http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/976
aspartame & silicone breast implant patients: Roberts, May 1999: Angell:
Murray 3.8.3 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/977
evaluating silicone breast implant risks: Angell, June 1996, full text:
Murray 3.8.3 rmforall

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/334/23/1513 free full text
Angell M.
Shattuck Lecture--evaluating the health risks of breast implants: the
interplay of medical science, the law, and public opinion.
N Engl J Med. 1996 Jun 6; 334(23): 1513-8. No abstract available.
PMID: 8618607 Comment in:
N Engl J Med. 1996 Oct 10; 335(15): 1154-5; discussion 1156.
N Engl J Med. 1996 Oct 10; 335(15): 1154; discussion 1156.
N Engl J Med. 1996 Oct 10; 335(15): 1155; discussion 1156.
N Engl J Med. 1996 Oct 10; 335(15): 1155; discussion 1156.

Angell M.
What's really behind the attack on silicone breast implants.
Med Econ. 1996 Sep 9; 73(17): 131-3, 136, 139-40 passim. PMID: 10161865

Angell M.
Antipolymer antibodies, silicone breast implants, and fibromyalgia.
Lancet. 1997 Apr 19; 349(9059): 1171-2; author reply 1172-3. No abstract
available. PMID: 9113031

http://www.prospect.org/authors/angell-m.html
The American Prospect Online
Marcia Angell, M.D. is a senior lecturer in social medicine at the
Harvard Medical School and former editor-in-chief of The New England
Journal of Medicine.
Articles by Marcia Angell from The American Prospect:
Vol. 14, No. 2: Dr. Frist to the Rescue How not to fix Medicare
Vol. 12, No. 16: Insufficient Credits
Vol. 12, No. 16: Whose Benefit?
Vol. 11, No. 23: Placebo Politics
Vol. 11, No. 14: Conversation: Open Science or Junk Science?
Vol. 5, No. 17: Health Care: Reformers' Rounds Organizing Reform

http://web.med.harvard.edu/healthcaucus/ac_angell.html
Marcia Angell, M. D.,F.A.C.P., is Senior Lecturer in the Department of
Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She stepped down as
Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine on June 30, 2000.
A graduate of Boston University School of Medicine, she trained in both
internal medicine and anatomic pathology and is a board-certified
pathologist. She joined the editorial staff of the New England Journal
of Medicine in 1979, became Executive Editor in 1988, and
Editor-in-Chief in 1999.

Dr. Angell writes frequently in professional journals and the popular
media on a wide range of topics, particularly medical ethics, health
policy, the nature of medical evidence, the interface of medicine and
the law, and care at the end of life. Her critically acclaimed book,
Science on Trial: The Clash of Medical Evidence and the Law in the
Breast Implant Case, was published in June, 1996, by W. W. Norton &
Company. In addition, Dr. Angell is co-author, with Dr. Stanley Robbins
and, later, Dr. Vinay Kumar, of the first three editions of the
textbook, Basic Pathology. She also wrote chapters in several books
dealing with ethical issues.

Dr. Angell is a member of the Association of American Physicians, the
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of the Sciences, the Alpha
Omega Alpha National Honor Medical Society, and is a Fellow of the
American College of Physicians. In 1997, Time magazine named Marcia
Angell one of the 25 most influential Americans.

Marcia Angell, M.D. Senior Lecturer on Social Medicine
Harvard Medical School 641 Huntington Ave
Department of Social Medicine
Boston, MA 02115 617/432-2570 fax 617/432-3721

From: Richard T. Murray <rmforall@...>
Subject: Roberts: aspartame & silicone breast implants 6.7.99
Newsgroups: alt.food.professionals, sci.med.nutrition, alt.food.safety,
alt.food.fat-free, alt.food.low-fat
Date: 1999/06/17

Message: 20 on aspartame@onelist.com discusion group
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 01:22:49 -0400
From: Betty Martini <Mission-Possible-USA@...>
Subject: Unrecognized Aspartame Disease in Silicone Breast Implant
Patients, Townsend Letter For Doctors, May, l999 (book on the
subject being published this week) by H. J. Roberts, M.D.,
F.A.C.P.,FC.C.P. (800-814-9800 for book)

Considerable controversy exists concerning the alleged relationship of
silicone breast implants to severe systemic complaints experienced by
women who have had such surgery. Convincing evidence for their
causation by immune or other mechanisms, however, is lacking.

There is a remarkable overlap in the symptomatology of silicone breast
implant patients and that of thousands of persons with documented
reactions to products containing aspartame. The fact that these
products are being consumed in prodigious amounts by weight-conscious
women represents a crucial common denominator.

