Artificial Sweeteners and Their Serious Side Effects

Undoubtedly you have heard that Aspartame is a safe sweetener and people use it to loose weight. Unfortunately that information is criminally false and misleading. You can find out more about how public relations firms shape and manipulate the public's beliefs on the "Why you believe what you believe" page.

Aspartame is made of 3 components, 50% phenylalanine, 40% aspartic acid and 10% methanol (wood alcohol). In the body methanol breaks down into formaldehyde (embalming fluid) and formic acid.

Aspartame banned in Europe for children's products On the European Common Market, Aspartame is banned for all children's products. Why is this not the case in Canada and the U.S.? Because Monsanto - which owns the NutraSweet Company which manufactures Aspartame - pays off the FDA, the American Medical Association, The American Dietetic and Diabetic Associations, Congressmen and Senators and virtually anyone who gets in the way, and in other countries too. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation caught them red handed and aired a program where Monsanto was trying to bribe Canadian Doctors at Health Canada.

More on the Monsanto company: Monsanto is the world's largest manufacturer of poisons, not only of the citizens of the world but also of the environment. In 1995, Monsanto ranked 5th among US corporations in the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, having discharged 37 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land, water and underground.

Responsible for mass poisoning of the world. How Robert B. Shapiro, President and CEO of Monsanto and the other members of the board, many of whom call themselves "Doctors" can live with themselves, knowing what they and the company are responsible for is incomprehensible. The entire lot should be prosecuted for mass genocide. Their track record of plain lying, falsifying and concealing data, bribery of officials, and the list goes on, is truly astonishing.

To quote the Toronto Globe and Mail reporting on the outcome of a three year trial, "The evidence of Monsanto's executives at the trial portrayed a corporate culture where sales and profits were given a higher priority than the safety of products and its workers..... They just didn't care about the health and safety of their workers. Instead of trying to make things safer, they relied on intimidation and threatened layoffs to keep their employees working".

Aspartame contains 10% methanol NutraSweet (Aspartame) is composed of linkages of aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol. The aspartic acid acts as a neuroexcitatory agent. When NutraSweet is digested, it yields 10% methanol (wood alcohol). The wood alcohol (methanol) is widely distributed throughout the body including brain, muscle, fat and nervous tissue. It is then metabolized to FORMALDEHYDE which enters the cells and binds to the proteins and DNA (the genetic material).

Cytogenetic effects (changes in DNA) have been shown to result from FORMALDEHYDE exposure and DNA damage occurs from FORMALDEHYDE. The nature of the injury generally involves breaking and then creation of cross linking within the genetic material which alters the cells.

This finding has been confirmed numerous times and the DNA-protein-cross-links are believed to cause cancers in experimental animals. Changes in the genetic material is associated with cancer production in humans. The ability of Aspartame to cause cellular mutations has been shown through studies by Shephard, et al. There are increases in malignant brain tumors suggested to be associated with aspartame use. FORMALDEHYDE is a known stimulant for cancer and genetic damage in the cell.

THE FDA has admitted that only approximately 1% of people know how to, or do, file complaints with them. Under a recent Freedom of Information order the FDA admitted that aspartame accounted for over 75% of complaints filed. They claimed that over 8000 were filed, but they keep changing their bookkeeping to keep the numbers low. The fact that 8000 reports were received indicates that there must have been over 800,000 people adversely affected at the very least.

An average person's daily intake of methyl alcohol from natural sources averages less than 10 mg (1). Aspartame beverages contain 55 mg methanol per liter, and nearly double as much in some carbonated orange sodas. Persons ingesting 5 liters/day can therefore consume over 400 mg methanol. These facts are pertinent:

. Methyl alcohol is probably the first component of aspartame released within the small intestine, and is rapidly absorbed. Blood and methanol concentrations correlate with aspartame intake. "Abuse doses" (100 mg/kg or more) ingested by normal subjects significantly elevate blood methanol concentrations, remaining detectable for 8 or more hours (2).

. Humans are more vulnerable to the toxic effects of methanol than animals because several enzymes required for its metabolism have been lost during evolution and are not present in humans.

. The toxicity of methanol is enhanced by its slow rate of oxidation - only 1/7 that of ethyl alcohol - occurring mainly in the liver and kidneys. Even though the half life in human volunteers ingesting small amounts (1-5 ml) is about 3 hours, complete oxidation to carbon dioxide usually requires several days.

. The body attempts to detoxify methyl alcohol by oxidizing it to formaldehyde (a deadly neurotoxin and Class A carcinogen), and then to formate or formic acid within minutes. Formate and formaldehyde each may contribute to toxicity and nervous system/immune dysfunction through various mechanisms. One is the conjugation of formaldehyde with human serum albumin (F-HSA) to form a new antigenic determinant. Patients with multiple health complaints who had been exposed chronically to formaldehyde develop anti F-HSA antibodies and elevated Tal cells (antigen memory cells), consistent with sustained antigenic stimulation of the immune system

I worked at a company about 5 years ago, where one of the legal assistants drank 5-6 Diet Cokes throughout the day and had been doing it for a number of years. Those were the days when Diet Coke was made with Aspartame... No Splenda on the market -- yet... She was having medical tests done to figure out why she was shaking with tremors and experiencing severe brain fog, among other symptoms. She admitted that she was going downhill fast and had no idea why. I had known about aspartame causing a slew of neurological conditions and one day suggested she stop drinking the diet coke and research the subject. She didn't take me up on my suggestion, in fact looked at me like I was crazy, and continued drinking the DC like a true addict. I left the company shortly after that, so I don't know what happened to her, but I can tell you that her decline was fast -- she was fine when I arrived there and shaking with tremors 8 months later.

