Original article and updates (Coverage by Betty Martini) PERMISSION TO PUBLISH Dr. Olney who did studies back in the l970's on aspartame, and the world famous physician who was responsible for getting baby food manufacturers to remove MSG, reported that the rare type of brain tumor in lab rats triggered by aspartame (marketed as NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, Equal Measure and who knows what since the patent expired) is now escalating that same rare brain tumor in adults. So what else is new? He is citing Dr. H. J. Roberts (world expert on NutraSweet) peer reviewed brain tumor report which is on our auto-responder. Not only that it was known before it was marketed that a breakdown product of aspartame (from the phenylalanine) called DKP is a brain tumor agent. We have this report on our responder as well titled THEY KNEW THE GUN WAS LOADED! This is the secret trade information where it is stated that they can't tell the FDA or the won't approve aspartame. You have a product that breaks down into a witches brew of toxic substances. Even the wood alcohol (methanol) converts to formaldehyde in the retina of the eye and then formic acid, the reason so many are going blind. And people were going blind when it was in 100 products and not 9000 like today and climbing. Did the FDA want to approve aspartame? They refused for 16 years because of this brain tumor issue and the fact that aspartame is a seizure triggering drug. In the Congressinal Hearings the Senior scientist, the late FDA toxicologist, Dr. Adrian Gross said: (l985) "In view of all these indications that the cancer causing potential of aspartame is a matter that has been established way beyond any reasonable doubt, one can ask: What is the reason for the apparent refusal by the FDA to invoke for this food additive the Delaney Amendment to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act? Is it not clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that aspartame had caused brain tumors or brain cancer in animals, and is this not sufficient to satisfy the provisions of that particular section of the law?" The Delaney Amendment forbids a manufacturer to knowingly add an additive that causes cancer. Today they just want to make it legal to poison you. H.R. 3200 would repeal the Delaney Amendment. Dr. Gross' last words should be engraved on the front door of the White House for the world to remember: "And if the FDA violates its own laws who is left to protect the health of the public?" What do you need the FDA for - they are an extension of the drug and chemical cartel!? They are not there to protect the people. They have certainly made a lot of news in the last few years as their prosecuted those selling vitamins and those providing products that were not drugs that could strengthen the immune system, homeopathic products, things used for good health. Half the population is on this deadly poison that according to Alex Constantine in NutraPoison (on our auto-responder) was listed with the pentagon in an inventory of prospective biochemical warfare weapons submitted to Congress. What does NutraSweet do? It destroys the central nervous system (EPA has declared an epidemic of MS), destroys the brain (Dr. H. J. Roberts has now written a new book DEFENSE AGAINST ALZHEIMERS DISEASE - NOMINATED FOR A PULITZER) explaining how its escalating Alzheimer, a 20th century disease now the 4th leading cause of death in adults, alters the heart rate and rhythm (we have a new position paper on this), and destroys the optic nerve! (we have several medical reports on this). Is aspartame sweet - Yes - it is a sweet poison. Roaches won't eat it, cats and dogs won't eat it, ants won't eat it and flies won't eat it - but the FDA serves it to you with their approval and the approval of the Monsanto Chemical Co. The NutraSweet Co. will tell you that aspartame is the most tested additive in history. I'm sure it is, they simply kept on sacrificing animals until they could keep some alive. Read in Dr. Roberts book ASPARTAME (NUTRASWEET) IS IT SAFE? (Charles Press, Philadelphia) the chapter - THE MYTH OF THE MOST TESTED ADDITIVE IN HISTORY. First of all, its not an additive, its a drug for which they were getting a drug application. It was changed to an additive so it would not require safety monitoring. And thats on record. No secrets. If you want the truth its there. One of the pivotal studies was the Waisman study and the aspartame caused seizures and killed the primates. But why was it terminated and why no control group as required? Well let me read from the report: "Limitations in adequately skilled laboratory personnel, likewise contributed to our decision to eliminate the requirement of a concurrent control group in this study." Searle was the original manufacturer before Monsanto bought them in l985. What are they telling you? They didn't have competent people to even do a study, and this is what aspartame safety is based on?! They sure knew how to kill monkeys! If you suppose its going to get better do a little research. Get into the Bressler Report. Discuss this with Monsanto and they may get indigestion. In the Bressler Report some of the rats died, so