http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/983
aspartame & formaldehyde toxicity: Murray 4.1.3 rmforall

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

Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Canderel, Benevia, E951) is an artificial
sweetener, used by hundreds of millions of world citizens since 1981 in
thousands of products. The NutraSweet Company has always stubbornly
claimed it to be "the most thoroughly tested food additive in history".

But many scientific studies and case histories report: * headaches
* many body and joint pains (or burning, tingling, tremors, twitching,
spasms, cramps, or numbness) * fever, fatigue
* "mind fog", "feel unreal", poor memory, confusion, anxiety,
irritability, depression, mania, insomnia, dizziness, slurred speech,
ringing in ears, sexual problems, poor vision, hearing, or taste
* red face, itching, rashes, hair loss, burning eyes or throat,
dry mouth or eyes, mouth sores * obesity, bloating, edema, anorexia,
poor or excessive hunger or thirst * breathing problems
* nausea, diarrhea or constipation * coldness * sweating
* racing heart, high blood pressure, erratic blood sugar levels
* seizures * birth defects * brain cancers * addiction
* aggrivates diabetes, autism, allergies, ADHD, fibromyalgia,
chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, multiple
sclerosis, and interstitial cystitis (bladder pain).

This rather overwhelming litany of symptoms is a plausible outcome of
chronic toxicity from long-term, low-level exposure to formaldehyde.

Formaldehyde is formed in the body quickly and inevitably from methanol
(wood alcohol), which is a component of the aspartame molecule, 11% by
weight. Many heavy users drink 2 liters daily, almost 6 12-oz cans, for
years. This is a daily dose of 1,120 mg aspartame, which releases its
123 mg methanol into the body. Most of the methanol is quickly
converted into formaldehyde, which binds to and thus severely impairs
DNA and proteins in all cells. This is 60 times more than 2 mg, the EPA
limit for formaldehyde in daily drinking water.

This limit was set to provide the average user from any known danger.
But few people are "average". Some will be unusually heavy users, and
some will be unusually vulnerable. Like many other poisons, such as
lead or mercury, formaldehyde accumulates day after day. Also, there is
evidence that some people develop a great sensitivity to it-- even a
single stick of aspartame chewing gum is enough to trigger a migraine
headache. Many users will not find any problems, but some will start to
have painful, puzzling, and increasing symptoms for months and years.

Aspartame reactors often go from doctor to doctor for years, spending a
fortune on tests and drugs, before starting to suspect that aspartame
might be the cause. Quiting can lead to dramatic and increasing relief,
but may also incur painful withdrawal symptoms for weeks. Aspartame
reactors who successfully quit often report that again having a single
diet soda triggers a severe attack of their usual symptoms.

People, once warned, can decide for themselves whether they are using
much aspartame and have many of the typical problems, and they can
choose to give it up for two months to see if there is lasting relief.
This means examining the labels on all foods, drinks, and medicines, and
also looking for the mandatory warning, "Contains Phenylalanine", an
amino acid that is 50% of aspartame.

Anyone can readily access copious information on the Net by going to
http://google.com and searching "aspartame". They will find 133,000
listed web sites, of which the first five are excellent sites with
citizen case reports, opinions by informed physicians, critical
histories, and recent results from mainstream scientific research.
Google rates sites by the number of other quality sites that link to a
site, so the fact that the top five sites in the world are very critical
of aspartame shows that aspartame is widely rejected. Excellent
information is provided by volunteer activists: Mark Gold, David Rietz,
Bryant Holman, Betty Martini, Rich Murray, and many others.

Aspartame was developed over three decades ago by G.D. Searle and Co.
Their lab, led by J.A. Oppermann, gave unusually detailed evidence in
the Journal of Nutrition (Oct, 1973). A low dose of aspartame with a
radioactive methanol component was put into the stomachs of small
monkeys, and after a day about 30% of the methanol products were still
in their bodies, ie, formaldehyde and formic acid. Inevitably, daily use
must lead to constantly increasing accumulation-- a conclusion that they
did not draw.