I started to use Splenda as a sugar replacement in my coffee and tea. One day I got out of the shower and had a herendous rash all over my body. The itching was uncontrolable. I knew I was having an allergic reaction but I was not sure to what.I started to take antihistamines. The rash and itching would not go away. When I would itch, huge welts would form under my skin. Then one day I started vomiting uncontrollably. I had no idea what was going on. I told a friend of mine what was happening, she told me the same thing had happened to her son and that he turned out to be allergic to Splenda. So I did some research and found out that my symptoms were very common to others who were also having allergice reactions to splenda. So I stopped using Splenda and all my ailments went away.

I used to drink crystal light all the time until one day I got a headache and lost part of my eyesight....Like pieces of what I was looking at were missing. I stopped drinking it and tried it again and the same thing happened. I just don't use it anymore and I'm fine. Just recently I had something with aspartame in it and didn't realize it and the symptom happened...I checked out what I had to drink and sure enough there it was.....Aspartame! Dangerous stuff!

Aspartame caused flu-like symptoms, including runny nose, nausea, bowel distress, clogged sinuses, slothfulness and fatigue. I used 3 pks of aspartame per cup of coffee and drank about 6 cups per day. The symptoms seemed negligible at first, but after about of month of usage, I became so discomforted, that I self-diagnosed myself as contracting a virus from somewhere, anywhere. However, my wife never contracted any of the symptoms, which is uncustomary for a virus. Than I remembered something I read about aspartame and how it, thru a heating process by cooking with or adding to heated foods or drinks, it (aspartame, creates, emits, or changes into formaldehyde in in its final state,

After 2 days of not using this product (though I continued to drink the same amount of coffee) my head cleared up, and my nose stopped running; but I still felt very ill and out of it. After refraining from this deleterious delight for 1 week, I began to completely recover. A common virus normally doesn't last for two plus weeks (at least not for me), so, since I quit using aspartame after a two week stint of illness, and began recovery only after I quit using it during the third week; I can only conclude that the onset and perpetuation of my discomfort was due to aspartame usage. My daughter forwarded this informative web site to me, and now I am more than convinced, that I am not the only one who gets ill from this government endorsed poison.

Haven't tried anything yet but cutting out all aspartame and low-cal sweeteners today!! I consume this sweetener in everything I eat and drink. I'm constantly trying to lose weight so of course I use it. For years I have suffered from depression, headaches, stuffiness, lack of energy, and now dizziness that several doctors can't explain. I've always heard of problems with aspartame but never thought it was true but this time I am cutting it out completely. Hopefully I will feel better because at this point I can hardly make it to work.

regarding Aspartame.... After not being able to sleep a wink for 3 straight weeks and having restless leg syndrome (and arms also), I couldn't stand it any more and was ready to visit the doctor. My body felt so wired all the time and I felt like punching and kicking. But I decided to analyze what I had been eating that was different from usual. After a week of cutting out items I found it was the new gum I had been chewing that contained Aspartame. I cut that out and I was able to sleep again, and the "wired" feelings went away. After telling my Mother, who had been using sweetener for years and always had trouble sleeping, she stopped using it also and now sleeps well. I use Stevia now with no side effects at all.

Got noro and drank nothing but diet vernors for 2 days. About a week later saw a sale for diet sprite "zero" so got 3 bottles. Waiting on neck surgery and my neck suddenly for no apparent reason "went out" on me to the tune of 2 er trips in one day and a cortesone shot and still hurts. Saw a post on this site that someone else has neck issue flared bc of sweetener. never again.

ASPARTAME SIDE EFFECTS: Thank you for your wonderful website. I am a 52 y.o. male and started having strange symptoms about 4 months ago. It is very difficult to explain except to say that I had a sensation of a heavy head. This was accompanied by a low grade headache, dizziness and occasional nervousness and anxiety. After I suffered with these symptoms for about 2 months I went to a doctor and scheduled a CT scan. Meanwhile, I tried to research my symptoms on the Internet but had a hard time finding anything for a "heavy head." If I didn't think I was dying of a brain tumor or had something seriously wrong with me, it would have been funny. The scan came back normal and I was relieved that I wasn't dying. It had to be something else. Then I stumbled across information on aspartame and it finally dawned on me -- everything made sense. I had started drinking about 2-3 bottles a day of Diet Snapple several months ago. My symptoms gradually crept up on me and I didn't pay much attention. But when the lingering headaches never went away and I was plagued with dizziness and anxiety, I knew there had to be something in my system. I studied and researched more and discovered a tremendous amount of evidence linking aspartame with nervous disorders and the exact symptoms I was experiencing. Well, I stopped ingesting aspartame immediately. From what I read, it would take a long 2 months for it to leave my system. I could feel my body trying to expel it through my nose when I felt intense pressure there, similar to a sinus infection (which by the way, I was checked for and was found to be normal.) Anyway, it's been several weeks after I stopped taking aspartame I am completely well. I've learned several things from this experience, including it is very difficult for a person make a connection between their symptoms and aspartame -- who would ever think that the Diet Coke in front of them is causing their headache or all sorts of other problems? Secondly, doctors, though well intentioned, are not asking the very first question they should ask patients who are complaining of these mental symptoms. The question out of their mouths in the examining room should be, "Are you consuming any diet beverages or foods?" Third, the next time I complain of a heavy head feeling, I won't have to listen to my wife say, "Maybe you need stronger neck muscles." Haha Again, thank you for your website and the wonderful forum you provide for people to share their experiences.