what did Searle do faced with dead rats from ingesting aspartame on their hands? They RESURRECTED THEM BACK ON PAPER!!!! I would like to see them try that trick on some of the people who lost their lives from this rat poison like Patricia Craine and Joyce Wilson, the latter's story is on our auto-responder. I'll give this one to the Chief Counsel Merrill of the FDA who told U.S. Attorney Sam Skinner to indict Searle for fraud. But Skinner decided instead to go work for the law firm defending the case, Sidley & Austin, and let slip the hounds of disease and death on an unprotected and unwarned population. Do you think perhaps there is some conflict of interest? Well, its all in the family anyway, since his wife already worked for Searle's law firm! Did U.S. Sam Skinner become Secretary of Transportation as a reward for not indicting Searle? You climb high when you play along. Skinner eventually became Chief of Staff under Bush, the second highest position in the White House. So we do know that aspartame is an excellent rat poison, but what else did it produce in the rats in the Bressler Report, in the rats that didn't die? It produced mammary cancer, pancreatic cancer and ovarian cancer! And here's Dr. Moser who is the Chief Consultant of the NutraSweet Company to defend them when aspartame gets exposed, screaming all over TV -"NutraSweet can't cause cancer". I ask Dr. Moser then how he reasons. We have a product that breaks down into a tumor agent, the lab animals got cancer from it, and the FDA admitted to Congress it causes cancer. And I've come under Dr. Moser's wrath myself. We exposed the American Diabetic Association in Atlanta for taking money from NutraSweet and endorsing this for diabetics with full knowledge that it is deadly for them. We walked with the diabetics at the walk-a-thon, sponsored by Equal, of course, and gave them medical documentation on what aspartame what do to the diabetic. Dr. H. J. Roberts, endocrinologist (diabetic specialist) even gave them an abstract of diabetic reactors and they refused to publish it, so it was published in Clinical Research. Dr. Roberts says it keeps their blood sugar out of control, destroys the optic nerve and even makes them go into convulsions. So as diabetics read the material and got off NutraSweet they realized many of their problems disappeared and their blood sugar came under control. A local newspaper wrote a story about it. Here comes Dr. Moser writing a rebuttal and explaining the only reason they got well is it was psychological. "That's right, Dr. Moser, get off poison, get well, and your brain did it. A burglar could think of a better alibi!" The last time we spilled out this poison in front of the media he yelled "Nutritonal Terrorism". "That's right, Dr. Moser, NutraSweet has terrorized nutrition. Disbelievers embark on the Monsanto Titanic - its iceberg proof, you know." Okay folks, lets try some reason! What if you were a manufacturer and you sold a product that you felt was safe, in fact, you knew it was safe, nothing wrong with it. And you were making a billion dollars a year. Then all of a sudden comes a world famous doctor and tells the world it can kill you and it should be retested. What would you do? Now, we're using logic and reason! If I personally sold a product I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was safe and they kept saying we want it retested, I would say: "Go to it, you'll see how safe it is!" Wouldn't you have that much confidence in your product? But Monsanto is screaming - no, no, no, and their siamese twin, the FDA is yelling - no, no - no! But this isn't the first time they said no. In l985 Senator Metzenbaum seeing the problems in the population and listening to the complaints, wrote a bill that never got out of committee because of heavy lobbying. Its on our auto-responder and explained the problems, that aspartame is, in fact, a drug that interacts with other drugs, that it changes the brain chemistry (thats a poison!), changes the dopamine level of the brain, is a seizure triggering drug, can trigger behavior problems (depletes serotonin), and neurological problems (destroys the central nervous system), and can destroy the fetus or cause birth defects or mental retardation. Since the original studies were the target of an indictment for fraud that was never carried out when the district attorney went to work for the godfather, he wanted INDEPENDENT testing by the National Institute of Health. But the manufacturer wanted so such of a thing! And how many more people have gone blind and died from this poison? How many babies have perished in their mother's womb! And do you know that even a man consuming aspartame at the time of conception can cause his child to be born with birth defects (if it lives)? There would have been a moratorium put on aspartame. And how do they get away with "misadvertising" a product? When you usually see NutraSweet diet comes before its name - perhaps Diet Pepsi? Dr. Wurtman's affidavit in the Congressional Record explains that it makes you crave carbohydrates so you gain weight! Do most people assume if you use a diet product you're going to diet? Is that not misrepresentation? In Dr. Roberts book he says the average person getting off NutraSweet loses about 19 lbs, some have lost 60 lbs.! Great diet product. How did it get approved anyway? The FDA did not want to approve it in the beginning, but President Reagan appointed Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes to the FDA when the last FDA Commissioner would not approve it. There was a Board of Inquiry. They said: NO! Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes over-ruled his own Board of Inquiry and went to work for the manufacturer's PR firm for $1000.00 a day. Sort of like an art director going to work for a pig farm. And what do you do for $1000.00 a day in a PR firm? Send postcards home from Bermuda perhaps? Dr. Hayes refused to speak to the press for 10 years! So Monsanto says its safe. Okay then it shouldn't cause any side effects. Why not file Freedom of Information and find out how many different complaints there are on aspartame. They can't keep it from you. I did! Would you believe 92 documented symptoms from coma and blindness to seizures and death this deadly poison causes: And here they are folks -all 92 of them.... Headache, dizziness or problems with balance, change in mood quality or level, vomiting and nausea, abdominal pain and cramps, change in vision, diarrhea, seizures and convulsions, memory loss, fatigue, weakness, other neurological, rash, sleep problems, hives, change in heart rate, itching, change in sensation, numbness, tingling, grand mal seizures, local swelling, change in activity level, difficulty breathing, oral sensory changes, change in menstrual pattern, other skin problems, other, localized pain and tenderness, other urogenital, change in body temperature, difficulty swallowing, other metabolic, joint and bone pain, speech impairment, other gastrointestinal, chest pain, other musculo-skeletal, fainting, sore throat, other cardiovascular, change in taste, difficulty with urination, other respiratory, edema, change in hearing, abdominal swelling, change in saliva output, change in urine volume, change in perspiration pattern, eye irritation unspecified, muscle tremors, petit mal, change in appetite, change in body weight, nocturnal, change in thirst or water intake, unconsciousness and coma, wheezing, constipation, other extremity pain, problems with bleeding, unsteady gait, coughing, blood glucose disorders, blood pressure changes, changes in skin and nail coloration, change in hair or nails, excessive phlegm production, sinus problems, simple partial seizures, hallucinations, any lumps present, shortness of breath on exertion, evidence of blood in stool or vomit, dysmenorrhea, dental problems, change in smell, DEATH, other blood and lymphatic, eczema, complex partial seizures, swollen lymph nodes, hematuria, shortness of breath due to position, difficulties with pregnancy,( children only) developmental retardation, change in breast size or tenderness, anemia, change in sexual function, shock, conjunctivitis, dilating eyes, febrile And why does the FDA list DEATH as a symptom, and how can a safe additive cause DEATH? Now are you ready for this, folks - in June without public notification the FDA approved aspartame for everything in the grocery store. How did they manage this. They would have to show few complaints, wouldn't they. Well we sent them over 1000 from the net, and we printed up over 1000 complaint cards we give victims to fill out and return. And, of course, we have the rest of the U.S., some people even send us copies of their complaints to the FDA. But the FDA told the Wall Street Journal they only got 11 complaints. And people we talk to say they tried to give the FDA complaints but the FDA said they were not taking them. Well, if you throw away the complaints and don't take them, you're not going to have any. But how do you show a decrease? I'm sure the FDA sat up with Monsanto all night on this one. They said they changed their bookkeeping system so they had to throw out hundreds from the l980's. Now that would show a decrease! If any of you have been told by the FDA that they were not taking complaints we would like to know about it. And we would like to have your story with a copy to the FDA!!! I would like to go into the trade organizations funded by Monsanto and what is happening to the people, what was said about the testing, etc. but this is simply getting too long. The story could fill many volumes. If you want more information instructions to the auto-responder are beneath my signature, and there are excellent web pages like Mark Golds which is http://www.tiac.net/users/mgold/health.html (here you can read some of the complaints we sent to the FDA without names) Oh and be sure to check Dave Rietz web page, a victim who spent over 10 years living a nightmare from NutraSweet - http://www.dorway.com You can get Dr. Roberts publications by calling 1 800 -814-9800 Mission Possible is a volunteer force, no one is paid, we don't sell anything, all we do is warn the world to get off NutraSweet and save your life. Now why would hundreds of thousands of people be distribing a warning flyer all over the world if this was a safe product? We are talking about a deadly, deadly