Mary Nash Stoddard's Blog, page 20
March 28, 2012
Stoddard's POV: Aspartame and Mental Disorders
March 26, 2012
PRESIDENT'S SELECT COMMITTEE ON FOOD SAFETY HEARS ASPARTAME EXPERT
PRESIDENT'S SELECT COMMITTEE ON FOOD SAFETY HEARS ASPARTAME EXPERTOfficial Recommendation of
Aspartame Consumer Safety Network Founder at:
President's Coummittee on Food Safety Hearing (1998)
December 8, 1998
Dallas, Texas
The Aspartame Consumer Safety Network is a coalition of consumers and health care professionals [over 10,000 strong] around the world who have a common concern. That concern is for the safety of our food supply and the health of those who consume it. We are specifically concerned that after several decades of coverup regarding the health and safety effects of the controversial artificial sweetener, aspartame [produced primarily by the NutraSweet Kelco Co. of Deerfield IL, a subsidiary of Monsanto Chemical and others].
Our network produces a 200 page Toxicology Sourcebook [Deadly Deception - Story of Aspartame] to support our allegations that this substance is unsafe for human consumption in our food supply. It contains numerous independent studies showing harm – ranging from birth defects to brain tumors.
In 1987 I presented testimony to a Senate Committee looking into the safety of aspartame in Washington D.C. At that time there was more than enough evidence to indict this sweetener and remove it from the marketplace because of health concerns [as it was following its first approval in 1974 because of the brain tumor issue]. Today, we can show even more proof in the thousands of adverse reactions reported to the Food and Drug Administration and others. Seventy-eight percent of all complaints to the FDA are about adverse reactions to aspartame
Today, I ask you to reconsider the decision to continue to label safe that which some scientists have proven in the laboratory to be a neurotoxin and carcinogen. Please do the right thing and keep our food supply free of harmful chemical agents.
Fake foods, whether they be fake fat, fake sugar or otherwise are not natural and carry with them the potential for great harm. Chemical sweeteners have no place in our lives if we wish to maintain maximum good health. Some studies show they actually encourage weight gain. Many healthy truly natural alternatives exist for use as sweeteners.
Our Aspartame Awareness organization takes the stand that carcinogens such as aspartame [aka NutraSweet, Equal etc.] are potentially toxic and do not belong in our food supply, and we remain dedicated to educating others as to these hazards. In the lab, animals died. Others developed: brain tumors, pancreatic tumors, uterine tumors and mammary [breast tumors. This also includes the new sweetener known as Neotame, which is waiting approval from the FDA. Neotame is 8000 times sweeter than sugar and will be produced by Monsanto's NutraSweet Kelco Co. It has virtually the same formula as aspartame with dimethylbutyl [listed on the EPA list of hazardous chemicals] added.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Nash Stoddard, Founder ACSN & Pilot Hotline (1987-present)
MEMBER PRESIDENT'S SELECT COMMITTEE ON FOOD SAFETY (1998-99)Department of AgricultureFood Safety and Inspection Service
[Docket No. 98-045N]
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. 97N-0074]
Environmental Protection Agency
[Docket No. OPP-00550A:FRL-6034-3]
Food Safety Initiative Strategic Plan Agency: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA: Research, Education, and Economics, USDA; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS; Food and Drug Administration, HHS; Environmental Protection Agency
RELATED PRESS RELEASE:
Dallas – December 8 – ACSN — Dallas-based Epidemiologist, Mary Nash Stoddard, a founder of the world's burgeoning anti-aspartame movement in 1987, will deliver findings regarding thousands of adverse reactions to the world's most controversial sweeteners at a special Hearing of the President's Council on Food Safety in Dallas today. The Aspartame Consumer Safety Network operates an adverse reaction hotline and database and is the clearinghouse for information on the sweetener.
Representing a constituency of over 10,000 concerned consumers, Stoddard calls for an immediate 'Moratorium' on all aspartame sweeteners until their absolute safety can be assured by independent research. A precedent for this type of action was set in 1992 when the Food and Drug Administration called a 'Moratorium' on silicone breast implants. Ms. Stoddard first testified to the U.S. Senate in November, 1987. She later submitted formal petitions objecting to the FDA's support of the sweetener asking that aspartame be recalled and re-tested as a drug, which is how it was discovered.
Seizures, loss of vision, vertigo, suicidal depressions, heart problems, etc. are routinely reported. Reactions in many consumers are reported to cause bizarre psychological symptoms as well. In tests, lab animals developed: Brain Tumors-Pancreatic Tumors-Breast Tumors and Uterine Tumors. These were covered up. Federal Prosecutor, Samuel Skinner was bringing criminal charges against the makers of aspartame [G.D. Searle, now a subsidiary of Monsanto Chemical Co.], but excused himself at the last minute – defecting to Searle's law firm, Sidley & Austin. The lawsuit was then dropped by the Federal Prosecutor's Office.
Aspartame [aka NutraSweet/Equal] is 10% methanol (wood alcohol) by weight and breaks down further in heat and in the body into: formaldehyde, formic acid and a brain tumor agent, diketopiperazine (DKP.)###
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March 25, 2012
ASPARTAME - WHY IS IT STILL POLLUTING OUR FOOD SUPPLY IN 2012?
Interview Published in NUTRITION & HEALING[Cover story Interview with Mary Nash Stoddard, founder of the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network and author of a source book about the sweetener, aspartame.]
Dr. Jonathan V. Wright's NUTRITION & HEALING with Alan R. Gaby, M.D., November 1995 - Vol. 2, Issue 11. Pub. by Nutrition & Healing, Inc., Phoenix, AZ.
Q: Your important consumer education work on the sweetener "aspartame" is well known and we are delighted to speak to you. Is it true that the large majority of non-drug complaints to the Food and Drug Administration are about adverse reactions to aspartame, also called NutraSweet or Equal?
A: Currently, it's about 78% of all complaints. At one time, the figure was 85%! Yet, this isn't reported in the newspapers or announced through other media. It's a well-hidden secret.
Q: Imagine if it were a vitamin or herbal product, we'd have the federal pill police swarming like angry bees. Would you please list for us some of the symptoms caused by aspartame?
A: Aspartame not only causes individual symptoms, it can mimic entire syndromes! For example, the CFIDS (chronic fatigue and immune deficiency syndrome) newsletter calls it the "sweet poison, NutraSweet," because it can mimic the symptoms of CFIDS. It can also cause grand mal seizures. According to H.J. Roberts, M.D., it can cause decreased vision, pain in the eyes, decreased tears, ringing in the ears, hearing impairment, headache, dizziness and unsteadiness, confusion, memory loss, drowsiness, sleepiness, slurring of speech, numbness and tingling, tremors, depression, irritability, aggression, anxiety, insomnia, phobias, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, high blood pressure, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, itching, hives, menstrual changes, weight gain, hair thinning and hair loss, urinary burning and frequency, excessive thirst, fluid retention, bloating, increased infection, and even death.
Q: Death?
A: Five deaths reported prior to 1987. We don't know the number since then.
Q: What's in this stuff?
A: Among other things, it's about 10% methanol (wood alcohol,) famous for causing blindness in alcoholics. In the body, methanol metabolizes into formaldehyde, a neurotoxin; formic acid, a venom in ant stings; and diketopiperazine, which causes brain tumors in animals. It's so bad that in July of 1983, the National Soft Drink Association presented official objections to putting aspartame in beverages. I'll read you one of their objections: "It is well established under Section 402(a)(3) that a food which contains a decomposed substance…is subject to seizure by FDA." It's thoroughly established that after a number of weeks and at temperatures over 85 degrees F, there's no aspartame left in a soft drink, only breakdown products. So, why isn't FDA seizing it under Section 402 (a)(3)?
Q: Your book, Deadly Deception reports that initially FDA had started investigations of the G.D. Searle Company, makers of aspartame.
A: Yes. In 1977 an FDA task force submitted a 15,000 page document covering their investigation. Here are two quotes:
"We have uncovered serious deficiencies in Searle's integrity…"
"The cumulative findings of problems within and across the studies we investigated reveal a pattern of conduct which compromises the scientific integrity of the studies."
Q: These are from FDA's own task force report on Searle's aspartame research?
A: Exactly. Your readers may not know that aspartame was originally approved in 1974, but when the brain-tumor issue arose, the approval was withdrawn.
Q: Tell us about the "brain-tumor issue."
A: Many of the test animals fed aspartame developed large tumors. These were actually cut out, and the animals returned to the study. In some cases, the tumors weren't even examined for malignancy, and the tumors weren't reported to FDA. In several cases, animals were reported as dead and later reported as alive again.
Q: No wonder FDA's task force "uncovered serious deficiencies in Searle's integrity!"
A: The results of the task force investigation of aspartame and other Searle drugs were presented to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Labor and Public Welfare. Senator Edward Kennedy said that "the extensive nature of the almost unbelievable range of abuses discovered by the FDA on several major Searle products is profoundly disturbing."
Q: So, how did aspartame ever get approved and progress so far into our food supply?
A: Well, for one thing, a former member of Congress and Chief of Staff in the Ford Administration, Donald Rumsfeld, was hired as President of Searle in 1977. Rumsfeld was paid $2 million in salary and $1.5 million in bonuses between 1979 and 1984.
Q: Oh-oh.
A: Also, in 1977, Senior Assistant U.S. Attorney, William Conlon was assigned to the Searle case. He took no action, despite repeated prodding by Richard Merrill, Chief Counsel to the FDA. One year later, Conlon took a position with Sidley and Austin, the law firm representing Searle.
Q: A pattern seems to be emerging.
A: Rumsfeld, now Searle president, hired: John Robson as Executive Vice-President – he had been a spokesman of the Civil Aeronautics Board; William Greener as Chief Spokesman for Searle – he had been a spokesman in the Ford White House; and, Robert Shapiro as General Counsel, who later became head of Searle's NutraSweet Division – he had been a Special Assistant in the Department of Transportation. But, here's the pay-off!
Q: No pun intended?
A: The facts are interesting, aren't they? In 1983, the Commissioner of the FDA, Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr. approved NutraSweet for soft drinks two months before leaving office. Two-to-three months later, he accepted a position as Senior Medical Advisor to Searle's public relations firm, Burson Marsteller. He was paid $1,000 per day as consultant.
