formaldehyde in FEMA trailers and other sources (aspartame, dark wines and
liquors, tobacco smoke): Murray 2008.01.30
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.htm
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1508


The FEMA trailers give about the same amount of formaldehyde daily as from a
quart of dark wine or liquor, or two quarts (6 12-oz cans) of aspartame diet
soda, from their over 1 tenth gram methanol impurity (one part in 10,000),
which the body quickly makes into formaldehyde -- enough to be the major
cause of "morning after" alcohol hangovers.

Methanol and formaldehyde also result from many fruits and vegetables,
tobacco and wood smoke, heater and vehicle exhaust, household chemicals and
cleaners, cosmetics, and new cars, drapes, carpets, furniture,
particleboard, mobile homes, buildings, leather... so all these sources add
up and interact with many other toxic chemicals.

BN Ames and LS Gold, 1998, have presented detailed information that there is
no increase in recent decades for most cancers, and that common carcinogens
do not result in significant exposures to the average human population.

However, individuals are not average -- each person has a unique genetic
makeup, resulting in a huge range of variation of vulnerability to specific
chemicals, as is well evidenced in the case of methanol, formaldehyde, and
formic acid, especially with regard to behavioral effects.

Each is subject to very wide ranges of exposure levels.

Many are in especially vulnerable groups, depending on diet, obesity, sex,
exercise, life stress, age from conception to very old, unusually severe
toxic exposures, injuries, and diseases.

It is clear that a variety of multiple chemical sensitivity syndromes do
exist, often with remarkable hypersensitivity.

Methanol, formaldehyde, and formic acid toxicity are unusual, in that humans
are far more vulnerable than any other mammal, as much as ten to sixty-fold,
which complicates the utility of animal data.

The unusally long human life span also increases the role of long-term
chronic low-level exposure.


FEMA slow to safety test Katrina toxic trailers, Charles Babington,
Associated Press -- 1 ppm formaldehyde in air is about half the daily dose
from 3 cans aspartame diet soda and ten times the 1999 EPA alarm level for
drinking water: Murray 2007.07.23
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1455

" Paulison said FEMA received "just over 200 complaints of strange
odors including formaldehyde" in trailers and that 58 trailers were
replaced "because of formaldehyde concerns."

Occupants of five other trailers were moved to apartments, he said.

Several lawmakers said FEMA should have seen the 200 complaints as a
sign of a much wider problem. "


1 ppm formaldehyde in air is half the daily dose
from 3 cans aspartame diet soda
and ten times the 1999 EPA alarm level for drinking water.

J. D. Trasher et al in 1990 found many symptoms
in 19 mobile home residents,
living with 0.05 to 0.5 ppm formaldehyde.

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

" The patients in our study had symptoms and complaints
related to several organs, as described previously, (4,5,9)
which were similar to symptoms
of workers with multiple chemical sensitivity,(11) cacosmia,(12)
and other chemical exposures. (13-15)

We report on the differences in
humoral and cell-mediated immunity in humans with long-term inhalation
exposure to HCHO vs. asymptomatic students (controls) who experienced
short-term, periodic exposure to the chemical. "

" All patients in this study
had sought continuous medical attention
because of multiple organ symptoms
involving the central nervous system (CNS)
(headaches, memory loss, difficulty completing tasks, dizziness),
upper- and lower-respiratory symptoms,
skeletal-muscle complaints,
and gastroenteritis.

Three common symptoms were expressed:
(1) and initial flu-like illness
from which they had not fully recovered;
(2) chronic fatigue,
and (3) an olfactory sensitivity to ambient conditions
containing low concentrations of chemicals. (4,9,11) "

" (2.) Mobile home residents consisted
of 19 patients (6 males, 13 females, mean age 41 +-20 y)
who currently lived in mobile homes.