poison - a rat poison! As Founder I am delighted to speak on any radio show, appear on any TV show and look Dr. Moser straight in the face. Dr. Moser does not see patients, he is not a practicing physician. He is Monsanto's paid consultant to defend their poison. In the book SWEET'NER DEAREST by Dr. H. J. Roberts, page 137 it states that Barbara Mullarkey (top anti- aspartame journalist) had restated Moser's own words from The Pharos (Summer 1991), journal of Alpha Omega Alpha (an honor medical society), based on his talk to Yale medical students: "If you HATE people, you can spend your life plugged into a mountain of shining diagnostic equipment or perched besides an electron microscope. Or you can become a cruise-ship doctor and play patty-cake with rich, blue-haired widows, or you can become a department chairman at Yale, or YOU CAN WORK FOR THE NUTRASWEET COMPANY." You just never know what is going to tumble out of Dr. Moser's mouth! Be concerned folks about air travel as pilots are complaining of grand mal seizures, confusion, inability to make decisions, vision problems, heart palpitations - all standard NutraSweet Complaints! Pilots we want to hear from you. Save a life today, get everyone you know off this poison. Help put an end to this insanity as Dr. James Bowen told the FDA: This is mass poisoning of the American public and over 70 countries of the world (now 90). ---- 1 RESEARCHERS CALL FOR FURTHER STUDIES AFTER IDENTIFYING A POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN ASPARTAME AND BRAIN TUMORS John W. Olney, M.D. Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis UPDATE The report says it is issued by the authors in response to media and public inquiries. For those who have not followed the world news about aspartame (marketed as NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, Equal Measure, etc.), part 2 will contain some background, and information from the Congressional Record on the original studies and link to brain tumors. part 3 will give you added information you may wish to have. this will avoid a very long post. Most of the symptoms and diseases triggered by aspartame are neurological and the FDA report will be published in part 3. We collect histories on victims of aspartame and now have a brain tumor registry and MS registry (methanol toxicity from aspartame mimics MS), so we encourage everyone to email us cases./b> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "In the November 1996 issue of the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology, John Olney, M.D. and his colleagues Nuri Farber, M.D., Edward Spitznagel, Ph.D. and Lee Robins, Ph.D, all from Washington University in St. Louis, report that brain tumor rates have risen in the United States over the past 17 years in two distinct phases. The first phase occurred in the mid l970's and might be explained primarily by improved diagnostic methods. The second phase occurred abruptly in the mid l980's, resulting in a 10 per cent higher rate of brain tumors which has persisted to the present. This increase also was associated with a shift from a lower to a higher grade of malignancy. "The article raises the possibility that the artificial sweetener aspartame, which was approved for limited markets in l981 and for widespread use in foods and beverages in l983, may have contributed to this increase," Olney says. "but it is important to remind consumers that the evidence now available is not sufficient to prove that aspartame caused the brain tumor increases." Olney urges that further studies be conducted to clarify what role, if any, aspartame plays in the development of brain tumors. "In the meantime, consumers must decide whether they are willing to expose themselves to potential risks in order to reduce their calorie intake," he says. "Fortunately, the potential risk to any individual adult appears low because the total number of people that could be affected is small." Olney recommends, however, that pregnant women be especially cautious about consuming aspartame until new studies can assess the risk to a developing fetus. The investigators analyzed data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program, which collects and distributes data on all types of cancer. SEER data are taken from areas of the U.S. that collectively represent about 10 per cent of the national population. Because increases in brain tumor rates that could be linked to aspartame would be expected to follow public exposure to the artificial sweetener, the group looked at increases in the incidence of each of the different types of brain tumors from l975 to l992. The new study shows sudden 10% increase in the incidence and malignancy of brain tumors in the United States beginning about three years after aspartame was introduced. The incidence of brain tumors did not continue to rise but remained at the higher level through l992, the last year included in the study. "Although aspartame probably has been introduced into an increasing number of foods in recent years, it is likely that the same portion of the population simply ingested greater amounts of the product," Olney explains. "If a larger proportion of the population