Q: Really, $1,000 a day? This is a matter of public record?
A: A matter of public record. And, Michael Taylor was also involved in the approval of aspartame.
Q: Michael Taylor, the Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) man, who worked for FDA, lawyered for Monsanto to get rBGH approved, then went to work for FDA writing their BGH regulations?
A: The very same. Didn't you know that G. D. Searle is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Monsanto, with Robert Shapiro as current CEO?
Q: What a surprise. And a not unfamiliar pattern. But, tell us about aviation and aspartame.
A: The official Air Force safety magazine, FLYING SAFETY, and the Navy's flight magazine, NAVY PHYSIOLOGY, have both published warnings about using aspartame and flying.
Q: Will you give us an example?
A: A pilot called ACSN's Pilot Hotline two nights ago and told me about his experience. Flying for Peninsula Airlines in Alaska, he had a seizure in flight at 10,000 feet and was grounded. He had been drinking eight to ten cups of coffee a day sweetened with Equal, another aspartame compound. Since he quit aspartame, he's been seizure-free, but he hasn't been allowed to fly.
Q: We need to know more about this.
A: In my book, Deadly Deception, there's a reprint of a scientific paper showing that aspartame aggravates abnormal brain waves in children with epilepsy (Neurology 1992;42:1000-1003.)
Q: Maybe airline passengers should question pilots about aspartame use before boarding! What about those U.S. Senate hearings during which pilots testified about the adverse effects of aspartame on their flying abilities?
A: There have actually been three hearings.
Q: Here we go again!
A: Speaking of contributions… watch out diabetics! The NutraSweet company has given money, money, money to the American Diabetic Association. And, remember when you hear a registered dietitian say aspartame is safe for pregnant women, children, and everyone else, the Registered Dietitian's professional association has been given $75,000 to expound on the virtues of aspartame. The American Dietetic Association has even stated that the NutraSweet company writes their "Fact Sheets."
Q: So, there's money everywhere…to members of Congress, former regulatory bureaucrats, professional associations…
A: Absolutely. Aspartame approval and persistence on the market has everything to do with money and politics, and almost nothing to do with science and reason. Even the FDA's own reviewers were against aspartame until those political/financial events I've mentioned.
Q: Is there any hope to reverse all this?
A: Each of us will have to do it ourselves, one at a time and by spreading the word. Fortunately, it appears that the public pays more attention to this issue when they're given access to the information I've been outlining. The last TV show I appeared on about this issue, received 100,000 calls over the next three days.
Q: Thank you so much for devoting your time and energy to spreading the word about the hazards of aspartame.
A: Your readers can call the ASPARTAME CONSUMER SAFETY NETWORK at (214)352-4268 for more information as well as many suggestions for helping to make known the truth about aspartame.
*(U.S. Attorney, Samuel Skinner was prosecuting G.D. Searle for falsifying ests submitted for approval of aspartame, but recused himself at the last minute to join Searle's law firm, Sidley & Austin. Skinner then went back into Government, becoming head of the Dept. of Transportation – over the FAA. From there he was appointed Chief of Staff in President Bush's White House. Recently, he was nominated Man-of-the-Year by the Epilepsy Foundation in Chicago. Ironically, aspartame is reported to "trigger" epilepsy in a number of Epileptics. Also, former Monsanto Attorney, Clarence Thomas was appointed Supreme Court Judge amidst swirling controversy over his appointment! Ed.)
March 24, 2012
FOOD SAFETY EXPERT MARY NASH STODDARD LECTURES AT TOP MEDICAL SCHOOL ON ASPARTAME
Transcript of Aspartame Lecture UT Southwestern Medical School[Continuing Education Series]
January 23, 1997 – 12:00 -1:00 PM – Faculty Club
given by Mary Stoddard
Dr. Alan Stewart [Presenter]: Our Speaker today is Mary Stoddard. She is not a physician, but she has an awful lot of good information to give us on the topic of Aspartame. She is Founder of the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network, and has spoken rather extensively. She has been a guest on a variety of radio and television news and talk shows. And, I understand she is heading from here to do a 60-Minutes interview in Washington D.C., so we seem to have a "celebrity" among us. She has a wealth of information, as it relates to Aspartame [aka NutraSweet/Equal], to share with you.
Mary Nash Stoddard:
Thank you, Dr. Stewart. Aspartame is the topic we are here to discuss today. What is it? What is it in? And, why should we care? As Founder of the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network, I think we should care.
When I decided to form an organization to study the issue and collect data, I was invited to give testimony about our findings at the third Senate Hearing on the Safety of Aspartame, November 3, 1987. While there, I met others who had experienced extremely severe health problems.
Aspartame is the generic name for the sweetener commonly known as Equal and NutraSweet. It's also known as Canderel, Bienvia, NatraSweet, Spoonfuls, Miwon and various other names in other parts of the world.
The substance was discovered by a G.D. Searle scientist, looking for a drug for peptic ulcers.
Aspartame was first approved by the FDA in 1974, but that approval was rescinded because of scientist's and other's serious concerns about the brain tumor issue.
The lab animals in the study, done by the drug company and submitted to the FDA for approval of the substance, developed brain tumors. They developed pancreatic tumors. They developed mammary (breast) tumors. And, they developed uterine tumors. So, the approval was rescinded at that time and it did not go onto the market for general use.
In 1981, Administrations changed. A new FDA Director, brought in by President Reagan, approved Aspartame as a food additive, over vigorous objections from the FDA's own scientists and toxicologists. It was approved for use as a food additive and table top sweetener, only after Director, Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr., cast a tie-breaking vote.
In July of 1983, it was approved for use in aqueous solution (soft drink formulas). Even though the National Soft Drink Association presented strong dissent to Congress, it was widely distributed in sugar free (diet) soft drinks by 1984.
Following that second controversial approval, the FDA Director quit his office and went to work for the NutraSweet PR firm, Burson and Marsteller, for a thousand dollars a day. Now, I have to tell you that may not be a "legal" problem, but it most certainly is an "ethical" one.
Monsanto is the parent company of NutraSweet, as of 1985. I am told Monsanto stockholders vehemently objected to this buyout of G.D. Searle because of the legal liabilities associated with the company's products. But, our battle is not with Monsanto.
Our consumer organization, is asking the FDA to recall and retest this substance as a drug, which is what it was discovered as in the first place. We want them to look at this after a number of years have gone by and the safety issues continue to remain unresolved today.
A.C.S.N. has collected over 10,000 reports of side effects and adverse reactions, many of them primary brain tumors – astrocytomas and glioblastomas, rare tumors that the lab animals developed in the original tests. We have lots of medical records in our files and even some autopsies.
Concerned consumers have sent us their medical records. The primary brain tumors that we are seeing develop in heavy users of Aspartame can be deadly. Some people routinely consume six to eight diet sodas a day and more. In our surveys we find that is not at all uncommon.
Individuals are reporting: brain tumors, seizure disorders such as Epilepsy. They are reporting Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Anxiety/Panic Disorders, Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, ALS, Alzheimer's, Mental Disorders, Systemic Lupus, Tachycardias/Arrhythmias, Eye/Vision problems, Migraines, Numbness, Muscle and Joint pain, Multiple Sclerosis symptoms, etc.
Aspartame is an extremely complex molecule. It is: 50% Phenylalanine, which the head of Brain Science at MIT, Dr. Richard Wurtman says lowers the seizure threshold. It has definitely lowered the seizure threshold in a number of airline pilots I work with each day.
We've established an International Pilot's Hotline for reporting of adverse reactions on the part of pilots, after a request for help from F-16 pilot, Major Michael Collings. We met in Washington D.C. when we were both there to testify at the Senate Hearing in 1987. [And, later when we were both flown in to Washington by Thames Television in London, to be interviewed.] Major Collings was there to testify about his grand mal seizure on the flight line. In a private conversation with me, he said, "Mary, why are you doing this?" And, I answered, "I only want to warn other parents about this danger to children." Everywhere I turned… the FDA, when I called them, said, "no, it couldn't be a problem for anyone. Let your child keep using it." I found the NutraSweet hotline. Their #800. When I called it they said, "No, it isn't a problem. Let your child keep using it." We are all for medications whenever necessary for good health, but we are against unnecessarily medicating and not searching for the root cause for the condition. Major Collings then said, "Do it to help Pilots, too. We are losing our medical certification to fly, plus our jobs, our marriages, and in some cases, our lives." He went on to tell me about how he had turned down an invitation to join the most elite group in flying – The Thunderbirds – on three different occasions, because although he couldn't tell anyone, he felt unable to fly "wingtip to wingtip" with them, due to his unstable physical condition.
So, 50% of the molecule is Phenylalanine. 40% is Aspartic Acid, which caused holes in the brains of the laboratory animals. You may have seen or heard some of the publicity connected with Dr. John Olney's study in the November '96 Journal of Neuropathy and Experimental Neuropathology. Olney authored the article, which detailed his theory regarding the cause of a phenomenal 10% rise in the incidence of primary brain tumors in the population, since the advent of Aspartame in the American diet in the early 1980s. Many of these, are sixty five and older. We don't know exactly why. One reason could be that they are developing diabetes later in life, and put on the sweetener at that time. They are taking Metamucil, which has Aspartame, and Alka Seltzer Plus, Tums, and using Equal in their coffee and tea. Dr. Jeffrey Bada, researcher at the University of California at San Diego, writes that when Aspartame is heated above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, it breaks down into Methanol. Ten percent Methanol by weight. It then breaks down into Formaldehyde (embalming fluid), Formic Acid (ant sting venom) and Diketopiperazine (DKP). All highly toxic – but, the DKP may just be the most problematic of all, because it caused brain tumors in the lab tests.
Bada is also concerned about sterio-isomer effects. And, Dr. Olney states Aspartame is nitrosated in the digestive process. Thus creating a potentially carcinogenic condition. So, the 40% Aspartic Acid is probably the least dangerous of the components, and yet, it caused "silent" lesions in the brains of the lab animals. It also changed the DNA, because the third generation of pups were born morbidly obese and sexually dysfunctional.