While I believe that aspartame is unhealthy, publishing the "Nancy Markle" letter as some kind of substantiated report is beyond irresponsible. There is no Nancy Markle. No one has found her, ever. http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp
Do right by your readers and publish facts supported by studies. Include footnotes and sources. Don't publish anectodal writings and emails, presenting them as facts.

If you want to read up on the "Nancy Markel" scheme then it traces back to Betty Martini. It seems as if Betty Martini has an agenda to brainwash people about the "dangers" of aspartame. I'm almost certain she is associated with the sugar industry.

Betty Martini is a regular visitor to many "anti-aspartame" websites always suggesting unsubstantiated claims about aspartames side effects.

If you want the opinion of an actual expert with a background in this area(toxicology)then search what John Garst has to say. If you would like to research this better and not

believe all the anti-aspartame hype then check pubmed.gov

Research things like aspartame and diabetes.

Note the amount of studies that come back. Then research sugar and diabetes then note the much larger amount of studies. Blindness and aspartame a WHOPPING(chuckle) 2 studies come back. Now blindness and sugar.. Figure it out. What is more dangerous to society.

Remember a couple of things:

1)Despite Betty Martini's biggest argument about rats getting cancer from aspartame it is NOT been even remotely established to be true in humans.
Here's a shocker for the layperson: RATS GET CANCER!!! Why? In the longetivity newsgroups they first of all "know their stuff" because many have backgrounds in longetivity research suggest that rats getting cancer is merely a way to control overpopulation.NO BIG DEAL.

Regarding falsified letters "proving" the opposite of the letter is true, did you know some people will deliberately write these and the same group will prove them wrong to make people believe everything it says is wrong? Its a tactic to try to brainwash people. Like the letter might say its a fact that nutrasweet has caused 1000 cases of brain cancer. Fact is no it hsan't but that doesn't mean it's good for you but the group that puts that letter out will be the same group using different names that will come out and refute it and thus try to get you to believe it's perfectly safe. It's just a big ugly scam.

I am a 45 year old female and started noticing high levels of forgetfulness and inability to focus. I had been drinking diet Snapple for a few months. By coincidence a friend of mine told me a story about how aspartame can cause forgetfulness. I stopped drinking diet Snapple and noticed an improvement in my memory within a few days. I'm not prone to believing rumors but I experienced the improvement so quickly that I believe it was the aspartame that was causing my problem. I now tell my friends about this in order to help stop the wide spread affects of this dangerous sweetener.

ASPARTAME POISONING
Below is an article on aspartame poisoning that's been floating around the internet for years now. We think you'll find it extremely informative.

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From: [email protected]
Date: Sunday, December 13, 1998 7:54 AM
Subject: Could be very important information on our health...

Sent to PLANETNEWS: WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE and the MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS FOUNDATION F.D.A. ISSUING FOR COLLUSION WITH MONSANTO

An article written by Nancy Markle (1120197)

"I have spent several days lecturing at the WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE on ASPARTAME marketed as 'NutraSweet', 'Equal', and 'Spoonful'. In the keynote address by the EPA, they announced that there was an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus, and they did not understand what toxin was causing this to be rampant across the United States. I explained that I was there to lecture on exactly that subject.

* When the temperature of Aspartame exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in ASPARTAME coverts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. (Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants). The methanol toxicity mimics multiple sclerosis; thus people were being diagnosed with having multiple sclerosis in error. The multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, where methanol toxicity is.

* In the case of systemic lupus, we are finding it has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis, especially among Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers. Also, with methanol toxicity, victims usually drink three to four 12 oz. cans of them per day, some even more. In the cases of systemic lupus, which is triggered by ASPARTAME, the victim usually does not know that the ASPARTAME is the culprit. The victim continues its use, aggravating the lupus to such a degree that sometimes it becomes life-threatening. When we get people off the ASPARTAME, those with systemic lupus usually become asymptomatic. Unfortunately, we cannot reverse this disease.

* On the other hand, in the case of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, (when in reality, the disease is methanol toxicity), most of the symptoms disappear. We have seen cases where their vision has returned and even their hearing has returned. This also applies to cases of tinnitus.

* During a lecture, I said, "If you are using ASPARTAME (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc.) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, or memory loss - you probably have ASPARTAME DISEASE!" People were jumping up during the lecture saying, "I've got this, is it reversible?" Some of the speakers at my lecture even were suffering from these symptoms. In one lecture attended by the Ambassador of Uganda, he told us that their sugar industry is adding ASPARTAME to the sugar! He continued by saying that one of the industry leader's son could no longer walk - due in part to product usage!

* We have a very serious problem. Even a stranger came up to Dr. Escapist (one of my speakers) and myself and said, 'Could you tell me why so many people seem to be coming down with MS?' During a visit to a hospice, a nurse said that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke addicts, had all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence.

* Here is the problem. There were Congressional Hearings when ASPARTAME was included in 100 different products. Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings, but to no avail. Nothing has been done. The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets. Now there are over 5,000 products containing this chemical, and the PATENT HAS EXPIRED!!!!! At the time of this first hearing, people were going blind. The methanol in the ASPARTAME converts to formaldehyde in the retina of the eye. Formaldehyde is grouped in the same class of drugs as cyanide and arsenic - DEADLY POISONS!!! Unfortunately, it just takes longer to quietly kill, but it is killing people and causing all kinds of neurological problems.