was not exposed to aspartame, that might explain why the incidence did not continue to increase." Olney became interested in the neurotoxic potential of aspartame in the mid 1970's, after his discovery that the widely used food additive monosodium glutamate (MSG) destroys nerve cells in the brain when fed to immature animals. This link between MSG and neural damage eventually caused the food industry to stop adding glutamate to baby foods. Because aspartame is chemically related to glutamate, Olney later fed aspartame to immature mice and found that it also destroyed nerve cells in the brain. On the basis of this evidence, Olney protested the approval of aspartame and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Alexander Schmidt granted him a hearing at a Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI). The Commissioner also stayed the approval of aspartame, pending further investigation. "To prepare for the hearing, I examined the FDA's aspartame file," Olney recalls. "I was concerned because I did not find any studies pertaining to nerve cell damage. The FDA had not required that any such studies be done." He did, however, find two studies revealing an exceptionally high incidence of malignant brain tumors in aspartame-fed rats, and FDA Commissioner Donald Kennedy granted Olney's request that the brain tumor evidence be evaluated at the PBOI, which was held in l980. At the PBOI, Olney and other scientists argued that further studies must be done to rule out a brain tumor risk. "We have particularly concerned that aspartame might react in the stomach with nitrites present in foods and be converted to a nitrosated molecule" he recalls. "We were aware of published studies showing that certain nitrosated molecules can enter the central nervous system and cause brain tumors in laboratory animals. These studies showed that brain tumors develop fairly rapidly following exposure of an adult animal to the nitrosated molecules or after a long delay interval if a fetus is exposed during pregnancy." The PBOI panel of neuropathology experts appointed by the FDA to judge the brain tumor evidence unanimously concluded that aspartame should not be approved until extensive additional animal tests had ruled out the brain tumor risk. In addition, Olney says, three top FDA science advisors reviewed the brain tumor evidence and agreed with the PBOI panel of neuropathology experts. In l981, however, a newly appointed FDA Commissioner, Arthur Hull Hayes, approved aspartame without requiring further studies. In his judgment, the available data established with reasonable certainty that aspartame does not cause brain tumors in laboratory rats. In l993, Swiss scientist S. E. Shephard exposed aspartame to nitrite in a test tube, causing it to undergo nitrosation as it might do when it encountered nitrite in the stomach. Shephard then demonstrated that the nitrosated aspartame molecule is able to cause mutations in cultured bacteria. This is a test commonly used to assess the cancer causing potential of chemicals. According to the Washington University researchers, three types of evidence are usually gathered to assess a substance's cancer causing potential: (1) Can the substance cause mutations? (2) Is there an abnormally high incidence of specific types of cancer in animals that are exposed chronically to the agent? 3) Is there an increased incidence of the same kind of cancer in human populations exposed chronically to the agent? "While it looks as if our new study and the prior evidence answer all three questions in the affirmative," Olney emphasized that further studies are needed. "A major problem is that early animal feeding studies showing an apparent brain tumor risk are contradictory and difficult to interpret. More reliable animal feeding studies are needed. In addition, studies are needed to clarify the significance of the mutation causing potential of aspartame. The chemical reactions that aspartame can undergo in the body and the effects of the resulting products on the brain need to be determined." "Studies of brain tumor rates before and after the introduction of aspartame in other countries also are needed" Olney says. "Upward trends in deaths from brain tumors have been detected in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy. These trends must be carefully analyzed in relation to aspartame consumption." Other factors that have been studies in relation to increased brain tumor rates include ionizing radiation, electromagnetic fields, smoke inhalation, pesticides and various industrial chemicals. "The evidence linking aspartame to the recent brain tumor increases is stronger than for any of these other factors," Olney says. "However,, the evidence presently available is not adequate to establish whether aspartame does or does not cause brain tumors. Therefore, new studies properly designed to answer this question are urgently needed." ---- 2 Why has world renowned Dr. John Olney asked for further studies? Could it be because the original studies were a disaster and the manufacturers of aspartame have resisted any more testing? Senator Howard Metzenbaum who investigated the aspartame issue and the problems