Most people are using it in an attempt to lose weight. Ironically, we have studies to show that it can sabotage a conscientious weight loss program.
One of my good friends has been written up in the fitness journals. As a Bench Blast Aerobics Instructor, she started drinking diet drinks to replace meals. She had it in lieu of lunch, for example, and she developed a condition which her doctor diagnosed as Graves Disease, a hyperthyroid condition. In the hospital she said, "I don't want to have my thyroid irradiated just yet." Against her doctor's wishes, she checked herself out and made an appointment to see a Nutritionist. Together they evaluated what she had been eating and drinking and what had changed drastically in her diet. On the advice of her Nutritionist, she eliminated Aspartame from her diet and got well. No more Graves Disease. Now, this may be pure coincidence and anecdotal, as are many other cases in our files, but I have to believe there is a strong connection.
My purpose in being here today, is to ask you, as Physicians in clinical practice, to consider Aspartame as a possible cause of any medical condition if the patient is a user. (Especially, a daily user.)
Ask about it in your history taking. Go forward with diagnostic testing, if you feel it's needed, but at the same time, ask the patient to refrain from using the sweetener in any form, for a period of four to six weeks. If the symptoms don't greatly diminish, or go away completely, then, of course, you look for another cause. Then go on with your vigorous diagnostic testing. We're finding that most patients become asymptomatic when taken off of it.
This means that in some cases, MRIs are done needlessly. We're talking about a lot of money being spent on unnecessary tests. I am not against testing patients. But, I am against it until they are taken off this substance temporarily, for a period of four to six weeks. We feel that is a fair request. And, I am not the only one asking for this. Many of your colleagues are adopting this specific plan of treatment, with great success.
I am not blaming Aspartame for every illness or syndrome in the world today. It isn't the cause of every one of your patient's symptoms. But, again, I ask you, in your history taking, to ask about every patient's use of the substance. If they use it, the fairest thing to you, as well as to them, is for them to get off of it – for a short period of time at least.
The breakdown products, that occur when heated above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, are extremely worrisome to a number of our researchers. Methanol, of course (10% of the molecule) is well known in the literature for doing damage to the eye, liver, brain, and other organs of the body. So that Methanol alone, in my opinion, should send up a red flag in our minds.
By the way, Aspartame can exceed the EPA standards for safe levels of Formaldehyde ingestion. But, that hasn't been looked at thoroughly enough either.
Some of these things Aspartame may exacerbate or mimic. I'm not saying these syndromes and diseases were not around prior to the advent of Aspartame. But, if you have a patient with any one of these special diseases, or symptom series, you may want to look at that as an exacerbation of their symptoms, if not the root cause. These are not limited to, but can include: Epilepsy, Brain Tumors, Blindness, Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Systemic Lupus, Alzheimer's (affecting long term and short term memory), Lou Gehrig's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia, Lyme Disease, Graves Disease, Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Heart Ailments and others.
Here is a book I think you will find interesting. It's written by a neurologist and it's called: Excitotoxins The Taste That Kills. The author, Dr. Russell Blaylock has done a thorough study of one of the most important neurotransmitters in the body: Serotonin.
Blaylock explains how Aspartame blocks production of Serotonin. Specifically, Phenylalanine in Aspartame seems to block or inhibit production of Serotonin, which regulates our sleep patterns. In females, it regulates the menstrual cycle and it also regulates our moods. So, patients who are heavy Aspartame users may be at higher risk of developing some sort of mood disorder. You might want to consider that when settling on a diagnosis.
A very important point to remember: Aspartame violated the Delaney Clause by causing: uterine, mammary (breast), pancreatic and brain tumors in the original laboratory test animals.
One of the things people find most interesting whenever I speak publicly is how this is affecting the health of Airline Pilots. One of the people being interviewed by 60-Minutes tomorrow is a commuter airline pilot in Alaska who had a grand mal seizure in flight, in the cockpit. Luckily, his radio was tuned in to the Navy frequency (he was a Naval Reserve Pilot), and there was a Naval Patrol plane in the vicinity to instruct his passenger how to fly the plane… now, I am not making this up… until the pilot regained consciousness about ten minutes later.
Capt. Wilson's story made national headlines in 1993. Pilot, Harold Wilson has joined us in our efforts to alert pilots and others in the aviation industry to this danger. He used to be a heavy Aspartame user. He is convinced he has found the cause of his problem. He has had no more grand mal seizures, but guess what. This man, a very good pilot, is no longer able to work in his chosen profession. All that time and money spent on the training and licenses counts for nothing now. He is not alone.
Over a thousand pilot-related phone calls have been made to our Pilot Hotline. Pilots call who can't discuss their problems and concerns with anyone else but us, because I keep the information they share with me confidential. I've had several reports of airline pilots who have had grand mal seizures in flight. I logged two reports of the same incident. When I asked the second caller for specifics, he said, "Now, we are not turning this guy in. He's fine and we don't want him to lose his job." I said, "But, why don't you turn the report in if he's not safe to fly with?" And, they said, "Because the situation corrected itself in a matter of minutes." This is a major concern for us. We have more and more airline, as well as general aviation pilots coming to us saying, "Please help me. I can't get my license back."
The FAA won't officially recognize this situation. I've met with FAA Chief Deputy Flight Surgeons in Washington and with officials from the FDA, as well. They let us know they have no intention of taking official action regarding this vast problem. As one wise FAA Medical Examiner from Brownwood, Texas said at a University Symposium on this subject, "The FDA has its foot stuck in a bucket and it can't get it out!" Only a Texan could use that kind of terminology and get away with it – but, I think he is right.
In a recent national television interview, the Deputy Director of the FDA admitted, "Yes, there was sloppy testing on the part of the drug company, but what do you expect us to do?" So, they don't know what to do about it and they told me so when I met with them at their agency offices in Washington D.C. Then, the FAA's position was and still is: We can't regulate or recall a drug. And, we can't warn pilots, because it is a legally approved substance.
Every now and then we have a little victory: The U.S. Navy and The United States Air Force took our warnings to pilots seriously enough to print warnings [on three different occasions] to military pilots. There is an entire section in our 200 p. report, Deadly Deception – Story of Aspartame, dedicated to Flying and Aspartame.
Often, people ask where we get our funding. The sugar lobby? The saccharin people? No, no, I promise you we don't. The Deadly Deception is our fund raiser. My mother and sister are here with me today and will attest to the fact that we spend many midnight hours addressing and stuffing envelopes… all for no pay. I have used the small amount of money I received from my husband's death from Brain Cancer, in 1985, to keep this effort going. I also have a full time job that pays the rent. I do it because I believe this substance is hurting people. I believe the research that shows it is capable of causing brain tumors.
And, I have firsthand knowledge of the devastation a brain tumor can cause. Not only to the patient, but to the family. My husband's brain tumors were from metastasized melanoma – not from Aspartame ingestion. However, I believe it would be doing a disservice to his memory not to tell others one way to possibly keep from developing a brain tumor is to avoid the diet sweetener.
I always plead with people to not give it to children. According to Dr. Louis Elsas, head of Genetics at Emory University in Atlanta, the Phenylalanine in Aspartame can quadruple on the side of the placenta during pregnancy, thereby causing a possible 10% drop in I.Q. scores of the child born under these conditions.
There is a warning on every label to people with PKU not to use the product containing Aspartame. But, what about the 20 million carriers of the PKU gene [who do not know of their condition] who are also at risk? And, what about the pregnant woman carrying a PKU fetus? PKU children may avoid the substance which puts them at risk for mental retardation, at home. But, what about when they are out in the community or at a neighbor's home?
The Head of Brain Science at MIT and others say the components of Aspartame are capable of crossing the blood brain barrier as well. And, based on our research, in no way does the body treat Phenylalanine and Aspartic Acid produced synthetically in the lab in the same manner as it does that which is found in nature. In their natural state, these amino acids are found in perfect balance with all the other ameliorating amino acids. Methanol, when found in nature, is always accompanied by Ethanol, which neutralizes the toxic effect. There is no Ethanol in Aspartame. Only Methanol. So, right there you have a prescription for disaster.
Parents, Pilots, Scientists and others all over the world are concerned about the ubiquitous and harmful nature of this substance. They don't know what to do about it. It is not our style to "picket" anyone such as the makers of Aspartame, for example. We don't break any laws.
We attempt to educate people with our information. To do that, we use our 200 page Syllabus, Deadly Deception, which is solid documentation of all I've said here today and more. It is simply reprints from the literature. Peer-reviewed journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Neurology and Experimental Neuropathology, Biological Psychiatry, Association of Birth Defect Children, Dermatology Rounds, Neurotoxicology and Teratology, to name just a few.
What would I like to see happen? We are asking the FDA to recall and retest Aspartame as a drug, which is how it was discovered – as a drug for peptic ulcers.
You, as doctors, know that the testing for a drug is far more rigorous than the testing for a food additive. We believe it could never pass the drug test.
I am asking you, as physicians, to carefully consider Aspartame as one possible cause – not even a probable cause, but a possible cause when you are diagnosing a patient. We believe that to neglect to do so is unfair to both patient and doctor.
We are suggesting a four to six week period of total abstinence from Aspartame for your patient, in order to obtain a clear diagnosis. Thousands of people have reported to us and to the FDA, that when they get off the substance, their symptoms go away. Upon reexposure, either intentional or accidental, they begin to experience symptoms again. We believe them when they say that.
ACSN is collecting adverse reactions to Aspartame in the form of Case History Reports. Keep that in mind whenever you run across someone in your practice who fits the profile of an Aspartame Reactor. My doctor believes that I have had an adverse reaction. He's a good doctor. He truly listens to his patient. And, he works in partnership with patients to find solutions to a medical problem.
In closing, I do not expect you to suddenly become Aspartame Activists. I suppose that is to be my role for the time being, anyway. But, please do consider Aspartame as a possible cause of symptoms, when caring for your patients. That is all we're asking. Thank you.