Professionalism and fairness dictate that this issue be reevaluated in
the light of these perspectives and the escalating costly litigation.
"In an era when we are striving within the medical profession to
introduce evidence based practice, we should be encouraging the law to
do the same, and not letting the lawyers get away with financial
murder." (1)

Some women with silicone breast implants have experienced perplexing
and disabling systemic symptoms. In addition to arthralgia and myalgia,
their complaints frequently focus on chronic fatigue, headache,
dizziness, mental confusion, insomnia, peripheral neuropathy, rashes,
the Sjorgren syndrome, and atypical chest pain. (2-5)

These features have been reflexively attributed to immunologic reactions
involving connective tissue, presumably after silicone debris comes in
contact with the immune system. This polymer, technically known as
polydimethylsiloxane admittedly might leach from breast implants. These
molecules then may combine with proteins to form haptenes, and initiate
an inflammatory reaction.

Most investigators, however, have not been able to find convincing
clinical or investigational proof for such an explanation of the
systemic complaints, (2-4) coupled with the recent negative report of
the British government's scientific panel. Moreover, plastic surgeons
argue that this is a "phantom disease" stemming from sampling error and
media publicity.

The profound medicolegal consequences of this uncertain association have
been costly.

Reflecting on large settlements based on the foregoing presumed
causation, Angell editorialized: "Why has the hypothesis that breast
implants cause these diseases been so readily accepted with so little
evidence to support it?"

Scheer referred to such litigation as a "grand hoax" by the hucksters of
law." He regards it as a corrupt quagmire of legal tactics unparalleled
in the annals of forensic medicine.

I am impressed by the striking overlap of symptoms in patients who have
had severe reactions to products containing aspartame (NutraSweet) and
those with breast implants. In the present context, special attention
is directed to aspartame-related headache, dizziness, confusion, memory
loss, insomnia, chronic fatigue, dryness of the eyes and mouth,
arthralgia, eruptions, hair loss, paresthesias, atypical pain syndromes
(most notably involving the face and chest), and dysuria with sterile
urine cultures. They have been detailed in multiple publications.
(8-14)

The following considerations are pertinent:

* Females predominate 3:1 over males in my data base of over 1,200
aspartame reactors. A comparable gender preponderance exists among
consumers who have complained to the Food and Drug Administration
-- viz., 76% females among 4,826 complainants who provided gender
information.(15)
* The majority of women (60%) with silicone prostheses elected to have
breast augmentation for cosmetic reasons rather than for deformity
resulting from breast-cancer surgery. (16)
* Most body-conscious women in our society consume "diet" products to
avoid or control weight gain. This phenomenon is striking among white
women with greater household incomes ... the same group predominating
in the election of silicone implant surgery for cosmetic reasons. (16)
* Aspartame and its metabolites increase "the allergic load through
several possible mechanisms. (8.10.17) This has been convincingly
encountered, for example, in patients who suffered convulsions both
after consuming aspartame products and others with monosodium glutamate
(MSG) (17)
* The two amino acids in aspartame, especially phenylalanine, can
affect immunocompetence. (18)
* The vast majority of reports concerning symptomatic women with
breast implants, including saline-filled ones, occurred after l982.
Aspartame was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in July,
l981.
* I have encountered the combination of aspartame disease and breast
implant removal in my practice.
* An attorney involved in breast implant litigation expressed concern--
from the standpoint of admissible evidence - that the symptoms of such
women closely simulated those of persons having reactions to aspartame
products.

The following summary briefly expands on the magnitude of
silicone-breast-implant litigation. (19)

* About 70,000 women have filed claims against Dow Corning Corporation.
(This firm stopped producing silicone breast implants in l992)
* The monetary agreement for settling these claims now exceeds $3.2
billion.
* Dow Corning Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court
protection as a result of the foregoing circumstances.

In the light of these perspectives concerning "the neuromythology of
silicone breast implants," (20) I believe that a corporate-neutral and
litigation-neutral reevaluation of the problem, is required, with
special attention to aspartame consumption. This will not be an easy
matter in view of the inevitable obstacles posed by patient denial,
self-serving legal interests and bureaucratic embarrassment over
"sciencegate" pertaining to the alleged safety of aspartame. This
costly legal quagmire underscores Rosenbaum's "call for activism by
scientists" based on "lessons from litigation over silicone breast
implants." (21)

Correspondence: H. J. Roberts, M.D., F.A.C.P, FC.C.P.
Diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine (Recertified)
6708 Pamela Lane, West Palm Beach, Florida 33405
http://www.icanect.net/sunpress 561 - 588-7628 Fax: 561-547-8008