K.E. McMartin and T.R. Tephly, authors of many pro-aspartame studies, in
Biochemical Pharmacology (1979) remarked, "It is now generally accepted
that the toxicity of methanol is due to the formation of toxic
metabolites, either formaldehyde or formic acid." They put damage doses
of methanol into the stomachs of three monkeys, and, using insensitive
tests, found no formaldehyde in many tissues-- except for a single datum
in the midbrain, 1.5 times the detection limit. The use of inadequate
tests is common in industry research that is funded to claim the safety
of profitable toxins. Since then, industry scientists have been very
wary of doing studies on primates, which all too easily show the dangers
to humans.

Rats and mice not only are cheaper, but happen to be over ten times more
resistant to methanol toxicity than primates and humans. Nevertheless,
P.M. Mashford in Zenobiotica (Feb 1982) found that when rats were
injected with formaldehyde, 10% remained in the body after two days.

The industry does its best to let these disturbing early results
languish, buried under the sands of time, while funding dozens of weak
studies that purport to show the safety of aspartame. However, C. Trocho
and a distinguished lab at the University of Barcelona, led by M.
Alemany, in Life Sciences (June 26, 1998) gave low oral doses of
aspartame for 10 days to rats and found adducts of formaldehyde, bound
to DNA, RNA, and proteins in blood, liver, kidney, brain, and retina:
""These are indeed extremely high levels for adducts of formaldehyde, a
substance responsible for chronic deleterious effects (33), that has
also been considered carcinogenic (34,47)....The cumulative effects
derived from the incorporation of label in the chronic administration
model suggests that regular intake of aspartame may result in the
progressive accumulation of formaldehyde adducts. It may be further
speculated that the formation of adducts can help to explain the chronic
effects aspartame consumption may induce on sensitive tissues such as
brain (6,9,19,50). In any case, the possible negative effects that the
accumulation of formaldehyde adducts can induce is, obviously,
long-term. The alteration of protein integrity and function may needs
some time to induce substantial effects. The damage to nucleic acids,
mainly to DNA, may eventually induce cell death and/or mutations."

The industry has repeatedly sought to dismiss these results. However,
at the University of Athens, G.A. Karikas and G. Kokotos in Clinical
Biochemistry (July, 1998) found that the other two components of
aspartame, aspartic acid (39%) and phenylalanine (50%), also bind to
DNA. "In conclusion, these in vitro findings are of interest because
a widely used compound such as ASP along with its metabolites gave a
measurable molecular interaction with DNA." So, there is evidence that
all three components of aspartame are genotoxic, likely to cause complex
cellular disfunctions, birth defects, still births, and cancers.

Y.F. Sasaki and S. Tsuda in Mutation Research (Aug 26 2002) gave a
remarkable pilot study that used the fast, sensitive, low-cost Comet
assay to study the genotoxicity of 39 common food additives on groups of
just 4 mice each, using single heavy oral doses, finding serious
genotoxicity for sucralose, cyclamate, and saccharin, some for
aspartame, and none for acesulfame-K and stevia. Stevia has been widely
used in Japan for decades, but has been banned in the EU.

All over the world, blindly following the lead of the USA FDA,
governments have always stubbornly suported the safety of aspartame.
Expert committees invariably ignor the disturbing findings by teams not
funded by the industry. So it is unusual indeed that on Feb 19 2003,
The European Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy
Committee voted for a re-evaluation of aspartame (E951) and also stevia.
The issue may be put to the vote of the entire 600+ MEPs in a Plenary
Session around April 8 in Strasbourg.

Also very unusual was the publication of clinical reports by S.O.
Schmidt et all in Annals of Pharmacotherapy (June 2001) on four women:
"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." Case 3 had "...chronic
musculoskeletal pain (very diffuse), chronic fatigue, migraine and
tension headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, allergic rhinitis,
gastroesophageal reflux disease, anxiety and depressive disorder,
as well as a diagnosis in 1994 of fibromyalgia syndrome..." The industry
always uses the terms "anecdotal evidence" and "rare ideosyncratic
sensitivity" to dismiss such reports of myriad torments from aspartame.

As yet, no research has been published on the actual biochemical
pathologies of aspartame reactors. The Comet assay would cost $ 200 to
test 100 white blood cells in a 10 ml blood sample and generate color
images with a detailed computerized analysis to measure DNA damage.