* ASPARTAME changes the brain's chemistry. It is the reason for severe seizures. This drug changes the dopamine level in the brain. Imagine what this drug does to patients suffering from Parkinson's Disease. This drug also causes Birth Defects.

* There is absolutely no reason to take this product. It is NOT A DIET PRODUCT!!! The Congressional record said, "It makes you crave carbohydrates and will make you FAT". Dr. Roberts stated that when he got patients off aspartame, their average weight loss was 19 pounds per person. The formaldehyde stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs.

* Aspartame is especially deadly for diabetics. All physicians know what wood alcohol will do to a diabetic. We find that physicians believe that they have patients with retinopathy, when in fact, it is caused by the poison. ASPARTAME keeps the blood sugar level out of control, causing many patients to go into a coma. Unfortunately, many have died.

* People were telling us at the Conference of the American College of Physicians, that they had relatives that switched from saccharin to an ASPARTAME product and how that relative had eventually gone into a coma. Their physicians could not get the blood sugar levels under control. Thus, the patients suffered acute memory loss and eventually coma and death. Memory loss is due to the fact that aspartic acid and phenylalanine are neurotoxic without the other amino acids found in protein. Thus it goes past the blood brain barrier and deteriorates the neurons of the brain.

* Dr. Russell Blaylock, neurosurgeon, said, "The ingredients stimulates the neurons of the brain to death, causing brain damage of varying degrees. Dr. Blaylock has written a book entitled "EXCITOTOXINS: THE TASTE THAT KILLS."

* Dr. H.J. Roberts, diabetic specialist and world expert on aspartame poisoning, has also written a book entitled "DEFENSE AGAINST ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE." Dr. Roberts tells how ASPARTAME POISONING is escalating Alzheimer's Disease, and indeed it is. As the hospice nurse told me, women are being admitted at 30 years of age with Alzheimer's Disease.

* Dr. Blaylock and Dr. Roberts will be writing a position paper with some case histories and will post it on the Internet. According to the Conference of the American College of Physicians, "We are talking about a plague of neurological diseases caused by this poison."

* Dr. Roberts realized what was happening when ASPARTAME was first marketed. He said "his diabetic patients presented memory loss, confusion, and severe vision loss". At the Conference of the American College of Physicians, doctors admitted that they did not know. They had wondered why seizures were rampant (the phenylalanine in ASPARTAME breaks down the seizure threshold and depletes serotonin, which causes manic depression, panic attacks, rage and violence).

* Just before the Conference, I received a FAX from Norway, asking for a possible antidote for this poison because they are experiencing so many problems in their country. This "poison" is now available in 90 PLUS countries worldwide. Fortunately, we had speakers and ambassadors at the Conference from different nations who have pledged their help. We ask that you help too. Print this article out and warn everyone you know. Take anything that contains aspartame back to the store. Take the "NO ASPARTAME TEST" and send us your case history.

* I assure you that MONSANTO, the creator of ASPARTAME, knows how deadly it is. They fund the American Diabetes Association, American Dietetic Association, Congress, and the Conference of the American College of Physicians. The New York Times, on November 15, 1996, ran an article on how the American Dietetic Association takes money from the food industry to endorse their products. Therefore, they can not criticize any additives or tell about their link to MONSANTO. How bad is this? We told a mother who had a child on NutraSweet to get off the product. The child was having grand mal seizures every day. The mother called her physician, who called the ADA, who told the doctor not to take the child off NutraSweet. We are still trying to convince the mother that the ASPARTAME is causing the seizures. Every time we get someone off of ASPARTAME, the seizures stop. If the baby dies, you know whose fault it is, and what we are up against. There are 92 documented symptoms of ASPARTAME, from coma to death. The majority of them are all neurological, because the ASPARTAME destroys the nervous system.

* ASPARTAME DISEASE is partially the cause behind some of the mystery of the Dessert Storm health problems. The burning tongue and other problems discussed in over 60 cases can be directly related to the consumption of an ASPARTAME product. Several thousand pallets of diet drinks were shipped to the Dessert Storm troops. (Remember that heat can liberate the methanol from the aspartame at 86 degrees F). Diet drinks sat in the 120 degree. Arabian sun for weeks at a time on pallets. The service men and women drank them all day long. All of their symptoms are identical to ASPARTAME poisoning. Dr. Roberts says "consuming ASPARTAME at the time of conception can cause birth defects". The phenylalanine concentrates in the placenta, causing mental retardation, according to Dr. Louis Elsas, Pediatrician Professor - Genetics, at Emory University in his testimony before Congress.

* In the original lab tests, animals developed brain tumors (phenylalanine breaks down into DXP, a brain tumor agent). When Dr. Escapist was lecturing on ASPARTAME, one physician in the audience, a neurosurgeon, said, "when they remove brain tumors, they have found high levels of ASPARTAME in them".

* Stevia, a sweet food, NOT AN ADDITIVE, which helps in the metabolism of sugar, which would be ideal for diabetics, has now been approved as a dietary supplement by the FDA For years, the FDA has outlawed this sweet food because of their loyalty to MONSANTO.

* If it says "SUGAR FREE" on the label - DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!!! Senator Howard Hetzenbaum wrote a bill that would have warned all at risk pregnant mothers and children of the dangers of ASPARTAME. The bill would have also instituted independent studies on the problems existing in the population (seizures, changes in brain chemistry, changes in neurological and behavioral symptoms). It was killed by the powerful drug and chemical lobbies, letting loose the hounds of disease and death on an unsuspecting public. Since the Conference of the American College of Physicians, we hope to have the help of some world leaders. Again, please help us too. There are a lot of people out there who must be warned, *please* let them know this information."

