The following is an article from www.prisonplanet.com.
Government Says Aspartame Is Good For You
AP calls study independent, omits previous human studies showing Aspartame danger
Paul Joseph Watson/Prison Planet.com | April 5 2006
The deadly toxin Aspartame which is included in more than 6,000 food and drink products around the world is good for you according to a new government study. The Associated Press falsely labels the results as independent and omits referencing previous human studies undertaken by groups with no corporate or government ties that concluded the opposite.
Associated Press health correspondent Marilynn Marchione seems to revel in suggesting the study is beyond reproach because it uses human subjects rather than rats.
“A huge federal study in people — not rats — takes the fizz out of arguments that the diet soda sweetener aspartame might raise the risk of cancer,” smarms the article in an attempt to discredit last year’s Italian study which linked aspartame to an increased risk of leukaemias and lymphomas in female lab rats “at doses very close to the acceptable daily intake for humans.”
In putting the study in this context, the Associated Press has lied by omission. Numerous independent controlled studies (not ones conducted by corporations or government) using human subjects have concluded that aspartame is deadly. They are Camfield (1992), Elsas (1988), Gulya (1992), Koehler (1988), Kulczycki (1995), Spiers (1988), Van Den Eeden (1994), Walton (1993). Why doesn’t the AP mention any of these studies?
Why doesn’t the AP mention the fact that “out of 90 independently-funded studies, 83 of them found one or more
problems caused by aspartame. But out of the 74 studies funded by the aspartame industry (e.g., Monsanto, G.D. Searle, ILSI, etc.), every single one of them claimed that no problems were found?”
The AP immediately draws the conclusion that the study was, “done by reputable researchers independent of any funding or ties to industry groups.”
The AP cites the Center For Science in the Public Interest as praising the results of the study. CFSPI is a Rockefeller front organization that also receives funding from Ted Turner’s Nuclear Threat Initiative. Its board of directors is also littered with former government henchmen, including former FDA officials.
Having the federal government conduct studies that heavily impact profits of major corporations depending on the results and calling them independent is like Charles Manson being judged by Jeffrey Dahmer. In the 21st century of corporate fascism the two are inseparable from one another.
The Aspartame controversy is noted for the fact that it explicitly connects government conflicts of interest with corporations. Donald Rumsfeld became the chief executive officer of a worldwide pharmaceutical G.D. Searle & Company (later bought out by Monsanto) in 1977, 12 years after aspartame was discovered by G.D. Searle chemist James Schlatter.
A story by Rishi Mehta, associate commentary editor for the University of Connecticut Daily Campus newspaper, points out the following: “In 1981, after over 15 years of FDA disapproval of aspartame, Rumsfeld said in a Searle sales meeting that he would use ‘political rather than scientific means’ to finally get FDA approval. Only 20 days later, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as 40th President of the United States, appointing Rumsfeld as Special Envoy to the Middle East and Arthur Hayes Hull Jr. – a friend of Rumsfeld’s – to FDA commissioner.”
If one of the most influential members of the current administration has publicly stated that he would use political pressure to force the acceptance of aspartame would it would therefore overwhelmingly be in the interest of a federal government study to conclude that the use of aspartame was acceptable?
Yes.
Therefore the study is not independent and it is not credible.
Futhermore, the FDA has been caught in the past removing negative data from government studies that indicated aspartame was dangerous to humans.
According to consumer rights group Mission Possible, “Since its 1981 approval, the FDA has published a list of 92 symptoms of aspartame poisoning, which includes headaches, vision loss including blindness, seizures, neurological problems, cardiovascular problems and death. The FDA admits adverse reactions to aspartame comprise about 80 percent of consumer complaints it receives each year.”
Proponents of aspartame are like the idiots in the 50’s who said there were no health dangers in smoking. Moves by British parliamentarians and bills such as one in New Mexico calling for the outright banning of aspartame in all foods should be supported and this poison-peddling industry shut down.
