http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id992/pg1/

The aspartame epidemic
by Betty Martini (bettym19@mindspring.com) - March 28, 2001

A worldwide epidemic is raging. The cause is a poisonous
chemical sweetener, aspartame (marketed as NutraSweet,
Equal, Spoonful), the most controversial food additive ever
approved. In reality it is a drug which interacts with other
drugs and changes brain chemistry.

H.J. Roberts, M.D., describes interactions with drugs such
as Coumadin, Dilantin, Inderal, methyldopa or Aldomet,
insulin, and lidocaine in Aspartame (NutraSweet): Is It
Safe? [1]

From the paper Effects of Aspartame on the Brain: Neurologic
Effects of Aspartame? by Richard J. Wurtman and Timothy J.
Maher: "Compounds that do affect physiological systems are
classified as drugs by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and are subject to considerably more demanding
regulatory procedures than food constituents. However, and
perhaps paradoxically because food additives must be shown
to be physiologically inert in order to win initial FDA
approval, once they have obtained this approval they are
thereafter exempted from the requirement (imposed on all
drugs) that their safety continue to be monitored. The
companies that manufacture and use them are not obligated to
monitor adverse reactions associated with their product, nor
to submit to the FDA reports of such adverse reactions; they
also are not required to carry out additional government-
mandated research programs to affirm their product's
safety."[2]

So the question is, should aspartame be considered inert?
The National Soft Drink Association (NSDA) reported in l983:
"Aspartame is inherently, markedly and uniquely unstable in
aqueous media. In a liquid, such as a soft drink, aspartame
will degrade as a function of temperature and pH. Higher
temperatures and more acidic liquids increase the rate of
degradation." The NSDA also knew the use of such an unstable
chemical sweetener is illegal and said under Section 402 of
the FDC Act 21 U.S.C. 342: "a food is adulterated if it
contains in whole or in part . . . a decomposed substance or
if it is otherwise unfit for food." [3] This report became
part of the Congressional Record in l985.

The reason aspartame is so dangerous is that it is a
molecule composed of three components, all of which are
neurotoxic: aspartic acid (40 percent), methanol (10
percent), and phenylalanine (50 percent). Aspartic acid and
phenylalanine are neurotoxic as isolates, unaccompanied by
other amino acids in food to block them from going directly
into the brain. Methanol or wood alcohol is a severe
metabolic poison. Sax's Dangerous Properties of Industrial
Materials states that methanol is "a human poison by
ingestion." It's also classified as a narcotic. [4]
Aspartame breaks down to diketopiperazine, a brain-tumor
agent. A confidential internal memo at Searle (the company
that developed aspartame) indicated concern over lack of
complete toxicological data on DKP. [5]

FDA Commissioner Alexander Schmidt, M.D., approved aspartame
only for dry foods on July 26, l974,[6] and the following
month consumer attorney James Turner and Washington
University researcher Dr. John Olney filed objections to the
FDA's approval, citing evidence of brain lesions and
neuroendocrine disorders in animal studies and concerns the
substance may cause brain damage and mental retardation in
humans. They also requested a hearing on the safety of
aspartame. [7] In December l975 Turner and Olney waived
their right to a public hearing and agreed to a Public Board
of Inquiry. On March 24, l976, the FDA's task force
reported: "At the heart of the FDA's regulatory process is
its ability to rely upon the integrity of the basic safety
data submitted by sponsors of regulated products. Our
investigation clearly demonstrates that, in the G.D. Searle
Co., we have no basis for such reliance now . . . Some of
our findings suggest an attitude of disregard for FDA's
mission of protection of the public health by selectively
reporting the results of studies in a manner which allays
the concerns of questions of an FDA reviewer."[8]

On January 10, l977, in a 33-page letter, FDA Chief Counsel
Richard Merrill recommended to US Attorney Sam Skinner that
a grand jury investigate Searle for "apparent violations of
the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. 331 (e),
and the False Reports to the Government Act, l8 U.S.C. 355
(i) and for concealing material facts and making false
statements in reports of animal studies conducted to
establish the safety of aspartame." The FDA called special
attention to studies investigating the effect of NutraSweet
on monkeys and hamsters. [9] Searle was never indicted
because the statute of limitations expired.