One reader's response to the above article:
5/2/2006: Nicole from Miami writes us, "While I believe that aspartame is unhealthy, publishing the "Nancy Markle" letter as some kind of substantiated report is beyond irresponsible. There is no Nancy Markle. No one has found her, ever. http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp
Do right by your readers and publish facts supported by studies. Include footnotes and sources. Don't publish anectodal writings and emails, presenting them as facts."

---------------------------------

2/23/2007: Diane sent us the following link and excerpt from the FDA web site dated August of 2002:

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/02/Aug02/080102/98f-0052-her0001-vol5.txt

From: Betty Martini [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 11:25 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected]; Jaffe Lyle D Cc: info-anzfa.gov.au; annette.king-ministers.govt.nz; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Open Objection to approval of Neotame, Docket Number 98F-0052 abd 99 F - 0187, Request for Hearing. All studies on Neotame meaningless because they are based on aspartame which was never proven safe. Original statute of limitation defense voided by rebir

Dockets Management Branch HFA - 305 - Certified Mail Food and Drug Administration 5630 Fishers Lane Room 1061 Rockville, Maryland 20852

To Docket Management/FDA

A new legal case shows the US may recover 3 times its costs when a company's frauds on the FDA cost the taxpayers money. It is likely that frauds by aspartame producers have cost taxpayers billions of dollars. By lying to the FDA a chemical poison has been marketed in 100 countries creating one of the largest plagues in world history. We have epidemics of autism, ADD, Alzheimers, MS symptoms, lupus, diabetes, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, behavioral and psychiatric problems, sudden death, seizures, brain tumors, blindness, etc., all discussed and documented in Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic by H. J. Roberts, M.D., (www.sunsentpress.com).

During the approval process of aspartame on which Neotame is based the original manufacturer lied to FDA. One of the most famous neuroscientists on the planet , John Olney, M.D. did the studies on the excitotoxin aspartic acid, 40% of aspartame (literally stimulates the neurons of the brain to death - as written on the back cover of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills by neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D. ). He found that it caused lesions in the brains of mice. He told Searle but Searle didn't come clean to you - the FDA. Obviously, FDA would not want an excitotoxin on the market to destroy the brains of consumers? Right?

But the manufacturer continued lying and deceiving the FDA.

Transcript of Document Number 3 from Congressional Record, Voluntary Submission, Confidential Trade Secret Information (12/28/70). This document is psychomanipulation, how they would convince you that assumptions were true. But here is the last paragraph:

"With the spoon-for-spoon, we have no way of estimating maximum likely abuse and hence need to utilize data based on almost complete conversion to DKP. If we include this use in the original FAP, we stand a good chance of ending up with nothing in the short run and nothing in the long run whereas the other approach would give us something in the short run and quite likely as much as we would ever get in the long run. I think it becomes very important for us to start to get our sweetener into commercial channels as soon as possible to minimize the incentive that people now have to work on other sweeteners. Action in the US will tend to influence the outcome in other countries as well."

They concealed the almost complete conversion to DKP, the brain tumor agent because they knew you wouldn't approve it. Lies, lies and more lies.

FDA toxicologist, Dr. Adrian Gross said:

"Failure to report to the FDA all internal tumors present in the experimental rats, e.g. polyps in the uterus, ovary neoplasms as well as other lesions." (Gross 1987a, page 8).

"Animals which had died were sometimes recorded as being alive and vice versa.. These include approximately 20 instances of animals reported as dead and then reported as having vital signs normal again at subsequent observation periods." (Gross 1985, page S10835).

Wilson, l985 - Dr. Adrian Gross, FDA Toxicologist and Task Force Member:

"They (G. D. Searle) lied and they didn't submit the real nature of their observations because had they done that it is more than likely that a great number of these studies would have been rejected simply for adequacy. What Searle did, they took great pains to camouflage these shortcomings of the study. As I say filter and just present to the FDA what they wished the FDA to know and they did other terrible things for instance animals would develop tumors while they were under study. Well, they would remove these tumors from the animals."

Dr. Gross was not the only FDA toxicologist. There was Dr. Jacqueline Verrett who was also a member of the Task Force that investigated the authenticity of Searle's research. She believed the original aspartame studies were "built on a foundation of sand". (Testimony of Dr. Jacqueline Verrett, FDA Toxicologist before the U.S. Senate committee on Labor and Human Resources, regarding "NutraSweet Health and Safety Concerns." ( Nov 3, l987) . She testified the flawed tests conducted by Searle - used as the basis of FDA approval - were a "disaster" and should have been "thrown out". She said she believed the studies left many unanswered questions about possible birth defects and the safety of aspartame. She let it be known that the team was instructed not to be concerned with, or comment upon, the overall validity of the study. She said a subsequent review discarded or ignored the problems and deficiencies outlined by her team's original report. She said: "serious departures from acceptable toxicological protocols" that her investigative team noted in the reevaluation of these studies were also discounted. She warned that any of the improper practices would compromise and negate a safety study of a food additive. Verrett declared the data in the study was worthless, and the safety of aspartame and its breakdown products have therefore not been determined.