arising in the population wrote a bill that would have required independent testing by the National Institute of Health and put a moratorium on aspartame. It would have required studies to investigate some of neurological problems then being complained about back in l985 when aspartame was only in a few hundred products not 9000 and climbing with an expired patent. Heavy lobbying by Monsanto prevented the bill from getting out of committee. Dr. H. J. Roberts in his letter in Lancet in February went a little further than requesting new studies being accomplished. He said: "I have documented other severe neuropsychiatric reactions to aspartame products -most notably headache, seizures, confusion and depression, and the probable acceleration of Alzheimer's disease by aspartame products. I believe that our society faces a preventable medical disaster if aspartame products are not promptly removed from public use." Dr. Roberts has written on the brain tumor issue for years and has authored books on the dangers of aspartame. There have been independent studies on aspartame over the years, not funded by the manufacturer. Dr. Ralph Walton on 60 Minutes on Dec 29 said that out of 90 independent studies 83 showed a problem with aspartame. During Congressional Hearings on aspartame a document was discussed titled CONFIDENTIAL TRADE SECRET INFORMATION, Food and Drug Sweetener Strategy, 12/28/70. In the concluding paragraph it says: "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 .. we stand a good chance of ending up with nothing.." Diketopiperazine (DKP) is a BRAIN TUMOR AGENT. With regard to the studies, Dr. Jacqueline Verrett, a former FDA toxicologist and member of an FDA task force that investigated the authenticity of research done by Searle to establish the safety of aspartame, said she believes the original aspartame studies were "built on a foundation of sand". (Testimony of Dr. Jacqueline Verrett, FDA toxicologist, before the US Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, regarding "NutraSweet Health and Safety Concerns, 11/3/87) Dr. Verrett testified that 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. Verrett said 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. Verrett concluded the data in the study was worthless, and the safety of aspartame and its breakdown products have therefore not been determined. She emphasized that aspartame exists in the market place without basic toxicity information. She said there are no data to assess the interactions with DKP, excess phenylalanine, other aspartame metabolites, additives, drugs, or other chemicals. She elaborated on DKP problems, including significant increases of uterine polyps and changes in blood cholesterol. DKP is formed when liquids in particular are pre-sweetened with aspartame. The production of DKP is vulnerable to increase in temperature, and higher temperatures produce increasing amounts of DKP. She reminded members of Congress "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." On January 10, l977, FDA chief counsel, Richard Merrill, sent a 33 page letter to U.S. Attorney Skinner repeating the request for the grand jury investigation "into apparent violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. . and False Reports to the Government Act .. by G. D. Searle. The letter charged that Searle concealed material facts and made false statements in reports of animal studies conducted to establish the safety of aspartame. Studies cited for investigation had been conducted in l972 and five year statues of limitation for criminal prosecution were due to expire on 10/10 and 12/8/77. U. S. Attorney Sam Skinner went to work for Searle's law firm, Sidley and Austin, and the statue of limitations ran out. The FDA task force observed laboratory methods at Searle from April 25 to August 4, l977. The Bressler Report (named for team leader Jerome Bressler) identified major discrepancies including "substantial differences between gross observation on pathology sheets when compared with those submitted to the FDA" in a rat toxicology test of aspartame. (FDA, Bressler Report, Investigation of Searle Laboratories, 8/7/77) According to the Bressler Report, one rat even appeared resurrected. It stated: "Observed records indicated that animal A23LM was alive at week 88, dead from week 92 to week 104, alive at week 108, and dead at week 112." The actual meal fed to the rats was also in question. Raymond Schroeder, a former Searle employee, said in an FDA interview on July 13, l977 that "the particles of DKP were large enough to allow the rats to discriminate between the DKP and the basal diet." Dr. John Olney, psychiatrist, neuropathologist and professor at Washington University in St. Louis, found 12 brain tumors in 320 dosed rats and none in 120 control rats when he examined FDA files on aspartame animal studies in l978. Olney advised that the high number of brain tumors was unusual. Olney voiced another concern based on his research. He showed that when glutamate and aspartic acid are ingested together each agent augments the neurotoxic effects of the other. Olney, along with consumer activist attorney James Turner, initiated court action