Aspartame - 'continued use a scandal' says critic

Aspartame - 'continued use a scandal' says critic

The history of the regulatory process surrounding the approval of the artificial sweetener aspartame is marked by more outright lying, falsification of data and political interference than any other single food additive chemical on the market, says New Zealand food safety critic Chris Wheeler.

“For Thursday's TV One six o'clock news report to state that there is 'no scientific evidence' of aspartame's danger to health demonstrates the manner in which the news media cosies up to the food industry for the sake of the advertising revenue they get from promoting diet products containing aspartame.

“You don't have to spend more than ten minutes on the Internet these days without being able to download literally hundreds of studies on aspartame's hazard and two of the most recent major studies from the Italian Ramazzini Foundation, widely supported by scientist and medical critics of aspartame use, both demonstrate aspartame's cancer-causing potential.

“Professor Ralph Walton of Northeastern Ohio University's College of Medicine pointed out on the US TV programme “60 Minutes” (Dec 29, l996) that he had done peer reviewed research showing that of 166 studies of aspartame felt to have relevance for questions of human safety, 74 had aspartame industry-related funding and 92 were independently funded. Of the industry-sponsored articles, 74/74 (100 per cent) attested to aspartame's safety; of the non-industry-sponsored articles, 84/92 (92 per cent) demonstrated some type of adverse reaction. Of seven non-industry studies attesting to aspartame's safety, six were studies from the FDA and one was from a literature review almost exclusively dealing with industry-sponsored research. Dr. Walton noted at the time that "As the role of the FDA in the question of aspartame safety, has been controversial and allegations were made of a conflict of interest on the part of the FDA Commissioner at the time of aspartame's approval, one could argue that the FDA studies should not be considered truly 'independent'. If these studies are excluded, along with the literature review focusing only on NutraSweet industry funded research, then 100% of the truly independently funded research demonstrated some type of adverse reaction to NutraSweet (aspartame)."

“The NZ Food Safety Authority takes a head-in-the-sand approach to aspartame because it accepts the corrupt, pseudo-scientific process accepted by regulatory committees in the European Union, on the UN's Codex committees and with the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which are notoriously stacked by scientists who earn a living from the aspartame and food additive chemical industry. Donald Rumsfeld was head of G.D.Searle before it sold off aspartame to Nutrasweet in the early 80s and he boasted of the political muscle he used on the Ronald Reagan White House to get aspartame approved against the best advice of FDA food scientists at the time.

“After nearly thirty years of this poison on the market we are getting over 92 FDA-registered symptoms of disease from aspartame use in popular products like Diet Coke and Wrigley's 'No Sugar' chewing gums and the Internet is rife with criticisms from consumers which don't deserve the bland dismissals of our regulators and doctors that 'aspartame is perfectly safe.'

“If New Zealand had a truly independent food additive approval process and a competent regulatory office in Wellington, aspartame would have been banned outright over two decades ago. That it is still approved for use in this country is a standing scandal and an indication of how readily any junk product with the FDA's stamp of approval on it steams through the New Zealand chemical approval process,” Chris Wheeler says.

NOTE: Chris Wheeler is Auckland spokesperson for the Safe Food Campaign, a past-president of the NZ Soil & Health Association and NZ representative of the North American-based anti-aspartame network, Mission Possible, headed by US additive critic Betty Martini. Mission Possible's official website, originally started by aspartame victim David Rietz, is .

CHECK THESE RESOURCES FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Web Site - and , the Aspartame Toxicity Center, A new video exposing the aspartame industry is "Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World", available from Email: , Tel (USA) - 520 - 624 -9710. Also the medical text on aspartame: "Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic", available online from or Tel (USA) 1 800 827 7991 H. J. Roberts, M.D. (along with other books and tapes). Dr Roberts' book contains a chapter on trial lawyers and drug interactions since aspartame is a severely neurotoxic drug. See also books on aspartame by neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, MD, "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills", and "Health & Nutrition Secrets To Save Your Life." See websites above for details. The latter book tells aspartame victims what they have to avoid and why, and explains how a victim can re-build their immune system. Dr. Blaylock also has a book on Cancer Strategies. With aspartame having caused so many tumours in original studies this is a helpful resource.

ENDS