In l981 President Ronald Reagan appointed Arthur Hull Hayes
"who overruled a Public Board of Inquiry in order to approve
aspartame" as FDA Commissioner. On July 1, l983, the
National Soft Drink Association urged the FDA to delay
approval of aspartame for carbonated beverages pending
further testing, but on July 8, l983, it was approved
anyway.

Disregarding the protests and outcry by physicians and
scientists, a chemical poison was blessed for human
consumption. Poisoned consumers were outraged, and three
congressional hearings were held. Senator Howard Metzenbaum
sponsored bill S. 1557 (99th Congress), requiring
independent studies on five of aspartame reported toxic
effects: on brain chemistry, on pregnant women and fetuses,
on increased probability of seizures, its behavioral and
neurological effects (especially in children), and its
interactions with drugs, including monoamine oxidase
inhibitors.

The bill called for a moratorium on aspartame, but because
of heavy lobbying by Monsanto (the corporation that acquired
Searle in l985), it never got out of committee. Senator
Orrin Hatch protected Monsanto as we see in a press release
(February 11, 1986) from Labor and Human Resources titled
Hatch Says No to Committee Hearings on Aspartame. He said:
"[I]t would serve no useful purpose to commit Committee
resources to this issue at this time."

Consumers were going blind due to the wood alcohol from
aspartame. Many were diagnosed by Morgan Raiford, M.D., a
methanol toxicity specialist. The Chicago Sun Times (October
17, 1986) announced Consumer Group Links NutraSweet to
Blindness. "Charging that aspartame, the widely used
artificial sweetener marketed as NutraSweet—causes
blindness, a consumer group yesterday petitioned the Food
and Drug Administration to ban it. The petition was another
step in a long and so far fruitless campaign by the
Washington based Community Nutrition Institute against
aspartame.

Consumer anti-aspartame organizations sprang up. Shannon
Roth, blinded in one eye by aspartame, started Aspartame
Victims and Their Friends of Ocala, Florida. Totally
blinded, Joyce Wilson began Aspartame Victims and Their
Friends of Georgia. Jeanette Soto, who wrote the brochure
Blinded Sight when aspartame took her husband's vision,
today is running Mission Possible of Brooksville, Florida.

As aspartame destroyed their central nervous systems,
patients began being misdiagnosed as having multiple
sclerosis. Victims lost memory, and memory loss is number
eleven on a secret FDA list of 92 aspartame reactions. H.J.
Roberts, M.D., wrote Defense Against Alzheimer's Disease in
l995, connecting aspartame with this exploding twentieth-
century disease.

Another congressional hearing in l987 exposed NutraSweet,
but again ended with no legislation to protect consumers.
That year, Gregory Gordon of United Press International
conducted an eight-month investigation of NutraSweet and the
FDA's handling of the product. Gordon reported that
NutraSweet was at the center of intense controversy since
the day Hayes approved its use on July 18, l981, and that
Hayes overrode six of the nine scientists on two agency
review panels who felt links to brain tumors in rats had
been ignored. Dr. Richard Wurtman, one-time Searle
consultant, resigned to become a critic of NutraSweet. He
told Gordon he had been contacted by more than 200 people
who suspected their seizures resulted from the toxin.

http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id992/pg2/

Barbara Alexander Mullarkey, a columnist for the Wednesday
Journal of Oak Park, Illinois, and author of Bittersweet
Aspartame: A Diet Delusion, wrote the FDA for a list of the
pivotal studies that approved aspartame. A letter from Dr.
Rudolph Harris of the FDA [10] included SC 18862, a 52 Week
Oral Toxicity Study in the Infant Monkey. Seven were fed
aspartame, five had grand mal seizures, and one died. The
FDA report of 92 symptoms lists four types of seizures. (The
phenylalanine in aspartame lowers the seizure threshold.)