The patients had lived in their environments for 2-7 y
and reported multiple symptoms. (4,9)

Measured HCHO concentrations ranged from 0.05 to 0.5 ppm
at the time blood samples were taken. "


FEMA found 1.2 ppm formaldehyde in April 2005
in one of over 120,000 mobile homes
supplied for recent hurricane victims --
75 times more than the
0.016 level set for 8-hour working days
by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
for workers to be required to wear respirators.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/toxics/tac/appendxc.htm

1 ppm FA in air = 1.23 mg/cubic meter, so breathing 20 cubic meters
would retain about 20 mg FA daily, ten times the 1999 EPA alarm level
for drinking water.

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.

Medicine has to consider that the many sources of methanol and
formaldehyde are additive co-factors.

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


"... aspartame. It's perfectly safe," eminent diabetes MD S. Kalani Brady --
er, Doctor, RX for ignorance, 3 days earnest study of recent 2 years of
mainstream research by groups independent of vested interests: Murray
2008.01.27
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.htm
Sunday, January 27, 2008
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1507

details on 6 epidemiological studies since 2004 on diet soda (mainly
aspartame) correlations, as well as 14 other mainstream studies on
aspartame toxicity since summer 2005: Murray 2007.11.27
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.htm
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1490

Hawaiian aspartame ban bills in House and Senate challenge corporate clout,
Sen. J. Kalani English & Suzanne Chun Oakland, Rep. Calvin K.Y. Say & Mele
Carroll: Murray 2008.01.25
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.htm
Friday, January 25, 2008
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1505

www.capitol.hawaii.gov/site1/house/members/rep13.asp

Mele Carroll
13th Representative District
Hawaii State Capitol, Room 405
415 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone 808-586-6790; fax 808-586-6779
From Maui, toll free 984-2400 + 66790
From Molokai and Lanai,
toll free 1-800-468-4644 + 66790
E-mail repcarroll@...;

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/aspartameNMmessage/1451
Artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose) and coloring
agents will be banned from use in newly-born and baby foods,
the European Parliament decided: Latvia ban in schools 2006:
Murray 2007.07.12

"Of course, everyone chooses, as a natural priority, to enjoy peace,
joy, and love by helping to find, quickly share, and positively act
upon evidence 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/message/1469
highly toxic formaldehyde, the cause of alcohol hangovers, is made by
the body from 100 mg doses of methanol from dark wines and liquors,
dimethyl dicarbonate, and aspartame: Murray 2007.08.31

http://RMForAll.blogspot.com new primary archive

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages
group with 118 members, 1,508 posts in a public archive
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/28/AR2008012802429.html

washingtonpost.com > Politics

2008 Politics » Candidates | Issues | Lawmakers Fault FEMA on Trailers

washingtonpost.com readers have posted 27comments about this item.
View All Comments »

From News Services and Staff Reports
Tuesday, January 29, 2008; Page A03

Lawmakers Fault FEMA on Trailers

Democratic leaders of a House science subcommittee alleged yesterday that
the Federal Emergency Management Agency manipulated scientific research into
the potential danger posed by a toxic gas emitted in trailers still housing
tens of thousands of survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

FEMA "ignored, hid and manipulated government research on the potential
impact of long-term exposure to formaldehyde" on Katrina and Rita victims
now living in the FEMA trailers, the congressmen wrote in a letter to
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, whose department includes
FEMA.

Reps. Brad Miller (N.C.) and Nick Lampson (Tex.) cited agency documents
given to Congress in alleging that the federal Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention -- generally considered a repository of nonpartisan
scientific expertise -- was "complicit in giving FEMA precisely what they
wanted" to suppress the adverse health effects.

The lawmakers said the CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry ignored one of its experts, Christopher T. De Rosa, after he
informed FEMA there was no "safe level" of long-term exposure. They said
FEMA bypassed that opinion and "shopped" the agency for its desired
recommendation to study only short-term exposure.

"Any level of exposure to formaldehyde may pose a cancer risk, regardless of
duration," De Rosa wrote in a Feb. 27, 2007, letter to a FEMA lawyer,
recently obtained by a House Science and Technology investigative
subcommittee that Miller chairs. "Failure to communicate this issue is
possibly misleading and a threat to public health."