Dr. Verrett emphasized that aspartame is in the marketplace without basic toxicity information. She said there ware no data to assess the interactions with DKP, excess phenylalanine, other aspartame metabolites, additives, drugs or other chemicals. In her testimony, Verrett elaborated on DKP problems, including significant increases of uterine polyps and changes in blood cholesterol. DKP is formed when liquids in particular are presweetened with aspartame. The production of DKP is vulnerable to increase in temperature, and higher temperatures produce increasingly amounts of DKP. She reminded members of the Congressional Committee "that is why initially, aspartame was not intended or not planned to be used in liquids because of this decomposition.. it was decided it was too unstable to be used in hot preparations, hot liquids and also in diet drinks."

Dr. Richard Wurtman of MIT testified in congress in l985 how the phenylalanine in aspartame as an isolate is neurotoxic and goes directly into the brain. FDA knows that, of course, as it tried to remove it from all supplements during the era of the Dietary Supplement bill.

Title 18, Section 1001 of the Criminal Code which declares: "Whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative or judicial branch of the Government of the United States , knowingly and willfully -

* (1) falsifies, conceal, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact: * (2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; * (3) or makes or uses any false writing or document knowingly the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned.

FDA chief counsel Richard Merrill recommended to U.S. Attorney Sam Skinner a grand jury investigate Searle for "apparent violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act 21, USC 331 and the False Reports to the Government Act, 18 USC 1001, for their willful and knowingly failure to make reports to the FDA required by Act 21 USC 355 (i) and for concealing material facts and making false statements in reports of animal studies conducted to establish the safety of aspartame."

The manufacturer was powerful, and two U.S. Prosecutors were hired by the defense team and the statute of limitations expired. Aspartame was approved when Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes over-ruled the Board of Inquiry report of the FDA refusing approval.

Now they want a new patent. As Dr. Jeffrey Bada, a peptide chemist, told me when he first reviewed the formula of Neotame "they just scrambled the formula, same dangerous breakdown products," etc.

Monsanto Communications Director Nancy Nevin said about Neotame in l998: "Compositionally it begins with aspartame, but a simple enhancement to the dipeptide base of aspartame uniquely and markedly changes its sweetness. It is 40 times sweeter than aspartame." Monsanto's Nick Rosa in l998 also said that Neotame is "based on the aspartame formula".

Dr. H. J. Roberts who has declared Aspartame Disease to be a global plague and published the new medical text, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, www.sunsentpress.com, wrote the Dockets Management Branch on March 3, l998 about Neotame saying:

"The timing and self-serving corporate interests of this petition are suggested by the fact that the patent on aspartame expired several years ago.

The approval of any analog of aspartame for human use MUST be challenged. In my opinion, there is already sufficient evidence for aspartame products to be withdrawn from the market as an "imminent public health hazard" NOW!"

He also said: "As a physician and citizen, I am appalled at the thought of American consumers being again subjected to an anticipated repeat of the aspartame fiasco" ......

Discussed even in the medical text on page 770 - 771 is: Neotame: Will History Repeat Itself?

"The Monsanto Company petitioned the FDA on January 23, 1999 to approve its high intensity sweetener, N-[N-(3.3-dimethybutyl)-L-a-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine 1- methyl ester, as an all purpose sweetener and flavor enhancer. This analog of aspartame (on which the patent had expired), named Neotame, is 30-60 times sweeter than aspartame.

The author submitted detailed letters of professional opposition to such approval - dated March 3, 1998, February 25, 1999, and April 10, 1999 - pending additional data about the safety of this chemical in humans. He concluded with this opinion:

"I am a totally corporate-neutral physician, who is concerned about the ongoing exposure of the population to aspartame and numerous other chemicals that were approved without adequate long term studies by corporate-neutral investigators and politically neutral regulators. Let me repeat: I anticipate a public health tragedy if the aspartame problem is allowed to be repeated in the case of Neotame without these safeguards!"

Remarkably and coincidentally, my novel projecting a public health scenario caused by a fabricated analog of aspartame was published. It is titled, THE CACOF CONSPIRACY: LESSONS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM (Sunshine Sentinel Press, 1999). When conceived a decade earlier, the author had no knowledge of Neotame."

All lies are reborn via this new application plus any new ones. Statute of limitation defense is voided by rebirthing this poison. Any studies on Neotame are meaningless because they are based on aspartame which was never proven safe!

Just imagine how much aspartame the government has bought. Equal even has the Presidential Seal. And think how much Diet Coke has been bought by the government.

The tax-payers are owed BILLIONS, and Title 18, Section 1001 is rings loudly.

Aspartame disease is now a global plague, and the medical text gives 20 years of experience with this deadly chemical poison being on the market, drug interaction, chemical hypersensitivity and the legal implications of mass poisoning the people. Dr. James Bowen wrote you 18 years ago that aspartame is mass poisoning of the American public and more than 70 countries of the world. (www.dorway.com). He has Lou Gehrigs just like many of those who served in the Persian Gulf and drank diet pop laced with aspartame, that also interacted with vaccine. Millions of babies have been murdered in their mother's womb. Aspartame support groups contain the comments from the outraged public who have been poisoned. Aspartame Detoxification Centers are now in America and Canada. Case histories are being collected for class action.

Enclosed are the documents that give the evidence the FDA was lied to and knows aspartame is a chemical poison. As you well know, it should never have been approved. Some of your documents t are on www.dorway.com And your Board of Inquiry report saying not to approve aspartame is on www.greatfallspro.com along with Dr. Olney's testimony to the Board of Inquiry and the l985 congressional record. You can purchase from Bob Flint (Mission Possible Maine) actual CD's of these documents. Read the horror stories at the Aspartame Toxicity Center, www.holisticmed.com/aspartame

All it takes is one drop of Neotame on the market and the statute of limitations is voided!

