http://www.lineone.net/express/00/01/09/news/n0120war-d.html

Bitter war of words over the safety of $1 billion sweetener
By Lucy Johnston

THE GIANT corporation vigorously defends its billion dollar chemical.
The mere suggestion of "health risks" can prompt threatening letters
from its lawyers.

The company is Monsanto, the American multi-national. It is protecting
the reputation of aspartame - a confected chemical compound which has
one extraordinary property: it is very sweet.

Aspartame is the artificial sweetener which has revolutionised the low-
calorie food and drink industry in the Western world. Most people would
know it under brand names such as NutraSweet and Canderel. Unlike sugar,
it isn't fattening and doesn't have the unpleasant aftertaste of its
once-dominant competitor, saccharine.

The Monsanto lawyers take an unequivocal stance. Twice they have written
letters headed "Not for Publication" to the Sunday Express, stressing
that aspartame is the most thoroughly-tested ingredient in our food
supply. Those tests, their clients state, prove it is safe.

However, scientists, doctors, psychiatrists, campaigners and MPs believe
there are safety questions. They believe such a debate should not be
silenced by lawyers protecting lucrative commercial interests.

In Britain we consume 10 billion cans of fizzy drink a year and a little
under half of them are artificially sweetened. We take aspartame in
jelly, chewing gum, yogurts, desserts, sweets, beer, spring water and
vitamins. Monsanto points to 200 "objective" scientific studies which
document the safety of its product. All other studies, it says, have
been discredited. Many reports indicating aspartame is safe are financed
by the food industry.

However, a scientific review of all the evidence available in 1996 found
92 per cent of the independent - non-industry-funded - medical data
relating to health risks of aspartame identified safety concerns. These
include fears that aspartame may be linked to illnesses such as brain
tumours, blindness and seizures.

Professor Ralph Walton, chairman of the psychiatry department at
Northwestern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, said: "I dispute
Monsanto's assertion that there are no health risks. I believe aspartame
increases risk of cancer. Virtually all the studies attesting to its
safety have been funded by the industry."

America's influential Food and Drug Administration and Britain's food
safety watchdogs have always given the sweetener a clean bill of health
-but that may not be the end of the story.

The discovery of aspartame, in 1969, was accidental. While testing a new
chemical as a possible anti-ulcer drug, chemist James Schlatter
inadvertently smeared his hand with liquid from a flask. He licked his
thumb clean and was surprised by how sweet it tasted. The compound was
200 times sweeter than sugar.

Aspartame seemed wonderful. It contained virtually no calories and
tasted more like sugar than other sweeteners: ideal for the growing diet
market. Sales under the brand name NutraSweet became worth more than
£625million a year.

It had taken 16 years from Schlatter's discovery for his company, US
drug giant Searle, to win FDA approval for the sweetener. Searle's
safety research was one of the main sticking points. Doubts over its
reliability prompted a special investigation by the FDA, which
discovered some of the tests were "seriously flawed". A senior FDA
toxicologist told a Congressional committee: "At least one test has
established beyond any reasonable doubt that aspartame is capable of
producing brain tumours in animals."

IN 1981 an internal memo from three FDA scientists advised against
approval of NutraSweet. That year President Reagan fired the FDA
commissioner and gave the job to Dr Arthur Hull Hayes. Three months
later aspartame was passed for limited use and within two years was also
approved for beverages.

The FDA's decision paved the way for 100 regulatory bodies in other
countries to follow suit, including Britain. By 1985 Searle had been
acquired by Monsanto - the company that invented Agent Orange - and
aspartame became the market leader. As consumption of aspartame grew,
with products such as Diet Coke and Wrigley's sugar-free gum, so did the
concerns. The FDA has received reports of 92 different symptoms, claimed
to have been triggered by aspartame. They include headaches, skin
problems, gastro-intestinal problems, poor vision, depression,
carbohydrate cravings, panic attacks, irregular heart rhythms,
behavioural problems and seizures. The FDA stresses that none has yet
been proved.

Dr Hyman Roberts, of the Palm Beach Institute for Medical Research in
Florida, had welcomed aspartame. "When it was introduced, I recommended
it to diabetic patients because it contained no sugar, calories,
cholesterol or sodium. It was a godsend," he said. However, he then saw
more patients with problems such as chronic headaches, impaired vision
and panic attacks. "We narrowed down the culprit to aspartame," he
added.

The most common reaction among his 1,200 aspartame-sensitive patients
has been headaches. "I also had numerous diabetic patients whose
condition has been exacerbated by aspartame, including eye and nerve
problems," he said. "When they were taken off aspartame, they improved
dramatically."

During digestion aspartame breaks down into several constituents
including methanol, which can act as a brain toxin, according to Dr
Madelon Price, professor of neurobiology at Washington University
Medical School. "Methanol can lead to visual problems, headaches and
muscle cramps," she said.

Monsanto and NutraSweet argue that all the constituents of aspartame are
in much greater quantities in natural drinks such as milk and tomato
juice, not considered a health risk.

Four years ago an article in the American Association of
Neuropathologists' journal claimed the sweetener was a "promising
candidate" to explain a 10 per cent rise in brain tumour rates in
America. The authors relied on an early trial in which some rats fed on
aspartame developed brain tumours.

NUTRASWEET said the report's authors had "manipulated" their data and
pointed to other studies which showed its product was safe.

A British Government committee on carcinogenicity agreed there were
flaws with the American study and rejected the allegation.

However, last month scientists at King's College in London began a
three-year study to see whether aspartame could cause brain tumours in
people with a certain genetic make-up.

Dr Peter Nunn, who is leading the team, said: "Some studies have shown a
link between aspartame and primary brain tumours, and some have shown no
link.

"This study does not set out to rubbish aspartame. It is a serious study
into whether people with certain genes are more susceptible to these
compounds than others."

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker has urged the Government to
investigate. "We do not know whether aspartame is dangerous," he said.
"But independent researchers have expressed serious concerns. Aspartame
should be withdrawn immediately pending further investigation."

 Additional reporting by Jonathan Calvert and Sarah Stacey © Express
Newspapers, 1999

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http://www.lineone.net/express/00/01/09/news/n0100splash-d.html

Prove that diet drinks are safe INVESTIGATION By Lucy Johnston

THE SUNDAY Express today demands a Government inquiry into the safety of
aspartame, Britain's best-selling low calorie sweetener after mounting
concern that it poses a health risk. The sweetener - sold as NutraSweet
and Canderel and found in products such as diet drinks and desserts -has
been linked with more than 90 adverse reactions including brain tumours
and blindness.

Aspartame has been used for 18 years but no study has properly analysed
the affects of long-term exposure. It is now being questioned by a
growing number of scientists, consumer groups and MPs.

The evidence is still inconclusive and its manufacturers Monsanto, are
confident existing research has declared it safe. A spokesperson said:
"This product has been approved by health and regulatory authorities
across the world. No credible, well-controlled independent research
shows any link between health risks and aspartame."

But most of the studies that declare it safe are funded by the food
industry. An analysis of studies in America until 1996 found that 92 per
cent of independent research papers expressed concerns. © Express
Newspapers, 1999