March 21, 2012
HOW MANY ASPARTAME USERS DIAGNOSED W/BRAIN TUMORS? (Children & Adults w/Deadly Astrocytoma & Glioblastoma)
Increasing Brain Tumor Rates: Is There a Link to Aspartame?John W. Olney, MD, Nuri B. Farber, Edward Spitznagel, and Lee N. RobinsAbstract. In the past two decades brain tumor rates have risen in several industrialized countries, including the United States. During this time, brain tumor data have been gathered by the National Cancer Institute from catchment areas representing 10% of the United States population. In the present study, we analyzed these data from 1975 to 1002 and found that the brain tumor increases in the United States occurred in two distinct phases, an early modest increase that may primarily reflect improved diagnostic technology, and a more recent sustained increase in t he incidence and degree of malignancy of brain tumors. Evidence potentially implicating aspartame includes an early animal study revealing an exceedingly high incidence of brain tumors in aspartame-fed rats compared to no brain tumors in concurrent controls, the recent finding that the aspartame molecule has mutagenic potential, and the close temporal association [aspartame was introduced into US food and beverage markets several years prior to the sharp increase in brain tumor incidence and malignancy.] We conclude that there is need for reassessing the carcinogenic potential of aspartame.
Key Words: Aspartame: Brain tumors: Human: Increased incidence: Increased malignancy: Mutagenesis.
Also see article by Dr Erik Millstone
Science Policy Research Unit
Mantell Building
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9RF
England
Mary Nash Stoddard Panelist at Natl. Brain Tumor News Conference in Washington DC
Photo GalleryWashington D.C.–
Brain Tumor News Conference
[View with PicLens]
Mexican Government Keynote Speech
[View with PicLens]
AIM International Lecture Tour(Ohio, Florida, Texas, Wyoming, Arkansas, Minnesota, Canada)
[View with PicLens]
Mary lectures with Dr. Lendon Smith,renowned Pediatrician at Federation of Health Conference[View with PicLens]
Send Us Your Serious Aspartame Adverse Reactions (anecdotal or medically-documented)
Questionnaire(email to: marystod@airmail.net)Is Aspartame Affecting You?Name:
Street:
City:
State/Zip:
Country: Tel: ( ) (res.) Tel: ( ) (work)
FAX: Email address:
Age: Sex:
Q. May we have permission to publish your data to help others?
A.
Q. Name medical problems YOU experienced while using aspartame (tm NutraSweet/tm Equal).
A.
Q. Have you been diagnosed with any form of malignancy that coincided with your aspartame use?
(Aspartame caused brain, uterine and mammary tumors in lab animals in the original tests.)
A.
Q. Did your symptoms go away or diminish when you stopped using the sweetener?
A.
Q. How long have you been Aspartame-free?
A.
Q. Did you see a Doctor about any of these symptoms?
A.
Q. Did your Doctor think it could be related to aspartame?
A.
Q. Did your Doctor advise you to stop using aspartame?
A.
Q. Did you use aspartame while pregnant? (Give approx. amounts.) (Aspartame changes DNA and has
caused birth defects in lab animals.)
A.
Q. Did you report your symptoms to the FDA (Food & Drug Admin.) or any other group?
A.
Q. Name the specific products) containing aspartame you were consuming when you experienced
these symptoms. (Brand names.)
A.
Q. On the average, what quantity were you consuming (how often, how much each time, etc.)
A.
Q. Did you ever feel addicted to your sweetener? (Describe)
A.
Q. How long had you been consuming aspartame before you began to experience any symptoms?
A. FOR THOSE CONCERNED ABOUT WEIGHT: Did you begin using products with aspartame when
you began a restricted calorie diet or joined a weight loss program?
Did you use aspartame products only for some of your meals to save calories?
Did aspartame seem to help you lose weight at first?
What were the long term weight loss effects of using aspartame.
FOR THOSE WITH DIABETES:
Q. Did your Doctor or a Registered Dietitian tell you to use aspartame?
A.
Q. Any trouble controlling blood sugar levels while using aspartame? (Explain)
A.
Q. Did using aspartame affect the types of food you selected to eat?
A.
Q. How?
A.
Q. Did you contact the American Diabetic Association about your problems w/aspartame? If yes,
what was their response?
A.
Q. Did aspartame affect your desire for sweet tasting food or drink?
A.
March 20, 2012
Aspartame Awareness Action Agenda
Action Agenda[please print out and distribute copies or email to all your contacts]1. Tell everyone you know about this serious health and public policy issue. Post on message boards, etc.
2. Ask the next 5 people you see using aspartame if they've had any of the reported symptoms. [Ask about migraine, mood swings, unexplained joint pain or muscle spasm/cramping.]
3. Get off aspartame for 4 to 6 weeks to see your physical ailments and mental attitudes improve.
4. If you are under a doctor's care for any medical condition which may be related to aspartame use – tell your doctor to enter into your official medical records that you have ceased using aspartame and want to be monitored by him/her from this date forward to see if your condition improves and your symptoms subside. Let the records reflect that the 'patient' believes aspartame use may have triggered or exacerbated the patient's symptoms. This step is very important.
5. Join with over 10,000 consumers and concerned scientists worldwide connected to ACSN, to actively promote awareness in the consuming public. Especially when it comes to products formulated for use by children.
6. Take all aspartame products back to the store. Insist on exchange for something healthy. Tell the store manager they may be making you sick and you want the manufacturer to know. Manufacturer's must understand that consumers will no longer tolerate neurotoxins in our food and children's items [including gums, breath mints, medications etc.]
7. Write letters to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration and Federal Aviation Administration [or their equivalent if you reside in countries outside the U.S.] and manufacturers who use aspartame in their products. Copy the editor of your local newspaper and the news assignments editor of your local TV stations. State concisely and respectfully your displeasure regarding the government/industry cover up and conspiracy of silence in the case of aspartame.
8. Copy, post and distribute ACSN's Fact Sheet flyer to everyone you know. Help us spread the word. Let it be known that there is an organization aggressively addressing this issue.
9. Make sure pilots are aware of our confidential adverse reporting hotline. Many have lost their medical certification to fly which they connected to their heavy use of aspartame sweeteners in foods, drinks and gums.
10. Actively support our organization with your time, money and other resources. Help us by making a generous donation today. Any help you give will be greatly appreciated and used wisely to educate the public about artificial sweeteners – thus promoting healthier lifestyles.
March 17, 2012
Follow The Aspartame Money Trail of Paid Researchers/Institutions Who Defend The Sweetener
By SANDY ROVNER-The Washington PostDaily Record Newspaper Monday June 1, 1987
WASHINGTON˜A series of scientific studies in this country and abroad is stirring new concern among some scientists over the safety of aspartame, the immensely popular sugar substitute marketed as NutraSweet. But a spokesman for the company cited the same studies as evidence that the product is safe. An estimated 4,000 tons of the sweetener, some 200 times sweeter than sugar, is consumed every year, and sales are estimated now at more than $l billion annually and increasing rapidly. Last month, at a scientific conference that was closed to the press, researchers reported that heavy aspartame use appears to increase migraine headaches and seizures in susceptible individuals, cause changes in electroencephalogram (EEG) readings and may even be related to birth defects and retardation. However, Dr. Frank Kotsonis, head of research for the NutraSweet Co., said he found the studies either seriously flawed or used to support unwarranted conclusions. And Dr. Bennett A. Shaywitz, chief of pediatric neurology at Yale University, said he found the ambience at the conference "similar to past meetings on the usefulness of the Feingold diet as a cure for hyperactive children. „There was a fanaticism there that made me very uncomfortable.‰ Shaywitz is conducting a study of aspartame in seizure-prone children between the ages of 5 and 12 but so far has been unable to demonstrate any adverse effects from the sweetener. G D Searle, which manufactures aspartame, and the NutraSweet Co, which markets it have maintained that the substance‚s 1981 Food and Drug Administration approval came with more safety studies than any product in history. Some researchers believe, however, that because the tests were looking for acute deleterious effects they missed the more subtle effects that may occur over a long period of time. Dr. Paul Spiers, a clinical neuropsychologist of the Behavioral Neurology Unit and the Harvard Medical School‚s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, presented at the meeting some preliminary evidence that use of aspartame over a period of time might affect intellectual functioning in normal users. In an interview Spiers said the findings had been something of an accident. He had been planning to study the effects of aspartame on individuals who reported that they had suffered seizures after ingesting aspartame. However, he was first ethically bound to run the tests on normal control subjects to confirm their safety. "For that reason," he said, "we went out and selected people specifically who had a history of using NutraSweet products and were not aware of it having any adverse effects on them. We picked normal neurological histories, no history of psychiatric illness and no physical problem˜nothing, in fact, that would suggest that we would expect to have problems.The group was given aspartame capsules up to the FDA's maximum allowable limit˜50 milligrams per Kilogram of weight˜three times a day for 12 days. Unexpectedly, the researchers began to find "cognitive deficits" in some of the neuropsychological tests then done on the group. Among the tests was a sophisticated computer test called "Think Fast," which requires comparisons, copying and recall of patterns of blocks and sequences of letters. Spiers describes it as "quite demanding and self-paced, becoming increasingly difficult. Normally when a test like this is repeated, subjects tend to improve in their performance as they learn how the test is done." Nevertheless the subjects on aspartame failed to improve and some of them frankly showed a reverse pattern where their performance got worse." Although he was admittedly dealing with only a few subjects and checking performances on only a small number of the tests that were administered, Spiers believes the findings are important A second group of volunteers who were given a placebo instead of aspartame showed none of the problems manifested by the aspartame group The computer test and others measured functioning of the bra1n's frontal lobe, Spiers said, "simulating what the brain does in everyday life.""We are wondering whether in fact this substance may be capable of having a subtle effect on cognitive functioning that people may not necessarily be aware of. Think of the implications, for example, on an average college student who starts consuming a liter of this stuff during examination period, and it may in fact he interfering with his concentration and attention skills." Said Spiers; "This kind of neuro-psychological cognitive examination has never been used to investigate the effects of new drugs of any kind. Now we have food additives that are more like drugs than foods are introduced into the dietary chain but have direct effects on the brain's neurotransmitter system. But because the chemical industry is 20 years ahead of the regulators, thus far no one has attempted to apply more sophisticated methods of