De Rosa wrote the letter after learning that the CDC bypassed his office to
produce a Feb. 1, 2007, report for FEMA that did not consider long-term
exposure risks, contradicting his recommendation to the agency in June 2006.

"Honest scientific studies don't start with the conclusion, and then work
backwards from there," Miller said.

FEMA said the health agency's report last February did not address long-term
health effects but rather concerned ways to avoid toxic exposure to
formaldehyde. "FEMA did not suppress or inappropriately influence any
report," agency spokesman James McIntyre said.

More than 40,000 trailers are still being used by families displaced by
Katrina in August 2005 and Rita weeks later. FEMA announced last July that
it would test occupied trailers, after congressional investigators disclosed
that the agency had suppressed warnings for more than a year from its field
workers about health problems experienced by Katrina survivors.

Tests on 500 trailers, finally begun last month, are being performed by CDC,
the lawmakers noted. "The Committee is concerned about the independence and
scientific integrity of any indoor air testing for formaldehyde levels in
these trailers done under the auspices of FEMA," Miller and Samson wrote.

"For those who are too poor to live elsewhere, FEMA's position remains as it
was in 2006: there are no possible adverse health effects that can't be
cured by opening the windows," they added.

1/29/2008 12:28:27 PM rhfalk wrote:

It is not as though formaldehyde was not known to be present in mobile
homes.

In a scientific paper published in 1998
(Biotherapy 11: 205-220, The Causes and Prevention of Cancer: The Role of
the Environment), Bruce Ames and Lois Gold, eminent researchers at the
University of California, Berkeley,
clearly indicated that this was the case.

There is nothing mysterious about formaldehyde or a great deal of other
compounds that have potential carcinogenic effects as listed in this
excellent research paper.

Lots of rather common things have the potential to cause cancer.

Ames and Gold's paper can be found at
http://potency.berkeley.edu/pdfs/Biotherapy1998.pdf

Section of Cardiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
02118, USA. rfalk@...;


Last name Derosa
First name Christopher
Middle name T.
Agency ATSDR
Organization DHHS/ATSDR/OA/OD
Job title ACT. SPECIAL ASST FOR TOXICOLOGY
Building CCTR
Duty station Atlanta GA 30329
Mail stop E28
Phone 404.498.0284 Fax 404.498.0083
Internet e-mail christopher.derosa@...;
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


http://potency.berkeley.edu/pdfs/Biotherapy1998.pdf

Biotherapy 11: 205-220, 1998.
© 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
The Causes and Prevention of Cancer: The Role of Environment
Bruce N. Ames 1
and Lois Swirsky Gold 2
1 Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California,
Berkeley, CA 94720-3202;
2 Life Sciences Division, E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
Berkeley, California 94720

Nutrition and Metabolism Center, Children's Hospital of Oakland Research
Institute, Oakland, CA 94609, USA. bames@...;

University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine,
Department of Epidemiology, Seattle, Washington, USA.
goldl@...;

Key words: cancer causation, mutagen, rodent carcinogen, natural chemicals,
fruits and vegetables

Abstract

The idea that synthetic chemicals such as DDT are major contributors to
human cancer has been inspired, in part, by Rachel Carson's passionate book,
Silent Spring.

This chapter discusses evidence showing why this is not true.

We also review research on the causes of cancer, and show why much cancer is
preventable.

Epidemiological evidence indicates several factors likely to have a major
effect on reducing rates of cancer:
reduction of smoking,
increased consumption of fruits and vegetables,
and control of infections.

Other factors are avoidance of intense sun exposure,
increases in physical activity,
and reduction of alcohol consumption
and possibly red meat.

Already, risks of many forms of cancer can be reduced
and the potential for further reductions is great.

If lung cancer (which is primarily due to smoking) is excluded,
cancer death rates are decreasing in the United States for all other cancers
combined.