Gordon's UPI story reported that Dr. Wurtman said: "Dr.
Gerald Gaull, a Searle vice president, visited his
laboratory in l985 and threatened to veto funding by ILSI,
the Washington-based tax-exempt foundation, for his planned
study into whether NutraSweet changes brain chemistry,
lowering some humans seizure thresholds." Gaull didn't deny
making the threat. Dr. William Partridge told Gordon that
after he raised questions about the sweetener's effects on
children, ILSI rejected his two grant proposals in l985.

Additional revelations from the UPI investigation put the
aspartame picture in perspective:

"Drs. Louis Elsas of Emory University and William Pardridge
of the UCLA Medical School charged that the diet food and
drink industry has engaged in a ‘whitewash' by rejecting
health concerns, manipulating research studies and wining
and dining scientific critics.

"These and other researchers describe a world of subtle,
high-stakes strategy in which the availability of corporate
funds and the design of research protocols may have
influenced the course of a multibillion-dollar industry and
potentially affected the safety of millions of people.

"Elsas, who publicly assailed NutraSweet in l985, said he
was put off for a year before ILSI rejected his proposal
without stating a reason.

"While denying funding for these aspartame skeptics, the
company (G. D. Searle/NutraSweet Co.) and ILSI have financed
researchers with whom they have long-running relationships.
A number of industry-funded scientists acknowledge that
company and ILSI officials originated ideas for their
studies or participated in the research design. These
studies generally have reported the sweetener is safe.

"In the summer of l985 the firm flew Wurtman, Elsas,
Matalon, Pardridge, several of their wives and other
NutraSweet critics to a two-day meeting at a luxurious home
in Northeast harbor, Maine. An afternoon was spent on a
yacht, participants said. 'This was industry wooing the
concerned to shut up,' Elsas said.

"Dr. Richard Wurtman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
neuroscientist, says heavy NutraSweet consumption may so
flood the bloodstream with phenylalanine that other
essential amino acids are blocked from reaching the brain,
causing chemical changes that can affect behavior and lower
the threshold at which many suffer epileptic seizures.

"Dr. Sidney Wolfe, executive director of the Washington-
based Health Research Group said, 'The thing that's really
worrisome is that it clearly affects brain metabolism in
animals, and anyone who disputes that is irresponsible.'

"Dr. Richard Matalon of the University of Illinois has
reported that heavy consumption of NutraSweet's main
component—the amino acid phenylalanine—may cause
neurological problems such as loss of memory and
concentration."

"Consumer lawyer Jim Turner said, 'The notion that an
industrial company would take large sums of money and parcel
it out to scientific consulting firms and university
departments, who they consider to be personal and commercial
allies, is an unconscionable way to ensure the safety of the
American food supply.' He said the NutraSweet experience
shows that 'the entire system of the way scientific research
is done needs to be carefully investigated, evaluated and
revamped.'

"Matalon said, 'Let us say cigarettes were invented today
and you give 20 people two packs a day and after six weeks,
no one has cancer, would you say that it was safe? That's
what they did with NutraSweet.'" [11]

Though the FDA originally wanted the manufacturer indicted,
eventually their loyalty transferred to the manufacturer.
They distributed Monsanto's propaganda with a paper from the
International Food Information Council Foundation which is
rebutted by Mark Gold of the Aspartame Toxicity Center on
the Dorway Web site. This disinformation is also distributed
by trade organizations funded by the industry. The American
Dietetics Association is often called Monsanto's media
flack, and in the January l993 issue of the ADA Courier is a
picture of smiling dietitians receiving a check for $75,000
from NutraSweet, admitting they write ADA's material.

James Bowen, M.D., writes of NutraSweet:

   Toxic Mechanisms:
   Abortifacient: Abortion causation
   Terotogen: Birth defect production
   Adjuvant: Forms antigenic tissue, triggering immunologic attack,
   fetal wastage    Chelation: Chelates metals, promoting heavy
   metal poisoning [12]

Diabetic specialist H.J. Roberts, M.D., has a position paper
on aspartame and diabetes on Dorway in which explains how
aspartame can precipitate diabetes, keep blood sugar out of
control, destroy the optic nerve, and even cause diabetic
convulsions.[13] Yet the American Diabetes Association,
funded by NutraSweet, distributes NutraSweet propaganda
recommending the poison.