testing brain functions to these problems."NutraSweet's principal ingredient is an amino acid called phenylalanlne (PHE), which is found, along with other amino acids, in protein. There is a genetic disorder called phenylketonuria (PKU) in which the ability to normally process the amino acid is impaired. Without careful dietary restriction of protein, PKU babies may suffer severe, irreversible mental retardation. All products containing NutraSweet must warn against its use where PKU exists. Now, however, specialists and researchers believe that there may be many more people who carry the gene for PKU but show no symptoms who, however, may be unable to deal with the extra load of PHE that comes from using products containing NutraSweet. Dr. Reuben Matalon, a geneticist and pediatrician at the University of Illinois warned those at the conference that perhaps millions of PKU carriers are at risk of varying reactions to aspartame, as are the fetuses of pregnant carriers.Another major study presented at the conference suggested that the use of aspartame could increase the frequency of migraine headache fourfold. However, both Kotsonis and Shaywitz said they believed the study was poorly conducted. They cited another study done at Duke University, now awaiting publication that found no link between migraines and NutraSweet. (Funded by manufacturer.) Dr. Richard J. Wurtman, neurophysiologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the organizers of the conference, called for more studies of the 3,000 people who have complained of reactions to NutraSweet. "Except for the migraine study, which is preliminary, at this point we cannot say aspartame is responsible for all those anecdotes. Still, given the basic science findings and the anecdotes," Wurtman said, "the index of suspicion is high." Said Spiers: "I think it is in everyone's interest to do good research on this. It may turn out that it is just a labeling issue, that the warning needs to be broader. People still smoke, but they smoke knowing the consequences. The difference here is that people have not understood the consequences " "How many people even know that the FDA has attached a limit to aspartame consumption?" asked James Wagoner. Legislative aide to Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, (Ohio). Metzenbaum has introduced legislation requiring that labeling include information about how much NutraSweet is contained in a serving of a given product. The FDA‚s limit of 50 milligrams per kilogram of body weight translates to about four liters of a diet drink for an adult but only to about three cans for a child who weighs about 30 pounds."Americans,'' Wagoner said at the conference, "drink over 20 billion cans of diet soft drinks a year. And that doesn't count the gum, pudding, breakfast cereal, chewable vitamins, tooth paste, juices, frozen pops - all sweetened. with NutraSweet "Researchers reported last month that that heavy aspartame use appears to increase migraine headaches and seizures in susceptible individuals cause changes in electroencephalogram (EEG) readings and may even be related to birth defects and retardation.'We are wondering whether in fact this substance may be capable of having a subtle effect on cognitive functioning that people may not necessarily be aware of. Think of the implications, for example, on an average college student who starts consuming a liter of this stuff during examination period, and it may in fact be Interfering with his concentration and attention skills.Dr. Paul Spiers
March 13, 2012
FOOD SAFETY ALERT
BITTERSWEET: THE TRUTH ABOUT ASPARTAME
CATALYST MAGAZINE
February, 2002 — The desire for something sweet is a natural instinct: It is the compulsion that spurred our early ancestors to seek out foods that were a source of concentrated energy. The human brain is hardwired to crave sugar when it is low on serotonin, dopamine and beta endorphin — chemicals that help us focus our attention, tolerate pain, and initiate movement and emotional expression. Natural sugar, in small amounts, is requisite for normal brain and body function.
But, as we all know, too much sugar is the perfect example of "too much of a good thing is bad." Excess sugar in the bloodstream overstimulates the adrenal glands and pancreas, depletes nutrient reserves, inhibits the immune system, and promotes the overgrowth of opportunistic microorganisms like Candida albicans. Over-consumption of refined sugar is linked to diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, hypoglycemia, atherosclerosis, chronic fatigue, hypertension, tooth decay, cancer, heart disease, depression, PMS, hyperactivity and aggressive behavior.
It's no wonder then, that so many weight- and health-conscious Americans enthusiastically embrace artificial sweeteners, those seemingly magical compounds that are meant to provide all the sweetness but none of the distasteful side effects of sugar. Since the introduction of diet soft drinks in the 1950s, the artificial sweetener industry has become a $1.1 billion juggernaut; sugar substitutes are now used in everything from bottled water to frozen cheesecakes to protein drinks. But, ironically, the health risks from artificial sweeteners are turning out to far outweigh those of the sugar they replace.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permits six low-calorie sweeteners to be used as food additives: Saccharin, aspartame (known around the world as NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonfuls, Canderel, Bienvia, NatraSweet and Miwon), acesulfame potassium (sold under the brand name Sunette), sucralose (marketed as Splenda), trehalose and tagatose. Of the six, aspartame is by far the most widely used — and the most controversial.
According to the FDA, over 100 million people worldwide consume aspartame-sweetened products. In the United States alone, it is found in more than 5,000 products, including tabletop sweeteners, baked goods, baking and dry beverage mixes (including many protein powders), breakfast cereals, chewing gum, gelatins, puddings and pie fillings, dessert toppings, carbonated beverages, ice cream, popsicles, breath mints, yogurt, frozen desserts, fruit spreads, syrups, candies, cough drops, malt beverages, wine coolers and pharmaceuticals.
Aspartame was discovered in 1965 by a scientist working for pharmaceutical behemoth G.D. Searle and Company. In the course of experimenting with amino acids, the chemist inadvertently created a sweet-tasting compound containing 40% aspartic acid, 50% phenylalanine and 10% methanol. While all three are natural substances, excessive amounts of any one of them, much less all of them, can wreak havoc on the human mind and body.
Phenylalanine is one of the "essential" amino acids, meaning that humans must get it from their diet. When consumed as a natural constituent of protein, it facilitates the necessary synthesis of tyrosine and several neurotransmitters. In unnaturally high concentrations, however, phenylalanine becomes a neurotoxin, lowering the seizure threshold, inhibiting the production of serotonin, and causing mental retardation. During pregnancy, high levels of phenylalanine can cause retardation in the fetus. The dangers of excess phenylalanine have long been known to science: A condition called phenylketonuria, in which the body is unable to metabolize phenylalanine, was the first genetic disease to be routinely screened for. Persons having phenylketonuria must monitor their diet carefully, therefore aspartame-sweetened products must be labeled as containing phenylalanine. Iron deficiency and kidney disease may also cause unnaturally high phenylalanine levels, though physicians rarely think to council those patients to avoid diet drinks and other products containing aspartame.
Aspartic acid is a naturally occurring amino acid and a component of all proteins. It is important in the synthesis of new DNA and in the creation of urea, and as a neurotransmitter in the brain. In the body, the level of aspartic acid is carefully regulated; like phenylalanine, it is neurotoxic in high concentrations, causing brain tumors and lesions, endocrine disorders and genetic damage. It is considered particularly hazardous to young children, as it penetrates the blood brain barrier and disrupts the development of the central nervous system.
When aspartame is heated above 85 degrees — whether through baking, boiling, dumping it in hot liquid, or storing it in a warm place — it breaks down into methanol, also known as methyl alcohol. The results of methanol poisoning are legion and well-documented: vision problems, confusion, headache, nausea, vomiting, lethargy, abdominal pain, cramping, impaired speech, labored breathing, fetal alcohol syndrome, DNA damage and birth defects. A fatal dose is a mere two teaspoons.
Methanol is considered by the FDA to be a "cumulative poison," as once it is absorbed, it is slow to be excreted. In the body, it breaks down to into formaldehyde (a known carcinogen), formic acid, and diketopiperazine (which causes brain tumors). As the NutraSweet Company loves to point out in their literature, fruits and vegetables also contain methanol, but they fail to mention that all natural products also contain its antidote, ethanol. Aspartame, on the other hand, contains no ethanol.
Aspartame is responsible for approximately 85% of all the complaints made to the FDA. Over 90 symptoms resulting from aspartame consumption have been well-documented, including headache, dizziness, depression, migraine, fatigue, convulsions, vision problems, hyperactivity, nausea, irritability, insomnia, heart palpitations, memory loss, anxiety, tinnitus, vertigo, slurred speech, rashes, joint pain, breathing difficulties, menstrual irregularities, bloating, excessive thirst, tremors and numbness. Many researchers believe that a number of chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, lymphoma, brain tumors, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, blindness, systemic lupus, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's disease, Lyme disease, Graves disease, non-Hodgkins lymphoma and heart valve disease can be worsened — or triggered — by aspartame ingestion. And paradoxically, aspartame can actually cause weight gain, as well as uncontrollable cravings for sweets.
"The whole concept of artificial sweeteners in general, and aspartame in particular is bizarre," says Washington D.C. consumer protection attorney James Turner. "The craving for something sweet is a physiological reaction, caused by your serotonin level going down. So you eat sugar, and it goes back up. But if you eat aspartame, not only does it not go back up, it goes down farther, so you've defeated the entire purpose and put yourself deeper in the hole."
Turner, who was the first of Ralph Nader's famous "Nader's Raiders" consumer protection advocates, has been involved in food safety issues since the late '60s, when he joined neuropathologist Dr. John Olney in fighting against the use of MSG in baby food.
"Dr. Olney had a grant from the National Institutes of Health to examine foods that might cause mental retardation," he explains. "He found that MSG caused holes in the brains of mice. When he looked at aspartic acid, he found the same kinds of holes."
Other scientists were finding similarly alarming reactions to aspartame and its ingredients. In 1969, Dr. Harry Waisman, an expert on phenylketonuria, was approach by G.D. Searle officials to conduct a study on the effects of the phenylalanine in aspartame. In the only aspartame study ever conducted on primates, Waisman fed seven infant monkeys aspartame-laced milk: One of the monkeys died after 300 days, and five suffered grand mal seizures. Other early, Searle-sponsored tests found high incidence of uterine, liver, mammary, pancreatic, thyroid, testes and brain tumors. According to the late Dr. M. Adrian Gross, an FDA toxicologist who later investigated Searle's laboratory practices, at least one of Searle's studies "established beyond any reasonable doubt that aspartame is capable of inducing brain tumors in experimental animals," a fact he considered to be of great significance.