Betty Martini, Founder, Mission Possible International , 9270 River Club Parkway, Duluth, Georgia 30097, www.dorway.com Deadline August 8, 2002 CC: ANZFA, European Union

Enclosures:

Dr. John Olney's Study on Aspartic Acid, 1970 Secret Trade Information Government Record Statements admitting manufacturer Lied to FDA"

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Here's another email that we received on aspartame perils.

Aspartame's extreme, and highly fatal carcinogenesis, Dr Jim Bowen

Carcinognesis! I am one of the only few "Nutra Sweet Dissidents" to ever see the first (original) pre-marketing Aspartame toxicity studies. It has to be strongly emphasized! These first studies were done at only 1/1000th the legally required Aspartame dosage levels. (And for only sixty days!) The law specifies that one hundred times the "greatest possible maximum human consumption" must always be used in pre-marketing testing of animals. This law is entirely conservative, because it only allows for only a ten fold species to species variation of effect, and only a ten fold variation of individual effect within a given species: In order to protect all humans who may ever ingest a given chemical! Only 3 cans of pop per day (level) scaled down the weight of each given animal species, was ever used, in spite of the thousands of ways Aspartame is presently dosed into us, even being "sneaked" in with yogurts, chewing gums, etc! (The FDA recently got a law enacted that "ASPARTAME" does not now even have to be at all mentioned on the product label itself!) The phenyl alanine isolate poisoning from Aspartame is exemplary of why this legally mandated testing standard, (even if followed,) is inadequate protection for human beings. PKU (phenylketonuria) is a human enzyme deficiency, leading to severe brain damage even if even a small amount of a balanced mix of proteins containing significant phenyl alanine content is consumed! Moreover, all the tested animals metabolize phenyl alanine outside the brain, while the human being metabolizes it inside the brain, and at its brain enzyme sites, with extreme damages resulting, (even in non PKU "normal" humans) from the bolus of Phenyl alanine isolate obtained from a single can of Aspartame pop! Both concepts are inadequate in the case of Aspartame because: 1. Aspartame is a highly synergized methyl alcohol poisoning, and all the test animals used have the proper enzyme channels to harmlessly break down methanol without processing it through the Methanol>formaldehyde>formic acid>carbon monoxide toxic axis. This entire toxic axis is the only way methanol, from Aspartame, can be at all metabolized in humans. The "hangover" after drinking alcoholic beverages, (which contain only small traces of methanol,) is a small example of this toxicity, (even though the ethyl alcohol itself, is a specific, and the most highly effective antidote known, for methyl alcohol toxicity.) "Excitotoxins" also markedly increase the severity of their poisonings, as the two indicated factors of greater molecule size, and other incorporated toxic chemistries increase in their molecular makeup! Moreover in methyl esters like Aspartame, the larger the ester, and the more highly toxic its other components, the far worse will be the poisoning from each methyl ester. Aspartame maximizes these two extreme toxicities! 2. Because the Aspartic acid is a dicarboxylic amino acid, (and therefore a powerful neural excitoxin!) Aspartame then will also form its own diketopiperazine entity while sitting in solution, or even while being digested. This DKP form is an extremely far more highly chemically reactive, and an even far greater and stronger polymerization agent, than the parent chemical in every case. DKPs therefore, are the major substrate class used in synthesizing plastics! The DKP form of Aspartame was (in even that minuscule dose, and for only 60 days) found to be number one chemical ever identified to cause brain cancers in rats! (Even when the other chemicals tested were used at maximal dosages, and over lifetime test periods, in the animals tested.) Just 1/1000th the legally mandated dose of Aspartame, ingested for only 60 days, caused the highest incidence of brain tumor in rats, that any chemical ever tested at any dose, ever caused! The Aspartame "dicarboxlic amino acid neural excito toxicity" is also molecularly maximized, when given the two factors mentioned above, (which also maximize the methyl alcohol toxic axis toxicity.) Medically well known examples of the extreme damage from these two factors and chemical classes, are "Guam Parkinson disease," and "Prince Edward Island shell fish: Domoic Acid" poisoning, both of which have caused extreme neurological disease epidemics in Guam (And all around the World's Oceans), and Prince Edward Island, with lifelong neural sequelae, and also additional disease generations, occurring in those epidemic's victims!( Just as Aspartame also always does!) For a clearer presentation of the even greater picture of Aspartame's extreme toxicity, Plz get Ch 7 of "Sweet Mystery in The Present Darkness: What Ever Happened to We Scientists Who First Spoke Out Against Aspartame?" from wnho.net, www.aspartame.ca, or dorway! (It is freely available, for free!) Billions of Victims"is also "free" on those sites! While I was driving cab in Denver: Upon hearing this, one of my fares screamed out: "Doc! You are sure right! Within a year of the time we started drinking Aspartame pop, three of my immediate family members experienced brain tumors, even though there had never before even been a single brain tumor in our entire known family tree. Moreover, all three then were dead within the year following, in spite of all which medicine, surgery, and radiation had to offer them!" (This is because Aspartame so damages and defocus es the entire immune system!) The first six months after they put "Nutra Sweet" into our "diet" pop and soft drinks, the US brain cancer occurrence rate jumped 10%, and the US diabetes "new case" rate 30%! In those first low dose Aspartame: FDA pre-marketing studies the infant monkeys ONLY showed up with a 100% incidence of Grand Maul epilepsy! Those human subjects then tested at only "three cans of Aspartame pop" level per day for just sixty days, also showed an immediate 250% increase of "all physical complaint" incidence. Two of the sixty people used as Aspartame test subjects, then immediately developed highly malignant cancers: One Breast carcinoma, and One Bone sarcoma. Both test subjects were dead within the year following, in spite of all which medicine, surgery and radiation had to offer them! The Food and Drug Death Association (FDA) comment: "Well, that's all just insignificant!" When they then went ahead and marketed Aspartame under the influence of Reagan, Rumsfeld, and Dr Arthur Hull Hayes!(Hayes refused, but was, at that time, BLACKMAILED into approving Aspartame, by godfather Rumsfeld!) These names, along with the Bushes, who are the primal New World Order force, amongst all this human "Aspartame devastation" should live in Infamy!

