http://www.lineone.net/express/00/01/09/news/n0140suffer-d.html

Daughter's suffering made me a campaigner
By Hazel Courtney

Geoff and Carol Brewer were unaware of any possible problems with
aspartame until their young daughter caught flu two years ago and
developed an alarming rash that covered her body.

It developed when they gave Laura, now five, sugar-free drinks after
their GP recommended plenty of fluids.

Geoff, from Wiltshire, said: "We had always been careful about giving
the
children too much sugar so we bought lots of soft drinks labelled 'sugar
free'."

Laura's flu improved but, after a few days, a rash appeared around her
mouth and spread to her genital area. "Our doctor thought it might be
eczema and prescribed a cream," said Geoff.

"Within a week the rash spread until it covered Laura's body which
caused her - and us - a great deal of distress.

"The doctor could not explain her symptoms. Then a friend showed me an
article which claimed aspartame triggered problems including rashes in
some sensitive individuals."

Geoff checked the labels on the drinks they had bought - each contained
aspartame. We stopped giving her anything containing this sweetener.
We found it was in sweets, instant foods, some brands of crisps and
even her chewable multivitamins.

"For four days, our lives were a nightmare. Laura became hyperactive
and went on demanding her sweet drinks. She went through what I now
know were withdrawal symptoms. After a week or so she began to calm
down and the rash disappeared."

When Geoff investigated aspartame, he read claims of 92 possible side
effects. He has set up a British branch of US pressure group Mission
Possible and backs our call for a safety review.He said: "I think the
British government should fund an independent investigation into it."

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http://www.lineone.net/express/00/01/09/features/fcolleader-d.html

Express Opinion

We must not sugar the pill over artificial sweetener worries

There is little more important to us than the food that we eat and
drink. If we cannot be sure that it is safe then we are in a dangerous
mess. That is why the Sunday Express launched its Faith In Our Foods
campaign last year. So far we have had nothing but success. Our first
task, to ensure that food labelling was accurate, was accomplished when
the minister, Baroness Hayman, pledged to take the necessary action. We
take her at her word.

As we promised then, today we return to the campaign by calling for a
review of the safety of the country's best-selling low-calorie
sweetener, aspartame, which is sold under brand names such as NutraSweet
and Canderel. Aspartame has been linked with more than 90 health
problems from brain tumours and blindness to cancer.

Monsanto, which manufactures Nutrasweet, denies that there are any
risks. Certainly, research funded by the food industry rules out any
dangers. Other independent research, however, paints a more worrying
picture.

We, the consumer, are left not knowing what to believe. Now the only
satisfactory way forward is for an exhaustive government study from the
new Food Standards Agency. This could clear up once and for all whether
this widely used additive is safe.

We hope such a study would provide good news. But we need to know for
sure.

Steering teenage drivers to safety

IT'S SOMETHING we have all seen. There we are, driving safely along
minding our own business when, out of nowhere, rushes a car apparently
driven by someone with a death wish. How often it turns out that the
person behind the steering wheel is a teenager, barely out of boyhood.
The problem is almost entirely with young men. As the law stands today,
a 17-year-old can be out on the road unaccompanied on the day of his
birthday if he has arranged to take a driving test in advance.

The Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is right to take this seriously
and to propose a probationary period which could eventually last a year
before a provisional licence holder can take the test. This is an
entirely sensible idea and the sooner it is implemented the better.

But it is not enough to cope with the problem of immaturity on the road
itself. No sooner does one pass the test than one can drive as one sees
fit. Fellow motorists have no idea whether the driver in front is
experienced or a novice.

The existing voluntary scheme, in which inexperienced drivers continue
to display a green L plate indicating an inexperienced driver, helps. Mr
Prescott should make it compulsory for drivers in their first year on
the roads. That way we would know that the car in front was being driven
by a novice and could act accordingly.

She came, she saw, she partied

O tempora, o mores! A week into the third millennium after Roman times,
it is salutary to be reminded that there really is nothing new in human
experience. We should not be surprised that the Roman princess
discovered last year turns out to have been the It Girl of her
generation. We may like to mourn declining standards but even the Romans
looked back to a lost Golden Age. Most traits of human behaviour have
been displayed at every age. Let's just hope that this year
archaeologists don't dig up the Roman David Beckham.

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