Unfortunately, Searle officials failed to mention the majority of those negative findings to the FDA when they applied for approval of aspartame. Olney's test results were hidden from sight, while Waisman's and many others were falsified. In several subsequent investigations, it was found that many of the tumors developed by the aspartame-fed lab animals had been excised, and the animals returned to the study. When questioned, Searle scientists stated they had to remove the tumors "because these masses were in the head and neck areas, and prevented the animals from feeding." In many cases, the tumors were not even examined for malignancy, but merely thrown away; others were examined, but the malignancies not reported. And in several instances, animals that were reported as dead were later miraculously revived in final reports.
Many of the studies conducted by Searle and their contractor Hazelton Laboratories also lacked protocols and were written as chatty narratives, rather than reports. "At the heart of FDA's regulatory process is its ability to rely upon the integrity of the basic safety date submitted by sponsors of the regulated products," wrote Task Force member Adrian Gross. "Our investigation clearly demonstrates that, in the case of the G.D. Searle Company, we have no basis for such reliance now."
Despite the troubling test results and Searle's blatant disregard of scientific procedure — and over the heated objections of many of its own scientists — the FDA approved aspartame for limited use (as a food additive and tabletop sweetener) in 1981. [See sidebar for a chronicle of the political maneuvering involved in the approval process.] In 1983, despite protests from the National Soft Drink Association, aspartame was again approved, this time for use in aqueous solutions. And in 1996, the FDA approved aspartame as a "general purpose sweetener," removing all restrictions for its use in cooking and baking.
That same year that Dr. Olney published his findings showing that incidence of brain tumors had increased by 10% in the 10 years since aspartame had been used in soft drinks.
Other independent researchers continued to make similarly worrying discoveries: Aspartame was found to exacerbate mood disorders (particularly when consumed with carbohydrates), disrupt endocrine and reproductive functions, trigger severe fluctuations in blood sugar, and cause extreme agitation and loss of motor function — especially in children. In 1998, a Price, Utah girl won a the National Science Fair award for her findings that aspartame hindered learning ability in elderly rats. She found her results to have "frightening implications."
Mary Nash Stoddard, founder of the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network, had her own first bittersweet taste of aspartame [in 1984], soon after it was approved for use in soft drinks in '83. "It came in the mail to as samples," she says, "The NutraSweet Company mailed out thousands of packets of Crystal Light." Concerned about her weight, Stoddard enthusiastically embraced the new low-cal sweetener, and encouraged her young daughter to do the same. "My 16-year-old daughter started drinking it because I didn't want her to have sugar," she says. "Like millions of other people, I was so paranoid about sugar that I rushed unquestioning into the open jaws of something far worse."
Soon after they started using aspartame, Stoddard and her daughter began experiencing unusual and frightening physical symptoms, including migraines, joint pain, fatigue and chest pains. Most terrifying of all, says Stoddard, was her daughter's grand mal seizure. "I was very familiar with seizures," she says. "My husband had just died from a brain tumor, so I'd seen plenty of them. It was terrifying; I thought, 'Oh, dear God, I'm going to lose my daughter, too.'"
After Innumerable medical tests failed to diagnose either of their problems. Stoddard mentioned the new sweetener to her MD.., wondering if it might be at fault. After researching aspartame's breakdown components, her doctor agreed confirmed her suspicions, and recommended the family stop using it. He also wrote to the NutraSweet Company, which sent him a letter back saying that his patient could not possibly be responding to their product, and that he should look elsewhere for answers. Nonetheless, both Stoddard's and her daughter's symptoms ceased within six weeks of going off aspartame, though Stoddard sustained permanent muscle damage and a tremor.
She might have let the situation drop ("I was willing to put it down to allergic reactions") had she not heard a woman on television describe a similar experience with the sweetener. Stoddard, a former broadcast journalist, expert medical witness and Texas state judge, tracked down the woman and, as she says, "things just clicked into place."
The Florida woman was working with James Turner on a lawsuit against the NutraSweet Company, and also had the rough beginnings of a consumer organization, which she asked Stoddard to take over.
After several meetings with Turner and Ralph Nader ("Ralph told me, 'always tell the truth, and have the facts to back it up'"), July, 1987, Stoddard formally launched the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network. Among her first supporters were a large number of airplane pilots.
"In 1987, I was asked to testify at the Senate safety hearings on aspartame," she says, "and after my testimony, I was approached by an F16 pilot, who had also testified. He told me that he and many other pilots had suffered aspartame-related seizures in the cockpit. So I set up a special ACSN pilot hotline, and since that time we've had thousands of calls."
Although the FAA and military cannot prohibit pilots from consuming aspartame — since it is a legally approved product — Stoddard says that off the record, officials have acknowledged the problem. Dozens of articles cautioning against aspartame use have been published in aviation magazines, and former Defense Secretary William Cohen sent Stoddard's warnings to the heads of each branch of the military. Unfortunately, says Stoddard, current Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld — who, as president of G.D. Searle, used his political clout to ram aspartame's approval through FDA — is unlikely to issue a similar warning.
Stoddard has also received hundreds of calls from Gulf War Veterans, who wonder if aspartame could be one of the causes of Gulf War Syndrome. The troops of Desert Storm were treated to thousands of cases of Diet Coke and other aspartame-sweetened beverages, which sat on pallets for months beneath the blistering Saudi Arabian sun. Many of the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome are similar to those seen in methanol poisoning — and aspartame breaks down into methanol when heated over 85° — and that's a coincidence Stoddard and many other members of the ACSN would like to see investigated.
The NutraSweet Company and other aspartame distributors continue to tout the sweetener's safety, calling it "the most tested product on the market." But, as James Turner points out, the artificial sweetener industry has funded — either directly or indirectly — virtually every study that has ever given aspartame a clean bill.
"There are all kinds of studies that supposedly show that it's safe," he says. "But if you take a close look at them, they're foolish and poorly designed. I feel sorry for those so-called scientists who can only make a living whoring themselves out to industry; they're a pathetic lot."
But what troubles Turner even more than the research that's been done, is the research that hasn't been done. "We don't know just who aspartame affects, if it's everybody, or a just subset of people. Searle also never looked at its impact on the human brain, because the FDA didn't require it. So why bother? The FDA and the [artificial sweetener] industry have based their decisions only on the things that they know — not what they don't know. If they haven't looked at the brain to see if there are problems, then there must not be any problems. That's a very poor way of doing science."
Turner says too that none of the original tests done by Searle — those found questionable or inconclusive by the FDA — have ever been repeated. Nor, he adds, are they likely to. "As far as the FDA and industry are concerned, aspartame is a billion-dollar-a-year product, so they're just going to just keep their mouths shut and make their money."
It's also money — in the form of major funding — he says, that inspires such supposedly reputable organizations as the American Dietetic Association, the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, the American Cancer Society and the American Diabetes Association (which regularly sponsors "Cooking with Aspartame" classes), to endorse aspartame, despite the scientific controversy surrounding its use.
While neither Turner or Stoddard expect so see it taken off the market any time soon, they do hope to make a dent in the aspartame's artificially sweet image.
"Our goal is very simple," says Stoddard. "We want educated consumers. People need to know that there are two sides to the aspartame story. Their side has all the money and political influence, but we have the truth and unbiased science on our side." Turner would like to see aspartame labeled in the same way as saccharin, and believes the warning should state: 'Aspartame caused brain tumors in lab animals during its original testing, and it is responsible for more complaints from consumers than any other food additive in history.'
Stoddard fields dozens of calls to the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network hotline [214.387.4001] each week, from people concerned that the sweetener is making them ill. [They also email her their filled-in questionnaire forms to marystod@airmail.net.]Her advice: "Stop using it for four to six weeks; if the symptoms don't cease or diminish, look for another cause. If you feel better, never use it again. And tell all your friends and family not to use it either."
Stoddard and Turner are also working to prevent neotame, the NutraSweet Company's new artificial sweetener, and alitame (created by Pfizer, Inc.), from entering the U.S. market. "NutraSweet opened the door for all these other chemically synthesized sweeteners that are every bit as bad, if not worse [in the case of Neotame]," says Stoddard. "And we have to slam the door on them, to stop embracing artificial foods and supplements. We need to learn to eat real food again — that's the lesson that we should be learning from all this — when it comes to food, real is always better." •
ASPARTAME SIDEBARS
ASPARTAME'S HISTORY OF POLITICAL INTRIGUEAspartame was discovered in 1965 by a scientist working for pharmaceutical behemoth G.D. Searle and Company. Recognizing a potential cash, G.D. Searle and Co set about gaining FDA approval for their entry into the lucrative artificial sweetener market. In a 1970 internal memo, company officials laid out a strategy of "bringing the FDA into a subconscious spirit of participation." Our approach …should be to try to get them to say "Yes," to rank the things that we are going to ask for, so we are putting first those questions we would like to get a "yes" to, even if we have to throw some in that have no significance, other than putting them in a yes saying habit.
The first scientists who conducted clinical studies on aspartame, biochemist Dr. Harry Waisman and neuroscientist Dr. John W. Olney, gave it thumbs down. Searle's only reaction to their findings was to use their own scientists — or those of their favorite contractor — throughout the rest of approval process. Waisman's results, when reported to the FDA, were falsified, while Olney's were hidden from sight, techniques the company would continue to use in all their dealings with the FDA and other government and consumer agencies concerning aspartame.
Searle's slight of hand was noted early on by a number of FDA scientists and officials, but in July of 1974, the director of the FDA approved aspartame for limited use. Before it could go on the market, however, Dr. Olney and James Turner Esq. filed a formal objection, stating they believed that aspartame had the potential to cause brain damage, and that they were particularly concerned about its effects on children. Searle's non-response to the subsequent questions about their methodology set off a controversy within the FDA, and a special in-house Task Force was convened to examine the key studies done on aspartame and a number of pharmaceuticals.
The task force's preliminary findings caused the FDA to put a hold on aspartame's approval. Further obfuscation by Searle led FDA Chief Counsel Richard Merrill to recommend a grand jury be convened to investigate Searle — a recommendation that ran into a brick wall when presiding U.S. Attorney Sam Skinner left his job to work for Sidley & Austin, G.D. Searle's law firm. Following Skinner's departure, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Conlon convened a grand jury, but let the statue of limitations run out on the complaint. Fifteen months later he, too, went to work for Sidley & Austin.