over aspartame. In a l986 interview Turner said he had spent 15 years battling approval of aspartame because "its hurting people". The late Dr. M. Adrian Gross, an FDA toxicologist, spoke out against aspartame in the August 1, l985 Congressional Record. Gross, who took part in on site investigations at Searle laboratories, said the studies carried out by Searle to show the safety of aspartame were "to a large extent unreliable." He said "at least one of those studies has established beyond any reasonable doubt that aspartame is capable of inducing brain tumors in experimental animals and that this .. is of extremely high significance." (Congressional Record SID835:131 Aug 1, l985) Gross also testified that because aspartame was capable of producing brain tumors and brain cancer, FDA should not have been able to set an allowable daily intake of the substance at any level. He said at least one of Searle's "has established beyond any reasonable doubt that aspartame is capable of inducing brain tumors in experimental animals and that this predisposition of it is of extremely high significance... In view of these indications that the cancer causing potential of aspartame is a matter that has been established way beyond any reasonable doubt, one can ask: What is the reason for the apparent refusal by the FDA to invoke for this food additive the so-called Delaney Amendment to the Food, Drug an Cosmetic Act?" The Delaney Amendment makes it illegal to allow any residues of cancer causing chemicals in foods. In his concluding testimony Gross asked, "Given the (cancer causing potential of aspartame) how would the FDA justify its position that it views a certain amount of aspartame as constituting an allowable daily intake or 'safe' level of it? Is that position in effect not equivalent to setting a 'tolerance' for this food additive and thus a violation of that law? And if the FDA itself elects to violate the law, who is left to protect the health of the public?" H.R. 3200 just repealed the Delaney Amendment and in June the FDA at the request of the NutraSweet Co. (Monsanto) gave blanket approval to this neurotoxin without public notification. Dr. Kessler of the FDA who approved it then recently resigned and left office. Aspartame was approved in l981 by Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes when he over-ruled a Board of inquiry and went to work for Searle's PR firm. He refused to talk to the press for over 10 years and refused recently to be interviewed by 60 Minutes. When the NutraSweet Company tells you aspartame has been proven safe, remember that these are the studies that approved it. This is the myth of the most tested additive in history. Monsanto funds the trade organizations, the AMA and Congress. Petitions to ban aspartame have failed in the past. Monsanto has great power and the FDA has great loyalty to them. When Dr. Olney's report made world news the NutraSweet Co. attempted to defend their product and the FDA went to their defense. ---- 3 You've now read Dr. Olney's report, and some information from the Congressional Record on the original studies. Mission Possible collects the histories from the victims of aspartame. In a nutshell aspartame destroys the central nervous system, the brain, the optic nerve and triggers an irregular heart rhythm; and as Richard Wilson once said who lost his wife to NutraSweet - it ravages every organ in the body. This is the reality of aspartame. Because aspartame was classified as an additive instead of a drug, which it is, it requires no safety monitoring. The Congressional Record even mentions that the FDA was sending complaints to the AIDS Hotline. In l984 the Center for Disease Control was asked to do an investigation of the complaints. They reviewed 213 of 592 cases of aspartame complaints. Ages of the complainants ranged from four months to 77 years; 77% were between the ages of 21 and 60 years, 75% were female and 94% were white. Twenty-eight percent reported repeated episodes of symptoms and 26 people experienced identical symptoms. Some of the reported symptoms included: aggressive behavior, disorientation, hyperactivity, extreme numbness, excitability, memory loss, loss of depth perception, liver impairment, cardiac arrest, seizures, suicidal tendencies, severe mood swings and death. The CDC recommended future investigations of aspartame investigate the neurological and behavioral problems, and focus on symptoms such as headaches, mood alterations and behavioral changes. Would you say these are serious problems? Yet, Frederick L. Trowbridge added an executive summary to the report which conflicted with the information in the report. He stated: "Currently available information, based on data with limitations as described in the report, indicated a wide variety of complaints that are generally of a mild nature. Although it may be that certain individuals have an unusual sensitivity to the product, these data do not provide evidence for the existence of serious, widespread, adverse health consequences to the use of aspartame." Why would they do this? CDC is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, FDA! When you call the CDC for this report they