Pollution appears to account for less than 1% of human cancer;
yet public concern and resource allocation for chemical pollution are very
high,
in good part because of the use of animal cancer tests in cancer risk
assessment.

Animal cancer tests, which are done at the maximum tolerated dose (MTD),
are being misinterpreted to mean that low doses of synthetic chemicals and
industrial pollutants are relevant to human cancer.

About half of the chemicals tested, whether synthetic or natural,
are carcinogenic to rodents at these high doses.

A plausible explanation for the high frequency of positive results is that
testing at the MTD frequently can cause chronic cell killing and consequent
cell replacement,
a risk factor for cancer that can be limited to high doses.

Ignoring this greatly exaggerates risks.

Scientists must determine mechanisms of carcinogenesis for each substance
and revise acceptable dose levels as understanding advances.

The vast bulk of chemicals ingested by humans is natural.

For example, 99.99% of the pesticides we eat are naturally present in plants
to ward off insects and other predators.

Half of these natural pesticides tested at the MTD are rodent carcinogens.

Reducing exposure to the 0.01% that are synthetic will not reduce cancer
rates.

On the contrary, although fruits and vegetables contain a wide variety of
naturally-occurring chemicals that are rodent carcinogens, inadequate
consumption of fruits and vegetables doubles the human cancer risk for most
types of cancer.

Making them more expensive by reducing synthetic pesticide use will increase
cancer.

Humans also ingest large numbers of natural chemicals from cooking food.

Over a thousand chemicals have been reported in roasted coffee:
more than half of those tested (19/28) are rodent carcinogens.

There are more rodent carcinogens in a single cup of coffee
than potentially carcinogenic pesticide residues in the average American
diet in a year,
and there are still a thousand chemicals left to test in roasted coffee.

This does not mean that coffee is dangerous but rather that animal cancer
tests
and worst-case risk assessment, build in enormous safety factors
and should not be considered true risks.

The reason humans can eat the tremendous variety of natural chemical "rodent
carcinogens" is that humans, like other animals, are extremely well
protected by many general defense enzymes, most of which are inducible
(i.e., whenever a defense enzyme is in use, more of it is made).

Since the defense enzymes are equally effective against natural and
synthetic chemicals, one does not expect, nor does one find, a general
difference between synthetic and natural chemicals in ability to cause
cancer in high-dose rodent tests.

The idea that there is an epidemic of human cancer caused by synthetic
industrial chemicals is false.

In addition, there is a steady rise in life expectancy in the developed
countries.

Linear extrapolation from the maximum tolerated dose in rodents to low level
exposure in humans has led to grossly exaggerated mortality forecasts.

Such extrapolations can not be verified by epidemiology.

Furthermore, relying on such extrapolations for synthetic chemicals while
ignoring the enormous natural background, leads to an imbalanced perception
of hazard and allocation of resources.

It is the progress of scientific research and technology that will continue
to lengthen human
life expectancy.

Zero exposure to rodent carcinogens cannot be achieved.

Low levels of rodent carcinogens of natural origin are ubiquitous in the
environment.

It is thus impossible to obtain conditions totally free of exposure to
rodent carcinogens or to background radiation.

Major advances in analytical techniques enable the detection of extremely
low concentrations of all substances, whether natural or synthetic, often
thousands of times lower than could be detected 30 years ago.

Risks compete with risks: society must distinguish between significant and
trivial risks.

Regulating trivial risks or exposure to substances erroneously inferred to
cause cancer at low-doses, can harm health by diverting resources from
programs that could be effective in protecting the health of the public.

Moreover, wealth creates health: poor people have shorter life expectancy
than wealthy people.