J.D. Thrasher and K.J. Kilburn in Archives of Environmental Health (July
2001) give a long review of embryo toxicity and teratogenicity of
formaldehyde: "Also, formaldehyde reacts chemically with organic
compounds (e.g., deoxyribonucleic acid, nucleosides, nucleotides,
proteins, amino acids) by addition and condensation reactions, thus
forming adducts and deoxyribonucleic acid-protein crosslinks....
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]"

In the same journal (July 1990), J.D. Thrasher gave specific biochemical
data for people exposed to high formaldehyde levels from living in
mobile homes: "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)" The symtoms are
typical of aspartame reactors. Probably, research will show that heavy
users of aspartame are more vulnerable to formaldhyde exposures, usually
from indoor air polution.

Finally, M.L. Pall in Federation of American Societies of Experimental
Biology Journal (Sept 2002) has given a general theory for complex
disorders like Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, specifically discussing
the role of formaldehyde as an initial trigger. "The hypersensitivity is
often exquisite, with MCS individuals showing sensitivity that appears
to be at least two orders of magnitude greater than that of normal
individuals."

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/984
aspartame review: methanol, formaldehyde, formic acid toxicity:
Murray 4.1.3 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages
for 984 posts in a public searchable archive

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartame/messages 633 member group

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://www.dorway.com/tldaddic.html 5-page review
Roberts HJ Aspartame (NutraSweet) addiction.
Townsend Letter (Jan 2000) HJRobertsMD@...

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

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/870
Aspartame: Methanol and the Public Health 1984 full text:
Monte: Murray 9.23.2 rmforall
Dr. Woodrow C. Monte Journal of Applied Nutrition 1984; 36 (1): 42-54.
(62 references) woody.monte@... [now retired in New Zealand]

http://www.dorway.com David O. Rietz over 12,000 print pages
Mission-Possible-USA Betty Martini 770-242-2599
Bettym19@... dorietz@...
http://www.dorway.com/asprlink.html many links
http://www.dorway.com/nslawsuit.txt Jeff Martin, Attorney
http://www.dorway.com/doctors.txt
What many informed doctors are saying/have said about aspartame

http://www.HolisticMed.com/aspartame 603-225-2100
Aspartame Toxicity Information Center Mark D. Gold
mgold@... 12 East Side Drive #2-18 Concord, NH 03301
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/abuse/methanol.html
"Scientific Abuse in Aspartame Research"

http://google.com gives 133,000 websites for "aspartame" , while
http://groups.google.com/ finds on 700 MB of posts from 20 years of
Usenet groups, 77,600 posts, and
http://www.AllTheWeb.com gives 248,788, the top three being leading and
very well informed volunteer anti-aspartame sites.
http://teoma.com/index.asp gives 49,300 websites.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/ lists 727 aspartame items.

http://www.truthinlabeling.org/ Truth in Labeling Campaign [MSG]
Adrienne Samuels, PhD The toxicity/safety of processed
free glutamic acid (MSG): a study in suppression of information.
Accountability in Research 1999; 6: 259-310. 52-page review
P.O. Box 2532 Darien, Illinois 60561 858-481-9333 adandjack@...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/927
Donald Rumsfeld, 1977 head of Searle Corp., got aspartame FDA approval:
Turner: Murray 12.23.2 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/928
revolving door, Monsanto, FDA, EPA: NGIN: Murray 12.23.2 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/876
hyperthyroidism (Graves disease) in George and Barbara Bush, 1991--
aspartame toxicity? Roberts 1997: Murray 10.9.2 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/874
re "dry drunk": Bisbort: danger to President Bush from aspartame
toxicity: Murray: 2.24.2 9.29.2 rmforall

http://www.dorway.com/upipart1.txt
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/262
aspartame expose 96K Oct 1987 Part 1/3: Gregory Gordon, UPI reporter:
Murray 7.10.0 rmforall

http://www.dorway.com/enclosur.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/53
aspartame history Part 1/4 1964-1976: Gold: Murray 11.6.9: rmforall

http://www.vegsource.com extensive vegan information
http://www.vegsource.com/articles/kradjian_milk.htm

Substitute stevia (at health food stores).
Avoid all products with aspartame and MSG. Gradually reduce alcohol,
caffeine (coffee, cocoa, and teas), meat, fish, eggs, milk, butter, and
cheese, food additives and colors, fluoride, city water. Enjoy organic
rice, beans, nuts, almond butter, vegetables, fruits, with modest use of
soy products and sprouted grain breads, flax seed and olive oils, and
fill your jugs with deionized water.
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