References:
1. Brooks P. Silicone breast implants. (Letter) Lancet l998; 352: 823
2. Gabriel SE, O'Fallom WM, Kurland LT, et al. Risk of
connective-tissue diseases and other disorders after breast
implantation. N Engl J Med 1994; 330: 1677-1702.
3. Bridges AJ, Conley C, Wang G, et al. A clinical and immunologic
evaluation of women with silicone breast implants and symptoms of
rheumatic disease. Ann. Int Med 1993; 118: 929-936
4a. Germain BF. Silicone breast implants and rheumatic disease. Bull
Rheum Dis 1991; 41: 1-5.
4b. Sanchez-Guerrero J, Colditz GA,, Karlson EW, et al. Silicone
breast implants and the risk of connective-tissue diseases and symptoms.
N Engl J Med 1995; 332: 1666-1670.
5. Lu LB, Shoaib BO, Patten BM. Atypical chest pain syndrome in
patients with breast implants. South Med J 1994; 87: 978-984.
6. Angell M. Do breast implants cause systemic disease? N Eng J Med
1994; 330: 1748-9
7. Scheer R. The great American breast-implant hoax. Cosmopolitan
September, 1994, 232-258
8. Robert HJ. Reactions attributed to aspartame-containing products:
551 cases. J Appl Nutr 1988; 40: 85-94
9. Roberts HJ Aspartame (NutraSweet), Is It Safe? Philadelphia, The
Charles Press, l989.
10. Roberts HJ. Sweet'ner Dearest. Bittersweet Vignettes About
Aspartame (NutraSweet). West Palm Beach, Sunshine Sentinel Press, Inc.
l992.
11. Roberts HJ. Joint pain associated with aspartame use. Townsend
Letter for Doctors 1991 (May): 375-376.
12. Roberts HJ. Aspartame-associated confusion and memory loss.
Townsend Letter for Doctors 1991 (June): 442-443.
13. Roberts HJ Aspartame-associated dry mouth (xerostomia). Townsend
Letter for Doctors 1993 (February/March): 201-202.
14. Roberts HJ "Dry eyes" from use of aspartame (NutraSweet) Townsend
Letter for Doctors 1994 (January) 82-83.
15. Department of Health and Human Services. Summary of Adverse
Reactions Attributed to Aspartame, April 20, l995.
16. Cook RR, Delongchamp RR, Woodbury MA, et al. The prevalence of
women with breast implants in the United States - 1989 J Clin Epidemiol
1995; 48: 519-525.
17. Roberts HJ. Testimony to Federation of American Societies for
Experimental Biology: Analysis of Adverse Reactions to Monosodium
Glutamate. Bethesda, April 8, l993.
18. Norris JR, Meadows GG, Massey LK, et al. Tyrosine-and-
phenylalanine-restricted formula diet augments immunocompetence in
healthy humans. Am J Clin Nutr 1990; 51: 188-196
19. The Associated Press, Feature. The Palm Beach Post 1995; June
17: A-2
20. Rosenberg NL. The neuromythology of silicone breast implants.
Neurology 1996 (4): 3908: 314.
21. Rosenbaum JT. Lessons from litigation over silicone breast
implants: A call for activism by scientists. Science 1997; 276:
1524-1525

End of article
Betty Martini Mission Possible International 770 242-2599
************************************************************************

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/959
aspartame review: methanol, formaldehyde, formic acid toxicity:
Murray 3.8.3 rmforall

Rich Murray, MA Room For All rmforall@...
1943 Otowi Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505 USA 505-986-9103

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages
for 977 posts in a public searchable archive

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartame/ 615 member group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/968
EU MEPs vote to re-evaluate aspartame and stevia:
Martini: Murray 2.21.3 rmforall

http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/scf2002-response.htm
Mark Gold exhaustively critiques European Commission Scientific
Committee on Food re aspartame (12.4.2): 59 pages, 230 references

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/910
formaldehyde & formic acid from methanol in aspartame:
Murray: 12.9.2 rmforall

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, since 11% of aspartame (1,120 mg in 2L diet soda, 5.6 12-oz
cans) is 123 mg methanol (wood alcohol), immediately released into the
body after drinking (unlike the large levels of methanol locked up in
molecules inside many fruits), then quickly transformed into
formaldehyde, which in turn becomes formic acid, both of which in
time become 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.
If 10% of the methanol is retained 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
RTM: ATSDR: EPA limit 1 ppm formaldehyde in drinking water July 1999
5.30.2 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, 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.