When money and resources are wasted on trivial problems, society's wealth
and hence health is harmed.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


Seizures and hyponatremia after excessive intake of diet coke, LJ
Mortelmans, M Van Loo, HG De Cauwer, K Merlevede, Klina General
Hospital, Brasschaat, Belgium, EJEM 2008 Feb: Mark D. Gold critique:
Murray 2008.01.10
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.htm
Thursday, January 10, 2008
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1502


See also:
possible neurologic effects of aspartame, TJ Maher, RJ Wurtman,
Environ. Health Persp. 1987 Nov, full text: other seizure reports re
aspartame, methanol, formaldehyde, formic acid: Murray 2008.01.10
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.htm
Thursday, January 10, 2008
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1501


Eur J Emerg Med. 2008 Feb; 15(1): 51.
Seizures and hyponatremia after excessive intake of diet coke.
Mortelmans LJ, Luc.mortelmans@...,
Van Loo M,
De Cauwer HG, haralddecauwer@...,
Merlevede K. Karen.Merlevede@...,
Departments of
a Emergency Medicine
b Neurology,
Klina General Hospital, Brasschaat, Belgium.

We describe a case of epileptic seizures after a massive intake of
diet coke.

Apart from the hyponatremia due to water intoxication the
convulsions can be potentiated by the high dose of caffeine and
aspartame from the diet coke.

To our knowledge this is the first report of seizures due to
excessive diet coke intake. PMID: 18180668


Methyl alcohol ingestion as a model etiologic agent in multiple
sclerosis, WC Monte, D Glanzman, C Johnston; Methanol induced
neuropathology in the mammalian central nervous system, Woodrow C.
Monte, Renee Ann Zeising, both reports 1989.12.04: Murray 2007.12.28
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.htm
Friday, December 28 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1499

[ These seminal 1989 studies by Prof. Woodrow C. Monte are also given
in this previous post, along his two recent comprehensive reviews:

role of formaldehyde, made by body from methanol from foods and
aspartame, in steep increases in fetal alcohol syndrome, autism,
multiple sclerosis, lupus, teen suicide, breast cancer, Nutrition
Prof. Woodrow C. Monte, retired, Arizona State U., two reviews, 190
references supplied, Fitness Life, New Zealand 2007 Nov, Dec: Murray
2007.12.26
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.htm
Wednesday, December 26 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1498 ]

folic acid prevents neurotoxicity from formic acid, made by body from
methanol impurity in alcohol drinks [ also 11 % of aspartame ], BM
Kapur, PL Carlen, DC Lehotay, AC Vandenbroucke, Y Adamchik, U. of
Toronto, 2007 Dec., Alcoholism Cl. Exp. Res.: Murray 2007.11.27
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.htm
Wednesday, November 27, 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1495

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/1453
Souring on fake sugar (aspartame), Jennifer Couzin,
Science 2007.07.06: 4 page letter to FDA from 12 eminent
USA toxicologists re two Ramazzini Foundation
cancer studies 2007.06.25: Murray 2007.07.18

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1341
Connecticut bans artificial sweeteners in schools, Nancy Barnes,
New Milford Times: Murray 2006.05.25

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1369
Bristol, Connecticut, schools join state program to limit artificial
sweeteners, sugar, fats for 8800 students, Johnny J Burnham,
The Bristol Press: Murray 2006.09.22

Devra Lee Davis, U. Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, rejects aspartame -- Luke
Ravenstahl, Mayor, drinks 12 cans Diet Pepsi daily: accurate warning by
Ronald K. Frazer: Murray 2008.01.13
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.htm
Sunday, January 13, 2008
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1503

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


[ Comments by Rich Murray are in square bracketts. ]

http://potency.berkeley.edu/pdfs/Biotherapy1998.pdf

Biotherapy 11: 205-220, 1998.
© 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
The Causes and Prevention of Cancer: The Role of Environment
Bruce N. Ames
and Lois Swirsky Gold

page 214 Table 2:

Table 2. Ranking Possible Carcinogenic Hazards from Average U.S. Exposures.
[Chemicals that occur naturally in foods are in bold.]

[ Average human lifetime risk are given from highest to lowest values. ]

Daily human exposure: The calculations assume an average daily dose for a
lifetime.