Sincerely, James D. Bowen MD

It's a little difficult to take an article seriously that is screaming bloody murder about a sweetener that is consumed on a daily basis by MILLIONS of people with no noticeable side effects. While I agree some people clearly have a reaction to Aspartame, I've been drinking diet cola since I was 11 (I'm now 37) in quantities you wouldn't believe and I've never noticed ANY of the side effects listed in this raving and ranting article. My IQ is at least 138 and somehow I managed to get my honors degree in engineering without my brain exploding due to Asparatame "destroying my neurosystem".

Honestly, I think you'd have more luck convincing people about the potential dangers of artificial sweeteners if you toned it down a bit instead of telling people they're going to die if they continue to drink Diet Coke or Pepsi. It's not doing your argument any good. I know I quit reading halfway through it. It's just too much for someone that drinks the stuff daily with no noticeable side effects to even remotely start to buy into. I'm sure there have been some people that have had bad reactions to it, but a LOT of people have died from eating peanuts. That doesn't make all peanuts bad.

Worse yet, you lump ALL sweeteners into this argument. Sucralose is so new, I haven't seen any reliable studies on it yet. Saccharin was NEVER proven to cause cancer in anything but a rat (I've used it in tea products since I was about 5 and again no noticeable effects) and that was only when the rat was fed 5x it's body weight in Saccharin. No human would ever take that much in and because it doesn't stay in the body, it's not addictive.

Finally, you overlook the most glaring horrible truth there is. The alternative (short of giving up anything sweet forever) is SUGAR. And sugar causes everything from obesity (and not indirectly by creating 'cravings for carbs'... Pure nonsense in my opinion as well; it keeps me from wanting more actual sugar) to diabetes over time by decreasing resistance to insulin in large quantities. Diabetes can kill you just as dead as any artificial sweetener and it's virtually guaranteed by middle age if you eat nothing but sweets your entire life (it also rots your teeth which no artificial sweetener does).

Dietdude, I agree on your stance. The natural health community needs to avoid subjective interpretations and emotional indulgences concerning "possible" food additives dangers. If we go too far in the careful direction we get labeled fanatics. But problems of objectivity remain; and they remain because, typically, physicians do not monitor or evaluate individual tendencies or proclivities, or symptoms in regards to the use of additives and "artificials". The medical/pharmaceutical industry keeps our symptoms in the category of "psychological" "allergies" and treats symptoms w/ prescription meds, while protecting the food industry. So we consumers are really in a jam; and the only safe course is individual awareness.

A few weeks ago I admitted myself in ER for extreme exhaustion and got billed as "good-to-go" but see family doc ASAP. I knew my condition had worsened from "chronic fatigue" to "extreme exhaustion" w/ rapid loss of muscle tissue, so I searched "wasting syndrome" and knew that my existing problems of detoxifying alcohols was the culprit. I had been using an herbal tincture extracted in alcohol and let it vaporize in fresh-brewed coffee for daily enemas. Evidently the short duration of steaming was not enough to rid the alcohol and I was suffering from metabolic acidosis. I discontinued the culprit and recovered quite rapidly. Fast forward a few weeks and tried an amino acid product w/ added Xylitol for sweetener and BAM I went down immediately. I supplement zinc and niacin to help in alcohol detox but this isn't enough so I began the coenzymated form of niacin NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) yesterday to help restore my alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme function. I have drunk an occasional diet dr pepper w/ less side effects; sucralose gives headaches, salivation, and impotence.

So, heredity and personal history (preexisting conditions) influence our disposition to additives. As for Aspartame, all babies born in the USA are screened for phenyleukuria, the gene responsible to metabolize phenylalanine an amino acid member of Aspartame that is absent in a small % of population. When it comes to the sugar alcohols like Aspartame, Sucralose, Xylitol, Sorbitol, etc. It all comes down to individual enzyme activity. If either of the enzymes alcohol dehyrogenase or aldehyde dehydrogenase is taxed or malfunctioning there can be serious consequences. It is reported in scientific literature that these two enzymes have varying degrees of activity in the population. Some people can "drink like sailors" while others can't even have a diet cola. So we each have to monitor our own symptoms carefully. As for prevention of alcohol related illnesses I recommend supplementing niacinamide, riboflavin, zinc, and molybdenum in particular, in addition to a good multi vit/min daily to help rid the body of harmful metabolic waste, and for people like myself who don't respond to the regular nutritionals, coenzymated forms will be necessary.

Aspartame was created and introduced by G D Searle. Monsanto may have become later involved, but it was brought to the FDA and to market by G D Searle.

http://www.rense.com/general33/legal.htm to get the info