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: 12.9.2 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/946
Functional Therapeutics in Neurodegenerative Disease Part 1/2:
Perlmutter 7.15.99: Murray 1.10.3 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/915
formaldehyde toxicity: Thrasher & Kilburn: Shaham: EPA: Gold: Murray:
Wilson: CIIN: 12.12.2 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/934
24 recent formaldehyde toxicity [Comet assay] reports:
Murray 12.31.2 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/935
Comet assay finds DNA damage from sucralose, cyclamate, saccharin in
mice: Sasaki YF & Tsuda S Aug 2002: Murray 1.1.3 rmforall
[Also borderline evidence, in this pilot study of 39 food additives,
using a test group of 4 mice, for DNA damage from for stomach, colon,
liver, bladder, and lung 3 hr after oral dose of 2000 mg/kg aspartame--
a very high dose.]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/961
genotoxins, Comet assay in mice: Ace-K, stevia fine; aspartame poor;
sucralose, cyclamate, saccharin bad: Y.F. Sasaki Aug 2002:
Murray 1.27.3 rmforall [A detailed look at the data]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/939
aspartame (aspartic acid, phenylalanine) binding to DNA:
Karikas July 1998: Murray 1.5.3 rmforall
Karikas GA, Schulpis KH, Reclos GJ, Kokotos G
Measurement of molecular interaction of aspartame and
its metabolites with DNA. Clin Biochem 1998 Jul; 31(5): 405-7.
Dept. of Chemistry, University of Athens, Greece
http://www.chem.uoa.gr gkokotos@...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/960
aspartame & MSG: possible role in autoimmune hepatitis:
Prandota Jan 2003: Murray 1.15.3 rmforall

http://www.dorway.com/tldaddic.html 5-page review
Roberts HJ Aspartame (NutraSweet) addiction.
Townsend Letter 2000 Jan; HJRobertsMD@...
http://www.sunsentpress.com/ sunsentpress@...
Sunshine Sentinel Press P.O.Box 17799 West Palm Beach, FL 33416
800-814-9800 561-588-7628 561-547-8008 fax

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/669
1038-page medical text "Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic"
published May 30 2001 $ 85.00 postpaid data from 1200 cases
available at http://www.amazon.com
over 600 references from standard medical research

Roberts, Hyman J., 1924- ,
Useful insights for diagnosis, treatment and public heath: an updated
anthology of original research, 2002, 798 pages,
Palm Beach Institute for Medical Research, Inc.
P.O. Box 17799, West Palm Beach, FL 33416
fax 561-547-8008 dr.roberts@...
aspartame disease pages 627-685, 778-780

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/859
RTM: Roberts: the life work of a brilliant clinician:
aspartame toxicity 8.2.2 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/790
RTM: Moseley:
review Roberts "Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic" 2.7.2 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/782
RTM: Smith, Terpening, Schmidt, Gums:
full text: aspartame, MSG, fibromyalgia 1.17.2 rmforall
Jerry D Smith, Chris M Terpening, Siegfried OF Schmidt, and John G Gums
Relief of Fibromyalgia Symptoms Following
Discontinuation of Dietary Excitotoxins.
The Annals of Pharmacotherapy 2001; 35(6): 702–706.
Malcolm Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Gainesville, FL, USA.
BACKGROUND: Fibromyalgia is a common rheumatologic disorder that is
often difficult to treat effectively.
CASE SUMMARY: Four patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome
for two to 17 years are described.
All had undergone multiple treatment
modalities with limited success. All had complete, or nearly complete,
resolution of their symptoms within months after eliminating monosodium
glutamate (MSG) or MSG plus aspartame from their diet.
All patients were women with multiple comorbidities
prior to elimination of MSG.
All have had recurrence of symptoms whenever MSG is ingested.

Siegfried O. Schmidt, MD Asst. Clinical Prof. siggy@...
Community Health and Family Medicine, U. Florida, Gainesville, FL
Shands Hospital
West Oak Clinic Gainesville, FL 32608-3629 352-376-5071

Debbie J. Hypes painfreeliving@... 304-872-4141 (Case # 1 of 4)
P.O Box 25 Lookout, WV 25868-0025 She has about 1,000 on her local
mailing list, and has been a volunteer activist since 1997. Her guide
first came out in 1997: http://www.Pain-Free-Living.net
"The Food Plan: How To Do It" $ 5 by mail, free by email.
Her sister Darlene, now 47, cured her own severe fibromyalgia in 1995
by using an elimination diet, and then Debbie also cured herself by
1997. Their doctor, Siegfried Schmidt, paying attention, tried it on
two selected women, who got well, and are his third and fourth cases.
************************************************************************