NB: Aspartame may contain constituents produced by GE'd micro-organisms. President's memory problems have an unacknowledged source say local diet critics With TV presenters and comedians all over the United States dining out on President Clinton's videotaped testimony to the Federal Grand Jury on the Monica Lewinsky scandal, those with Internet access are homing in on http://www.cbs.com/ and clicking on "Commercial" to hear popular US talkshow host David Letterman's sendup of the Presidential broadcast entitled "President Clinton's Diet Coke/Diet Pepsi Commercial". Letterman's wit is pointed at the number of times the President reaches for a can of Diet Coke during his gruelling performance, a feature which has not escaped the attention of diet experts and consumer critics in the United States and New Zealand who say that the popular artificial sweetener aspartame/Nutrasweet used in the drink is a wellknown source of the memory loss the President complains of in his testimony. "As Peter Jennings of ABC World News Tonight noted earlier in the week, President Clinton made the statement that he "couldn't recall" key incidents in his Monica Lewinsky relationship 148 times," says Chris Wheeler, food safety spokesperson for the Soil & Health Association in Auckland today. "That doesn't have to mean Bill Clinton is deliberately lying. If he's chugging Diet Coke as often as David Letterman reports, he'll be lucky to even remember who Monica Lewinsky is." "Dr H.J.Roberts, a widely-quoted critic in the USA of aspartame/Nutrasweet use, is drawing attention on the US national media and over the Internet to the frequency of President Clinton's comments 'I don't remember' and 'My memory is not clear' as evidence of the characteristic memory loss associated with aspartame toxicity. "Dr Roberts reports on www.dorway.com 'There was repeated reference by the President to his memory....Persons at the White House apparently expressed concern over gaps in his memory during recent years. The President repeatedly drank Diet Coke during the deposition and has been observed drinking aspartame (Nutrasweet)-containing cola for years.' "He goes on to say 'The aspartame issue is highly relevant (to the President's inability to remember details of the Lewinsky affair). For over a decade I have encountered and extensively researched a condition affecting millions that I named Aspartame Disease. Its manifestations are detailed in more than a score of professional articles and three books. The profound effects on brain function are emphasised, especially marked confusion and memory loss.' " Dr Roberts' recent book, "Defense against Alzheimer's", currently available makes specific mention of aspartame, also known by its original tradename Nutrasweet, as a major contributing factor in the development of an Alzheimer's-like syndrome often mistaken for the disease itself. Dr Roberts has reported to the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) on behalf of the Soil & Health Association regarding the hazardous nature of aspartame, about which the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in the US has acknowledged receipt of 10,000 consumer complaints listing 92 symptoms from memory loss and epileptic seizures to death. Chris Wheeler, accuses ANZFA and the Ministry of Health of "endemic ignorance" regarding aspartame toxicity. (ANZFA recently published a report defending the safety of Aspartame) "Neither ANZFA nor the Ministry of Health in New Zealand can make any excuses about aspartame toxicity being 'unproven' when there are now some 100 listed studies available on various Internet Websites around the world, plus literally thousands of FDA-acknowledged reports of toxicity reactions from individuals including a class action group at the moment sueing Monsanto and its Nutrasweet Corporation for the serious health problems they have suffered," Chris Wheeler stated today. "A climate of what might best be described as endemic ignorance seems to exist in both ANZFA and our own Ministry of Health regarding information vital to the health of New Zealanders currently addicted to diet drinks and foods and exhibiting exactly the same memory loss symptoms as President Clinton is complaining about. "It's a bit of a contradiction that the people we rely on to check the safety of additives and pseudo-foods can only trot out data coming from vested interests like Monsanto, in the case of aspartame/Nutrasweet, when anyone in this country with a cheap home computer can access and check the very latest data which, to say the least, shines the spotlight of suspicion on what has become the most popular artificial sweetener on the market today. "Behind the jokes about Bill Clinton chugging Diet Coke and having memory lapses an important point is being missed. "If data already widely publicised in the United States about toxic reactions to aspartame is applied to the New Zealand and Australian populations we can predict that hundreds of people are suffering from the same health problems as President Clinton and going to their local GPs with a long list of symptoms from memory loss and sleep impairment to continuous muscle pain and even epileptic seizures. And due to the endemic ignorance of our health police and their failure to independently investigate aspartame, these same victims of aspartame toxicity will suffer wrong diagnosis and continued chronic ill health," Chris Wheeler says. For further information contact Chris Wheeler, Tel: +649 483 7319, Email: chris@wheeler.pl.net Websites http://www.dorway.com (Get links to over 30 sites covering aspartame toxicity) and http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/ (FAQs & Case histories). ************************************ Chris Wheeler 25 Lancaster Road, Beachhaven, Auckland, New Zealand. P O Box 66 073 Beachhaven, Auckland 10. Tel/Fax: 09 483 7319 Cellphone 025 270 2330 Email: chris@wheeler.pl.net THOUGHT FOR THE YEAR: "Man is troubled not by things, but by the view he takes of them." Epictetus the Greek Stoic ************************************