only send you the summary. I told them I had seen the report and there was no way they would keep it from me. It was sent to me when I filed under Freedom of Information. It is the most damning report ever written on aspartame. And these problems continue in the population. Histories continue to flood in from victims who have suffered seizures, vision loss and blindness, mood swings, miscarriages, birth defects in their children, loss of equilibrium and MS symptoms, depression, chronic fatigue, memory loss, etc. These reports the FDA calls anecdotal were once considered clinical observation. And as we get the victims off aspartame their symptoms disappear within 4 to 6 weeks, if warned in time. Some have perished. Here is the FDA report of 92 documented symptoms including death, also acquired through Freedom of Information. The FDA says they list blindness under vision loss (the component methanol converts to formaldehyde and formic acid in the retina of the eye). Headaches, dizziness or problem with balance, change in mood quality or level, vomiting and nausea, abdominal pain and cramps, change in vision, diarrhea, seizures and convulsions, memory loss, fatigue, weakness, other neurological, rash, sleep problems, hives, change in heart rate, itching, change in sensation (numbness, tingling), grand mal seizures, local swelling, change in activity level, difficulty breathing, oral sensory changes, change in menstrual pattern, other skin, other, localized pain and tenderness, other urogenital, change in body temperature, difficulty swallowing, other metabolic, joint and bone pain, speech impairment, other gastrointestinal, chest pain, other musculo-skeletal, fainting, sore throat, other cardiovascular, change in taste, difficulty with urination, other respiratory, edema, change in hearing, abdominal swelling, change in saliva output, change in urine volume, change in perspiration pattern, eye irritation, unspecified, muscle tremors, petit mal, change in appetite, change in body weight, nocturnal, change in thirst or water intake, unconsciousness and coma, wheezing, constipation, other extremity pain, problems with bleeding, unsteady gait, coughing, blood glucose disorders, blood pressure changes, changes in skin and nail coloration, change in hair or nails, excessive phlegm production, sinus problems, simple partial seizures, hallucinations, lumps present, shortness of breath on exertion, evidence of blood in stool or vomit, dysmenorrhea, dental problems, change in smell, DEATH, other blood and lymphatic, eczema, complex partial seizures, swollen lymph nodes, hematuria, shortness of breath due to position, difficulties with pregnancy, (children only) developmental retardation, change in breast size or tenderness, anemia, change in sexual function, shock, conjunctivitis, dilating eyes, febrile Should an additive cause these kind of symptoms? Pilots are reporting grand mal seizures in the cockpits of commercial airliners from aspartame, chest palpitations, tachycardia, vision loss, etc. FLYING SAFETY, Journal of the U.S. Air Force and NAVY PHYSIOLOGY, Journal of the U.S. Navy, have written in their journals warning all pilots off aspartame. Doctors if you are seeing neurological symptoms you can't explain and your patient is on aspartame get him off and see for yourself what this deadly neurotoxin is doing to the human race. At the Conference of the American College of Physicians which I attended with Dr. H. J. Roberts the first thing neurology professors said was: "Where are the seizures coming from?" The phenylalanine in aspartame lowers the seizure threshold of the brain. Why is this product so deadly? Aspartame is a molecule composed of 3 components: aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol. Once ingested the methanol, wood alcohol, converts into formaldehyde and formic acid (ant sting poison). Both aspartic acid and l-phenylalanine are also neurotoxic because they are isolated from the other amino acids in protein and go past the blood brain barrier and deteriorate the neurons of the brain. The phenylalanine in aspartame is genetically engineered. We ask everyone to write to the FDA and complain: Food & Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, Maryland 20857 Dr. Roberts position papers on aspartame and diabetes, aspartame or MS?, aspartame and the eye, aspartame and equilibrium, aspartame and pregnancy, aspartame and cardiac problems are in Mission Possible files located at: http://www.dorway.com/possible.html If you have specific information please consider capturing the form, complete and send it to the FDA, with a "proof" copy to Betty Martini. If you have the time to complete an in-depth report for Dr. Roberts, please capture, fill out and mail his questionnaire. Mission Possible activists the world over are warning the public and attempting to get this toxin off the market. People are still hurting! The brochure questioning the safety of aspartame and its components is on Dave Rietz web page, email address below, and it has been answered by Mark Gold. Mission Possible reports are http://www.dorway.com/possible.html Dave Rietz' web page links to many other web pages including Mark Gold's.