6 Comments
June 14, 2007 at 8:23 am
For approximately 2 hours after drinking a diet coke I experienced debilitating vision impairment, and I have since given up all foods containing aspartame. In my opinion, it is amazing (and unconscionable) what the corporate giants in the USA will do in the name of money.
The genetic “morphing” of the world’s food supply has gone on largely unnoticed by most of the world’s population. Approximately 70% of processed foods in the United States now contain genetically modified organisms GMO’s.
There is good in this world, and there is also evil. For all those who strive for the good, for your sake and for the sake of your children, both born and unborn, please eat wholesome, organic foods – do not eat foods containing GMO’s created by Monsanto and the other biotechs as I believe these foods contain serious, unrevealed health hazards.
June 14, 2007 at 10:47 am
With all of this genetically modified food…I wonder how healthy the US would be if our only option was natural, organic, healthy foods that contained no aspartame, HFCS, or any other harmful chemical.
I hope you’re feeling healthier since giving up aspartame!
Thanks for the comment and the reading!
June 14, 2007 at 10:59 am
I once had tried an aspartame-laden product (a sugarfree breath mint). It wasn’t until several days later that I began associating the product with short-term memory loss. It manifested itself while I was driving my vehicle. Many times, I forgot where I was going! Very strange! Fortunately, my intuition told me that it had something to do with my newly regarded product. I immediately stopped using the product, and beginning the next day, my problem disappeared as fast as it had begun! Subsequently, I stopped using any product containing aspartame. And since I am not a diabetic (thank goodness), I simply went back to sugared products. I would therefore advocate to anyone who cannot handle sugar to simply refrain from any alternative that contains aspartame, even if it means not using the food or beverage.
June 14, 2007 at 2:33 pm
The problem is finding suitable alternatives to sugar anymore. You never know what is going into your food! Even foods that shouldn’t be sugary (like mints) have aspartame. I don’t get it.
June 14, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Aspartame is not dangerous to nutritionally fit people used at the recommended doses. But if you have a problem, any problem don’t use it, nobody has a gun to your head do they? But it should not be banned just because you think so. Millions of people use it and enjoy it. FYI no established group of scientists, nor scientific adminstrators including the FDA or the European FDA believes there is a problem with this substance. Literally thousands of other compounds also generate methanol, formaldehyde or formate upon degradation, including many in foods, drugs, and substances we are all exposed to daily. The methanol, formaldehyde and formate from these sources and from aspartame are all used to make vital methyl groups for regulation of DNA. Without methanol, formaldehyde, and formate we would all be dead. In spite of your comments to the contrary no accepted studies suggest harm from aspartame and in that regard even the the Italian study claims to be “first” to show a problem. However, that study is not only unreproducible, but is fatally flawed. That will be so demonstrated in the near future in ways that you can understand, ways that will resolve all objections to aspartame, and in ways likely to put this matter to permanent rest. By the way aspartame was not and will not be banned in New Mexico–for the scientific reasons read my 2005 letter to NM legislators at http://home.beyondbb.com/jegarst/. Sorry the version that contributed to ending aspartame legislation in 2006 again hasn’t been posted there yet because of a web site technicality.
John E. Garst, Ph.D.
(Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, and Toxicology)
June 15, 2007 at 11:36 am
For one…I’ll take issue about formaldehyde being critical to our life. If it’s used to embalm dead people and used as a chemical preservative, how can it be healthy for the living? It’s a preservative…and in our own biology it’s a metabolic byproduct (in other words, not useful) and OSHA even reports it as a ‘possible carcinogen.’ It also lowers blood pH, making it more acidic. Also…methanol itself is also toxic to our body. None of these chemical byproducts of aspartame are at all good for us.
Also…even if you disagree with the European studies (which were not funded by the manufacturer of aspartame or have any ties to it), even the FDA published a list of 92 symptoms that occur with aspartame use, including death.
And lastly…there is no gun to people’s heads to use aspartame, but when it is in soooo many of our products, even ones you wouldn’t think of (like breath mints), how do we know what we’re eating/drinking? Maybe all products that contain aspartame should come with a warning label and a list of the FDA published symptoms.