archive
http://RMForAll.blogspot.com

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


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1395
Aspartame Controversy, in Wikipedia democratic
encyclopedia, 72 references (including AspartameNM # 864
and 1173 by Murray), brief fair summary of much more
research: Murray 2007.01.01


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.

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


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
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