In 1977, amidst continued rumblings about the company's fraudulent research, Searle brought out the Big Gun. Donald Rumsfeld, former Chief of Staff in the Ford administration — and current Secretary of Defense — was hired as president of the company. Though it took nearly four years, Rumsfeld eventually proved to be worth his weight in artificial sweetener. The day after Ronald Reagan took office in 1980, G.D. Searle reapplied for FDA approval of aspartame. At that time, according to a former Searle employee, Rumsfeld told his sales force that, "he would call in all his markers and that no matter what, he would see to it that aspartame would be approved that year." Six months later, it was approved (for use in dry foods only) by the new, Reagan- appointed Commissioner of the FDA.
Soon after, an amendment was attached to the Orphan Drug Act which extended Searle's patent on aspartame by 5 years, 10 months and 17 days. The bill passed, speeded along by Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, who later received $2,500 from the soft drink political action committee, and $1,000 each from William and Daniel Searle and a Searle brother-in-law and William Searle. Since then, Hatch has been an outspoken advocate for the sweetener, possibly due to his holdings in Twin Lab, a health supplement company that uses aspartame in a number of their products. Between 1979 and 1982, four FDA officials who assisted in the aspartame approval process landed jobs in artificial sweetener industry.
In 1983, aspartame was approved for use in carbonated beverages. Shortly after, the Commissioner of the FDA, Arthur Hayes, left the FDA under charges of impropriety, and was hired as a consultant with Searle's public relations firm, Burson Marsteller [at $1,000 a day]. That same year, James Turner, Esq. filed a petition with the FDA on behalf of himself and Community Nutrition Institute objecting to the approval of aspartame. Three months later, the FDA denied the request "because public interest did not require it."
In May of 1985, the U.S. Senate heard testimony relating to an amendment put forth by Senator Howard Metzenbaum requiring the quantity of aspartame used in products to be labeled. Senator Orrin Hatch led the fight against the labeling amendment, which was defeated. Three months later, Metzenbaum introduced the Aspartame Safety Act of 1985, another attempt at labeling, that also mandated a moratorium on new uses of aspartame until independent research could be conducted by the National Institutes of Health. The bill died in the Senate.
Also in 1985, G.D. Searle sold the NutraSweet Company (the subsidiary formed by Searle to market aspartame) to the Monsanto Company, over the objections of Monsanto's stockholders, who were leery of the legal liabilities associated with the product.
In November, 1987, a hearing was held in a U.S. Senate Committee to address aspartame safety and proposed labeling. Senator Orrin Hatch once again blocked the proceedings.
The patent for aspartame expired in December of 1992, opening up the market to other companies, such as the Holland Sweetener Company.
In 1996, the FDA approved aspartame for "general use," allowing it to be used in baking and cooking.
In 1999, Brand Week magazine named NutraSweet one of the top 100 brands of the century. NutraSweet brand aspartame is sold in more than 100 countries and used in approximately 5,000 products by 250 million people on a regular basis. In May 2000 The J.W. Childs company purchased the NutraSweet Company from Monsanto for $440 million in cash. The sale includes the sweetener business, the NutraSweet brand name and rights to the company's new sweetener, neotame.
"The NutraSweet Company revolutionized the sweetener industry in 1981 with the introduction of
aspartame," says Nick Rosa, the new president and CEO of the NutraSweet Company, "and we intend to do it again with neotame when we receive approval from various regulatory agencies around the world." •
OTHER NON-CALORIC SWEETENERS
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permits six low-calorie sweeteners to be used as food additives: Saccharin, aspartame (known around the world as NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonfuls, Canderel, Bienvia, NatraSweet and Miwon), acesulfame K, (sold under the brand name Sunett), sucralose (marketed as Splenda), trehalose and tagatose.
Saccharin
Discovered in 1879, saccharin was initially used as an antiseptic and a food preservative. Its use as a sweetener developed slowly until World Wars I and II, when sugar rationing caused its popularity to boom. The FDA has allowed the makers of saccharin to make a self-determined Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) declaration, claiming exemption from the premarket or food additive approval requirements, although the FDA also lists it as an "anticipated" human carcinogen. All saccharin-sweetened products must bear a label stating: "Use of this product may be hazardous to your health. This product contains saccharin which has been determined to cause cancer in laboratory animals."
Acesulfame-K (Sunette)
Acesulfame-K (5,6-dimethyl-1,2,3-oxathiazine-4(3H)-one-2,2-dioxide) is approximately 200 times sweeter than sucrose. It has been approved by the FDA in 1988 for use in baked goods, refrigerated and frozen desserts, alcoholic beverages, yogurt, dry dessert mixes, confections, hard and soft candies, tabletop sweeteners, bulk sweeteners, chewing gum, dry dairy analog bases, syrups, sweet sauces and toppings. Acesulfame K, produced by Hoechst Food Ingredients in Germany, is often used in combination with other artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame and saccharin. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a food watchdog agency, has repeatedly expressed concern that acesulfame K is a potential carcinogen, and that the FDA has failed to require the manufacturer to conduct high-quality tests of the artificial sweetener.
According to CSPI, testing done on acesulfame K " followed inadequate protocols, which are greatly at variance with current standards for test design, execution and reporting required for the National Toxicology Program's bioassays."
Sucralose (Splenda)
Sucralose (trichlorogalactosucrose) was approved by the FDA in 1988 as a tabletop sweetener and for use in a number of desserts, confections, and nonalcoholic beverages. Sucralose is produced by chlorinating sucrose (sugar); three chlorine atoms are substituted for three three hydroxyl groups. According to Consumers Research Magazine , some concern was initially raised about sucralose being a chlorinated molecule, as chlorinated molecules also serve as the basis for pesticides such as D.D.T., and accumulate in body fat. However, the manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson emphasized that "sucralose passes through the body unabsorbed."
Research animals fed sucralose exhibited the following symptoms: Shrunken thymus glands (up to 40% shrinkage), enlarged liver and kidneys, atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus, reduced growth rate, decreased red blood cell count, hyperplasia of the pelvis, extension of the pregnancy period , aborted pregnancy, decreased fetal body weights and placental weights and chronic diarrhea.
In the wake of the continued controversy over aspartame, many pharmaceutical and health food manufacturers — including Pro Lab, Twin Lab and Ross Products, makers of Pedialyte) — have switched over to sucralose.
Tagatose & Trehalose
Like saccharin, both of these sweeteners have slipped through the FDA with a Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status.
The Calorie Control Council — which enthusiastically endorses the use of all artificial sweeteners — describes tagatose as "a naturally occurring reduced-calorie sweetener that can be found in some dairy products" and "commercially produced via a patented process." Less sweet than sugar, tagatose also "browns" more readily than sucrose in baked goods, and has been shown to cause diarrhea and gas. Nonetheless, manufacturers plan to use tagatose in chocolate, caramel, chewing gum, ice cream, soft drinks, cereals and meal replacements.
Trehalose is almost half as sweet as table sugar, and is said to occur naturally in honey, mushrooms, lobster, shrimp and foods produced using baker's and brewer's yeast. It is approved for use in beverages, including fruit juices, purees, fillings, nutrition bars, dehydrated fruits and vegetables and white chocolate for cookies or chips. though because of its low sweetness rating, trehalose is most often used as a preservative.
And On the Horizon…
Alitame,
Discovered by Pfizer, Inc., alitame (brand name Aclame) is 2,000 times sweeter than sugar. Like aspartame, it is made from amino acids, including aspartic acid, D-alanine and a novel amine.
Alitame has the potential to be used in almost all areas where sweeteners are presently used —e.g., baked goods and baking mixes, hot and cold beverages, dry beverage mixes, milk products, frozen desserts and mixes, fruit preparations, chewing gums and candies, tabletop sweeteners, toiletries and pharmaceuticals.
Pfizer applied for FDA approval of alitame in 1986, but it has yet to be granted. It is, however, available in other countries, including Australia, New Zealand and the People's Republic of China.
Neotame
Neotame contains all the dangerous elements of aspartame and more: the amino acids L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine, and two organic functional groups: one known as a methyl ester group and the other as a neohexyl group. These components are joined together to form an incredibly sweet (8,000 times sweeter than sugar) and potentially dangerous compound.
The FDA was petitioned in 1997 to approve neotame for use as a tabletop sweetener. Approval is still pending. [Ed.-Final approval of Neotame came in 2002, over rigorous objections of consumer groups and some scientists. Unlike aspartame, there is no Federal labeling requirement for Neotame . . . allowing it to be covertly added to products.] The NutraSweet Company, which owns the right to neotame, plans to use the sweetener in chewing gum, carbonated soft drinks, refrigerated and non-refrigerated ready-to-drink beverages, frozen desserts and novelties, puddings and fillings, yogurt-type products, baked goods and candies.
Cyclamate
Cyclamate was first introduced as a sweetener in the early 1950s, and dominate the artificial sweetener market though much of the '60s. In the late 60s, however, concerns arose over cyclamate's potential to cause genetic damage, testicular atrophy and cancer, and in 1970, the FDA imposed a total ban on its use. Under pressure from the sweetener industry, the FDA is said to be considering reapproval of cyclamate, which is still in use in 50 other countries. In many products made overseas and shipped to the United States, cyclamate, Acesulfame-K and aspartame are blended together to create a "super sweetener." •
WHAT TO EAT WHEN YOU CRAVE SWEET
Sugar cravings are natural: It's the way we answer them that's unnatural. All too often, when our energy starts to flag, we reach for a cookie or a soda — or, worse yet, a sugar-free cookie or a diet soda. But what our body really wants is the natural sugar found in fresh fruits and vegetables.
According to Dr. Kathleen DesMaisons, author of Potatoes, Not Prozac, the ultimate sugar snack is one low in fat and protein and high in complex carbohydrates — such as baked potato. Eating protein and fat at each meal, she says, will also help stabilize blood sugar and lessen cravings for sweets. People who are prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and other forms of depression often consume excessive amounts of sugar and carbohydrates in an effort to boost their serotonin levels. DesMaisons recommends potatoes, yams and winter squash — and regular exposure to full-spectrum light — to increase serotonin levels without loading up on refined sugar (or Prozac).