Possible hazard: The human exposure to a rodent carcinogen is divided by 70
kg to give a mg/kg/day of human exposure,
and this dose is given as the percentage of the TD50 in the rodent
(mg/kg/day)
to calculate the Human Exposure/Rodent Potency index (HERP),
i.e., 100% means that the human exposure in mg/kg/day is equal
to the dose estimated to give 50% of the rodents tumors.

[ Humans are from ten to sixty times more vulnerable to methanol.
formaldehyde, and formic acid than rodents. ]

TD50 values used in the HERP calculation are averages calculated by taking
the harmonic mean of the TD50s of the positive tests in that species from
the Carcinogenic Potency Database.

Average TD50 values, have been calculated separately for rats and mice,
and the more potent value is used for alculating possible hazard.

The less potent value is in parentheses.

Possible hazard HERP (%)
------ Average daily US exposure
---------------------------------- Human dose of rodent carcinogen
-----------------------------------------------------------Potency
TD50(mg/kg/day) a Rats --- Mice

140 EDB: workers (high exposure)(before 1977) --- Ethylene dibromide, 150 mg
1.52 (7.45)
17 Clofibrate --- Clofibrate, 2 g 169 .
14 Phenobarbital, 1 sleeping pill --- Phenobarbital, 60 mg (+) 6.09
6.8 1,3-Butadiene: rubber workers (1978-86) --- 1,3-Butadiene, 66.0 mg
(261) 13.9
6.1 Tetrachloroethylene: dry cleaners with --- Tetrachloroethylene, 433 mg
101 (126)
dry-to-dry units (1980-90) b

4.0 Formaldehyde: workers --- Formaldehyde, 6.1 mg 2.19 (43.9)
2.1 Beer, 257 g --- Ethyl alcohol, 13.1 ml 9110 (-)
1.4 Mobile home air (14 hours/day) --- Formaldehyde, 2.2 mg 2.19 (43.9)


[ These three sources occur simultaneously for many citizens, who also are
exposed to tobacco smoke. If we add the risk of the two formaldehyde
sources, we have 5.4, which should be multiplied by at least 10 to include
the much greater vulnerability of humans, compared to rodents, which gives a
rank of 54 for lifetime human cancer risk, for the daily intake of 8.3 mg.

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.

This suggests that aspartame in many products comprises a potent
formaldehyde source with a very high lifetime cancer risk for over 6 12-oz
cans diet soda daily.

Sme prominent users, such as Senator John Edwards in 2004, admitted being
"addicted" to 12 cans Diet Coke daily for years.

This source gives data for formaldehyde in beers that ranges from 0.0016 to
15.0 mg/litre.

However, the methanol in wines and liquors can be as high as 10,081 mg/litre
in apricot brandy.

In humans, alcohol has a half-life in blood of about 20 minutes, so by 13
hours after drinking, it no longer blocks the conversion of methanol into
formaldehyde. With a half-life of about 2.5 hours, the methanol level would
be reduced about 5 half-lives in 13 hours, to about 3 %,
to 300 mg/litre for apricot brandy, or in the case of red wine at 128
mg/litre methanol, 4 mg/litre methanol, which, suddenly converted into
formaldehyde, triggers the onslaught of well known hangover symptoms.

The methanol from non-alcohol sources like tobacco smoke or aspartame, is
immediately converted into formaldehyde, and then largely into formic acid.

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


Additionally, there can be alarming levels of acetone and acetaldehyde.

M. Soffritti et al have proved the carcinogenicity in rats of lifetime doses of
aspartame, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1186
aspartame induces lymphomas and leukaemias in rats,
free full plain text, M Soffritti, F Belpoggi, DD Esposti, L Lambertini,
2005 April, 2005.07.14: main results agree with their previous methanol
and formaldehyde studies, Murray 2005.07.19

Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2002 Dec; 982: 46-69.
Results of long-term experimental studies on the carcinogenicity of
methyl alcohol and ethyl alcohol in rats.
Soffritti M, Belpoggi F, Cevolani D, Guarino M, Padovani M, Maltoni C.
Cancer Research Center, European Ramazzini Foundation for Oncology and
Environmental Sciences, Bologna, Italy. crcfr@...

Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2002 Dec; 982: 87-105.
Results of long-term experimental studies on the carcinogenicity of
formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in rats.
Soffritti M, Belpoggi F, Lambertin L, Lauriola M, Padovani M, Maltoni C.
Cancer Research Center, European Ramazzini Foundation for Oncology and
Environmental Sciences, Bologna, Italy. crcfr@...


http://books.google.com/
Aroma of Beer, Wine, and Distilled Alcoholic Beverages,
Edited by L. Nyanen, Kluwer Academic Publishers,
by Lalli Nykänen, Heikki Suomalainen - 1983

page 22

According to gas chromatographic measurements by Woidich and Pfannhauser
(1974a,b),...
They reported an average methanol content of 400 mg per litre of pure
alcohol in German brandies.
Greater amounts of methanol were found in apricot brandies (2,610-10,081),
in plum brandies ( 1,410 -- 8,885) and
in cherry brandies (440 -- 5,290)
(all in mg per liter of pure alcohol).
The methanol contents in Scotch whisky varied between 80 and 260 mg per
litre of pure alcohol.

page 50

According to the results obtained by Mandl et al. (1970b, 1971a,b, 1973),
the acetaldehyde content of beer varies from 0.1 to 18 mg per litre, but the
average value does not exceed the content of 10 mg per litre.
Slightly higher amounts of acetaldehyde in beer were found by Postel et al.
(1972a,b) and Weyh et al. (1973). They reported that beer contains from
0.0016 to 15.0 mg formaldehyde per litre.


The acetaldehyde content in wines seems to vary from 50 to 100 mg per litre,
and is markedly higher than that in beers (Ribereau-Gayon et al. 1972;
Amerine et al. 1972).

page 52

Burgett (1974) analysed some typical whisky samples and found the
acetaldehyde content to range from 15 to 21 mg per litre in Scotch whisky,
from 6 to 13 mg per liter in bourbon whisky and
from 1 to 8 mg per litre in rum.

While investigating the effect of the maturation on the aroma of bourbon
whiskey, Baldwin and Andreasen (1974) showed that the acetaldehyde content
increased from 28 mg per litre to 88 mg per litre during 12 years of
maturation.

page 52
Table 28 acetaldehyde in whiskey

American av. 86 mg/litre pure alcohol 1
Bourbon 40 -- 111 5
Canadian 39 -- 72 4
Scotch av. 70 1
Malt 36 -- 160 2
Scotch blended 103 -- 221 6
1 Postel et al. (1975)
2 Postel and Adam (1977)
3 Postel and Adam (1978)
4 Postel and Adam (1979a)
5 Reinhard (1977)
6 Woidich and Pfannhauser (1974a)

page 53
Table 29 acetaldehyde in liquors

Bandy 126 -- 595 mg/litre pure alcohol 4
Cognac av. 210 1
Fruit Brandy tr. -- 1,217 4
Fruit brandy 120 - 180 1
Rum 20 -- 150 1
Vodka 7 -- 45 1
1 Postel et al. (1975)
4 Woidich and Pfannhauser (1974a)

page 53

Formaldehyde seems to occur in small amounts in fresh and stale beer.
Exceptionally large amounts, from 1.4 to 15 mg per litre, were found by
Chang et al (1970) in some pilot and commercial beers.
Steiner et al. (1969) found from 0.17 to 0.28 mg of formaldehyde per litre
in Swiss beer.

