http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/985
details on EU Environment Committee vote 2.19.3 to reevaluate aspartame
and stevia and limit cyclamate-- EU vote April 9: Murray 4.8.3 rmforall

http://www.foodlaw.rdg.ac.uk/news/eu-03036.htm

Food Law News - EU - 2003
EP Briefing, 3 April 2003
ADDITIVES - Sweeteners used in food

Report on the proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of
the Council amending Directive 94/35/EC on sweeteners for use in
foodstuffs (COM(2002) 375 - C5-0341/2002 - 2002/0152(COD))

Briefing for a debate to be held 9 April 2003.

Anne FERREIRA (PES, F) for the Environment Committee will be tabling a
draft legislative resolution on sweeteners used in food. The committee
is proposing amendments to reduce the maximum doses of
cyclamates in soft drinks from the level of 350 mg/l proposed by the
Commission to 250 mg/l and to extend the new limit to milk-based drinks
in addition to water-based drinks. The draft resolution calls for
the use of two new sweeteners authorised in the proposal (sucralose and
aspartame-acesulfame salt) to be reviewed within three years, with
particular attention being focused on the effects on children's
health. It also says that the use of two other artificial sweeteners,
aspartame and Stevia, should be re-examined and calls for proposals to
improve the labelling of products containing aspartame. Lastly, the
committee says that the new directive should be implemented in the
Member States within a year of its entry into force.
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http://www.cec.org.uk/info/events/longterm.htm
7 - 10 April 2003
European Parliament Plenary Session (Strasbourg)

http://www.europarl.org.uk/index.htm
http://www.europarl.org.uk/news/NWSupcomingmain.htm
The Week Ahead in the European Parliament

Wednesday [April 9] [626 MEPs Members European Parliament]
Sweeteners in foodstuffs are the subject of another directive receiving
its 1st reading on Wednesday. MEPs will discuss amendments aimed at
reducing the level of sweeteners in soft drinks and improving labelling
to raise awareness of artificial sweeteners.

[Earlier on Wednesday] MEPs are set to take enlargement of the EU a
step closer next week when they vote on whether to approve the accession
of 10 new countries: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

After the debate on Wednesday morning, an overall majority of MEPs
(314/626) must vote in favour for each country if enlargement is to
proceed. EU governments in the Council must then approve unanimously (on
16 April) a single Accession Treaty. All but one of the countries will
then hold a referendum on whether to join the EU, before the whole
package is ratified next year.
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http://www.foodlaw.rdg.ac.uk/news/eu-03023.htm
Food Law News - EU - 2003
EP News Report, 20 February 2003

ADDITIVES - Call for tighter curbs on cyclamates in soft drinks

The Environment Committee adopted a co-decision report on Wednesday
calling on the Commission to tighten up the new restrictions it is
proposing on maximum levels of cyclamates in soft drinks after the
Commission told MEPs that its proposal to reduce levels, rather than ban
the artificial sweetener altogether, was based on "facts and data from
the Member States, not science".

When pressed by MEPs to say why cyclamates should not be banned in the
EU, as they had been in the US, the Commission representative defended
the recommendation of the EU Scientific Committee on
Food to reduce maximum doses of cyclamates in soft drinks from the
current level of 400 mg/l to 350 mg/l. The Commission does not feel that
a ban is justified, despite claims quoted by some MEPs that
cyclamates cause reduced testosterone levels in rats and are
carcinogenic.

After a heated debate, the committee voted to reduce the limit further
to 250 mg/l and to extend the new limit to milk-based drinks in addition
to water-based drinks. Various EPP members emphasised the
benefits of low-calorie sweeteners for people with dietary problems
whilst PES and Green members pointed to the health hazards of
cyclamates, particularly for diabetic children.

The report, by Anne FERREIRA (PES, F), which was adopted by 30 votes to
13, with 1 abstention, accepts the Commission's proposal, in the same
draft directive, to authorise two new sweeteners,
sucralose and aspartame - acesulfame salt. However, it calls for a
review of their use within three years. It also wants the use of two
other artificial sweeteners, aspartame and Stevia, to be re-examined and
calls for proposals to improve the labelling of products containing
aspartame. The committee says the new directive should be implemented in
the Member States within a year of its entry into force.
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/968
EU MEPs vote to re-evaluate aspartame and stevia:
Martini: Murray 3.21.3 rmforall
[Extracts]

EU MEPS VOTE FOR SWEETENER RE-EVALUATIONS
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on the European Parliament's
Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy Committee voted for a
re-evaluation of the artificial sweetener, aspartame (E951) on 19th
February.

The Amendment was proposed by Belgian Green MEP, Paul Lannoye which
included a proposal to improve the labelling of products containing
aspartame.

The natural sweetener, stevia (currently non-approved in the EU) was
also voted to be re-evaluated for Europe-wide use.

Other proposed Amendments to the Sweeteners Directive 94/35/EC put
forward by the EC related to the new artificial sweetener sucralose,
which was accepted by the Committee as was aspartame-acesulfame salt.
However, the Committee voted for a review of the use of sucralose and
aspartame-acesulfame salt in three years' time.

For cyclamate (currently banned in the US and other countries), the
Committee members voted for a maximum level in soft drinks of
250mg/L. This level is below that proposed by the European Commission.

This next stage is scheduled to be around 8th April in Strasbourg-- it
could be later.
This is called a Plenary Session when ALL 600+ MEPs will vote on the
Sweetener Amendments and other EU business.
************************************************************************

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/message/984
aspartame review: methanol, formaldehyde, formic acid toxicity:
Murray 4.8.3 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages
for 985 posts in a public searchable archive

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartame/ 633 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]
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