ASPARTAME / BREAST CANCER CONNECTION EXPLAINED:
Strong statistical evidence links the artificial sweetener, aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet) to breast cancer. The American Cancer Society figures show that breast cancer cases have doubled since 1981, the year aspartame was approved for use as a food additive. Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet) is added to over 5,000 food and drink products and is sold in almost 100 countries.
There is chemical proof that the synthetic amino acids that compose aspartame– phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and the methanol in which they are bound, are neurotoxins [nerve poisons]. Phenylalanine (50% of aspartame) lowers the seizure threshold and degrades into DKP, a tumor causing agent. Aspartic acid (40% of aspartame) caused holes in the brains of mice (Dr. John Olney, neuroscientist, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.)
Methanol (wood alcohol, 10% of aspartame) causes cumulative damage in the body. Since it is "free" methanol", appearing without ethanol (the antidote for methanol toxicity always present in natural food such as fruit juice), the methanol in aspartame is lethal. Methanol destroys the optic nerve and can cause blindness. Fetal tissue cannot tolerate methanol.
In addition, the methanol in aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet) breaks down into formaldehyde (embalming fluid) and formic acid which has the chemical composition of ant venom. Formic acid is used commercially in products such as paint stripper.
There is actual proof from recent records released by the Freedom of Information Act that aspartame caused dozens of mammary tumors in animals tested from 1971 to 1974 by G.D. Searle, the pharmaceutical company, responsible for aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet).
Searle falsified results of their animal testing when they presented evidence of aspartame safety to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for approval as a "food additive."
The U.S. Government trusts the manufacturer of a product to perform its own safety tests.
To verify the breakdown of aspartame into its toxic breakdown products (phenylalanine into DKP and methanol into formaldehyde) Jennifer Cohen, eleven, a student in the sixth grade did her own experiment.
Jennifer bought a case of diet Coke, and she took three cans to a food-testing laboratory that found the aspartame amount in one can was 0.06%. Jennifer stored seven cans of the diet Coke in the refrigerator, seven cans at room temperature (68 to 70 degrees) and seven cans in an incubator at 104 degrees Fahrenheit. "I chose that temperature because in 1983, the National Soft Drink Association (NSDA) said that 104 degrees was the average daily high for July in Phoenix, Arizona."
Jennifer checked the temperatures of the diet Cokes daily and after seventy days took them out of storage and performed a double blind experiment (neither the subject nor the tester knows who gets what) on ten adult subjects. "I was going to do a taste in my sister's fourth grade class, but the school nurse said that I couldn't because of all the bad things people say about aspartame."
"I put all of the cans in a cooler and covered them with ice. I gave each person a small cup of the soda from the refrigerator, from the incubator, from my room, and from a new can of soda fresh from the supermarket. I asked them to rate the taste on a scale of one to four, four being the worst and one being the best."
The subjects preferred the new can of diet Coke, and the average rating was 2.0. The refrigerated sample was rated 2.5. Lab analysis showed this coke contained 0.058% aspartame, 0.001% DKP and 53.5 parts per billion of formaldehyde. The diet Coke sample at room temperature was rated 2.6 and lab analysis showed 0.051% aspartame left with conversion to 0.002% DKP and 231.0 parts formaldehyde, (the most formaldehyde in the test.) The diet Coke stored in the incubator rated the worst taste at 3.8. All that was left of the 0.06 % aspartame was 0.02%. The aspartame had turned onto 0.010 % DKP and 76.2 parts per billion of formaldehyde.
The experiment to prove aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet) breakdown into formaldehyde and DKP cost Jennifer $1200. (Chemical News, 1997)
A twenty-five year old trade memo reveals Searle's concern about aspartame's stability: "We have no way of estimating maximum likely abuse, and hence need to utilize data based on almost complete conversion to DKP. We stand a good chance of ending up with nothing."
Among the findings Searle Laboratories ended up with in a complete conversion to DKP were mammary tumors, brain tumors, uterine polyps, enlarged pituitary and thyroid glands and atrophied testes.
The animals under test in the 115 Week Oral Tumor Study in the Rat, with DKP, were 360 albino rats, 21 days old. Rats are less sensitive than human beings and the amount of DKP fed to the test animal correlates to human ingestion.
"In any such study of even a few hundred test animals, it takes no more than a dozen or so of them to exhibit a particular lesion… to associate with the test agent, i.e., aspartame or its related chemicals." (Dr. Adrian Gross, FDA toxicologist, in a letter to Senator Metzenbaum, Oct. 30, 1986.)
Here is a description of mammary tumors found in Female Rat.No.M17LF, (a low dose female) fed DKP in rat chow. "In toto" means the tissue has been left to deteriorate before microscopic examination, one of the felonious things Searle did to hide negative results.
Mammary Gland:
Mass (1) A 3 X 3 X 2.5 cm. Spheroidal Multi-nodular yellowish non-adherent to the surrounding muscles or tissue (submitted in toto)
Mass (2) 2X5 X 2X1 cm. Irregularly shaped, spheroidal, smooth, yellowish white firm mass located subcutaneously and adjacent to the above described mass (submitted in toto) mass non-adherent to the surrounding muscles or tissues.
Mass (3) A 2.3 X 1cm. Irregularly shaped, multinodular, yellowish white, firm mass located subcutaneously on the rt. Axillary area. Mass non-adherent to the surrounding muscles or tissues (submitted in toto).
Mass (4) A 3X1X1 cm. Elongated, multinodular, yellowish white, firm mass located subcutaneously on the left inguinal area. Mass non-adherent to the surrounding muscles or tissues (submitted in toto.)
Mass (5) A 2X1.5 X 1 cm. Flat, multinodular, yellowish white firm mass located subcutaneously of the rt. Inguinal area. Mass non-adherent to the surrounding muscles or tissues (submitted in toto.)
Pathologist Dr. Charles H. Frith spent 3 days with the FDA to review 145 animals from Searle's DKP toxicity study. Sufficient slides substantiated 73 female animals with grossly observed masses. (Bressler Report to FDA)
To hide the mammary tumors, Searle scientists excised them and returned the animals to the study or removed the tumors, post-mortem (after death).
Malignancies were made to appear benign. Searle explained that a computer "programming error" was responsible.
Dr. Gross interviewed all concerned with the tests and concluded that "to accept the Searle explanation is to believe that the unfavorable mammary malignancy data were innocently omitted from the summary table four separate times by three different individuals (Congressional Record, 1985.)
The following statistics are from SEER, (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) The statistics are age standardized and computed to account for slight surges, due to mammogram screening.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 35-54. In 1971, a woman's lifetime risk for contracting breast cancer was one in fourteen. Today it is one in eight. (The Breast Cancer Prevention Program, Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. and David Steinman, Macmillan, 1997)
Breast cancer began to rise rapidly concurrent with the use of aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet), when it was approved in 1981 for table top use in dry foods and, in 1983, for use in sweetening aqueous solutions – carbonated beverages.
Between 1940-1982, there was a steady, annual rate of breast cancer increase of about 1% per year.
Between 1982-1987, the increase in breast cancer accelerated to 4%, annually. (ACS)
Between 1983-1988 the per capita consumption of aspartame quadrupled (USDA)
Increased longevity is not the reason for the rise in breast cancer cases. Life expectancy rates have remained relatively stable since 1950, while the incidence of breast cancer has increased by about 55% (The Breast Cancer Prevention Program, Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. and David Steinman), Macmillan, 1997)
Mammogram accounts for finding 10% of all breast cancer cases. The woman herself discovers the other 90% of breast cancer cases.
Although the numbers are recorded separately from other breast cancers by the American Cancer Society, DCIS, Ductile Carcinoma in Situ accounts for 40% of all breast cancer detected by mammogram. DCIS is abnormal (sometimes called pre-cancerous) cells confined to the milk ducts of the breasts. (As reported by cookbook author, Carol Guilford.)
On a mammogram, DCIS shows up as tiny specks of calcium.(Wessex Cancer Trust, England).
Oncologists now categorize different kinds of DCIS (cribiform, comedo, papillary, solid type, low intermediate and high nuclear grade) One description of a case of DCIS, comedo type reads: Solid sheets of malignant cells fill the dilated (milk) ducts. The center of the involved ducts undergoes necrosis and calcification (Online, Management of Breast Diseases).
From 1983-1989, the years in which aspartame use quadrupled, DCIS rose 52%. There were 23,000 DCIS cases in 1992; 30,000 in 1996 and 36,000 estimated for 1998, 200% higher than was projected in 1983. (Ductile Carcinoma In Situ of the Breast by Gil Lederman, M.D.)
"A Diagnosis on the Rise." "Is It Really Breast Cancer?" "Weighing Treatment Options", and "A Mysterious Condition" are medical problems "Good Housekeeping" magazine tried to answer for their readers, in 1996.
The problem is that there is no way to tell if early stage cancer, as DCIS is sometimes called will develop into invasive cancer. The only information about its natural course comes from three small studies which found 30% of women who had biopsies developed breast cancer within ten years of the biopsies, but it wasn't clear why this happened in some cases and not in others.
DCIS is a poorly understood condition. A University of California, San Francisco report, found that while the number of cases of ductile carcinoma in situ has risen dramatically in the last 15 years, clinicians still do not know the best treatment approach.
In 1992, 10,000 American women diagnosed with DCIS underwent a mastectomy.
The increasing incident rates for DCIS "mirror what all of us have been seeing in practice for the last decade", says Dr. Hiram Cody, a breast cancer specialist at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. "This study (from UCSF) creates the impression that a large number of women are being treated with mastectomy, but these numbers are declining all the time."
Dr. Virginia Ernster, UCSF professor: "These findings (the unexpected increase in DCIS) underscore an urgent need to determine the best treatment for DCIS, as well as for research to define which DCIS cases will progress to invasive cancer."
When aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet) is exposed to temperatures above 86 degrees F, it breaks down into its neurotoxins faster.
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For more information:
http://www.aspartamesafety.com
email: marystod@airmail.net
Mary Nash Stoddard, Founder & President
Aspartame Consumer Safety Network