Table 31
Contents (mg/litre) of some adlehydes in fresh and in stale beer (Lau and
Lindsay, 1972)
Formaldehyde Fresh beer .0089 Stale beer .0016

page 60
Table 33
Content (mg/litre) of acetone in beer
American beer 0.6-1.4 Harrison (1970)

Table 34
Content of acetone in distilled beverages
Scotch whisky 7-10 mg/litre
Kayahara et al (1968) ]


0.9 Methylene chloride: workers (1940s-80s) --- Methylene chloride, 471 mg
724 (918)

0.5 Wine, 28.0 g --- Ethyl alcohol, 3.36 ml 9110 (-)
0.4 Conventional home air --- (14 hours/day) Formaldehyde, 598 microgm 2.19
(43.9)
0.1 Coffee, 13.3 g Caffeic acid, 23.9 mg --- 297 (4900)

[ Since red wine has 128 mg/litre methanol, then 28 grams wine can have 3.6
mg methanol, which, as estimated above, can result in 3 % formaldehyde, 0.1
mg methanol, twice the dose from Conventional home air. Many drinkers have
"morning after" hangovers from a litre of red wine. Many coffee, cocoa, and
tea drinkers add aspartame at 37 mg per packet, giving 4 mg methanol, and at
30 %, 1.2 mg formaldehyde. ]

0.04 Lettuce, 14.9 g Caffeic acid, 7.90 mg 297 (4900)
0.03 Safrole in spices Safrole, 1.2 mg (441) 51.3

0.03 Orange juice, 138 g d-Limonene, 4.28 mg 204 (-)

0.03 Pepper, black, 446 mg d-Limonene, 3.57 mg 204 (-)
0.02 Mushroom (Agaricus bisporus 2.55 g) Mixture of hydrazines, (-) 20,300
etc. (whole mushroom)

0.02 Apple, 32.0 g Caffeic acid, 3.40 mg 297 (4900)
0.02 Coffee, 13.3 g Catechol, 1.33 mg 118 (244)
0.02 Coffee, 13,3 g Furfural, 2.09 mg (683) 197

0.009 BHA: daily US avg (1975) BHA, 4.6 mg 745 (5530)

0.008 Beer (before 1979), 257 g Dimethylnitrosamine, 726 ng 0.124 (0.189)

0.008 Aflatoxin: daily US avg (1984-89) Aflatoxin, 18 ng 0.0032 (+)
0.007 Cinnamon, 21.9 mg Coumarin, 65.0 microg 13.9 (103)

0.006 Coffee, 13.3 g Hydroquinone, 333 microg 82.8 225

0.005 Saccharin: daily US avg (1977) Saccharin, 7 mg 2140 (-)

0.005 Carrot, 12.1 mg Aniline, 624 microg 194c (-)
0.004 Potato, 54.9 g Caffeic acid, 867 microg 297 (4900)
0.004 Celery, 7.95 g Caffeic acid, 858 microg 297 (4900)
0.004 White bread, 67.6 g Furfural, 500 microg (683) 197
0.003 Nutmeg, 27.4 mg d-Limonene, 466 microg 204 (-)

0.003 Conventional home air (14 hour/day) Benzene, 155 microg (169) 77.5

0.002 Carrot, 12.1 g Caffeic acid, 374 mg 297 (4900)

0.002 Ethylene thiourea: daily US avg (1990) Ethylene thiourea, 9.51 microg
7.9 (23.5)
0.002 [DDT: daily US avg (before 1972 ban)] [DDT, 13.8 microg] (84.7) 12.3

0.001 Plum, 2.00 g Caffeic acid, 276 microg 297 (4900)

0.001 BHA: daily US avg (1987) BHA, 700 microg 745 (5530)

0.001 Pear, 3.29 g Caffeic acid, 240 microg 297 (4900)

0.001 [UDMH: daily US avg (1988)] [UDMH, 2.82 microg (from Alar)] (-) 3.96

a "." = no data in CPDB; (-) = negative in cancer test; (+) = positive
cancer test(s) not suitable for calculating a TD50.
b This is not an average, but a reasonably large sample (1027 workers).
c TD50 harmonic mean was estimated for the base chemical from the
hydrochloride salt.
d Additional data from EPA that is not in the CPDB were used to calculate
these TD50 harmonic means.
For exposure references see reference 119.
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