When Dr. H. J. Roberts wrote Aspartame (NutraSweet): Is It
Safe?, he added an epilogue quoting comments at his first
press conference: "I think it would be a tragedy if this
issue is ignored since we could be inviting disastrous
medical, psychological and neurological problems. I hope I'm
wrong. But lets look at the problem NOW instead of in five
or ten years when we might be having a medical plague on our
hands."

In l996, FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler granted blanket
approval of this neurotoxin to be used like sugar. I had
asked then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich for help. On
August 26, l996 (p 20-21) the Food Chemical News reported,
"Gingrich told FDA in a July 26 letter that he would
appreciate any information the agency could provide him on
aspartame. Aspartame—commercially known as 'NutraSweet'—was
recently approved for all food and beverages uses by the
FDA." I had provided 26 questions for the FDA to answer that
could remove aspartame from the market if FDA would answer
them honestly. To this day (August 4, 2000) the FDA has
refused to answer them, even though given to them by a man
who at that time was considered one of the most important
men in the world.

In December l996 John Olney, M.D., the famed neuroscientist
who founded the branch of neuroscience known as
excitotoxicity, made world news when he published Increasing
Brain Tumor Rates: Is There a Link to Aspartame? in the
Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology. [14]
He was accompanied on 60 Minutes by Dr. Ralph Walton, who
provided peer-reviewed research on aspartame showing that 83
of 90 independent studies (i.e. not funded by the industry)
revealed problems. Six studies from the FDA had to be
disqualified because of their controversial role regarding
aspartame. One literature review almost exclusively
reflected the industry-sponsored research. With these
studies excluded, 100 percent of the truly independently-
funded research demonstrated some type of adverse reaction
to NutraSweet.

Dr. Ralph Walton—chairman of the Center for Behavioral
Medicine in Youngstown, Ohio—did a study on these effects
[15], but NutraSweet, knowing they had no control over the
study, had refused to sell him the aspartame he needed. When
he obtained it elsewhere, the institution had to stop the
study as some subjects complained of being poisoned, one
sustained a retinal detachment, and one suffered
conjunctival bleeding.

http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id992/pg3/

Dr. Michael Friedman, acting Commissioner of the FDA,
defended Monsanto on 60 Minutes. Yet, it was the FDA
themselves who refused to approve aspartame for sixteen
years because of the brain tumor issue. Their own
toxicologist, the late Dr. Adrian Gross, had told Congress
that aspartame—because it triggers brain tumors—violates the
Delaney Amendment that makes it illegal to allow any
residues of cancer-causing chemicals in foods. In 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?" [16]

We were flooding Dr. Friedman with case histories, but they
were never reported in the FDA report of complaints. And
even in congressional hearings, it was admitted the FDA was
referring aspartame complaints to the AIDS Hotline to get
rid of them. When he defended Monsanto, I couldn't help but
think one day they would reward him. His reward came in June
1999 when they hired him.

In Atlanta, Georgia, in l998 I attended an International
Conference on Unexplained Emerging Epidemics, attended by
the Communicable Disease Center, physicians and scientists
from 91 countries, and the global press. I couldn't help but
remember the prophecy in Dr. Robert's book as I distributed
his information declaring aspartame disease a world plague.
I also distributed a paper exposing the CDC for their part
in the cover-up. In l984 they investigated complaints and
reported such symptoms as 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! They recommended further
investigations of the neurological and behavioral problems.
Perhaps aspartame would not be on the market today if
Frederick L. Trowbridge had not added an executive summary
to the report which conflicted with the information in the
report, stating: "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." As usual, only the summary was widely circulated. I
told Dr. Satcher, who headed the CDC before he became
Surgeon General, if he didn't remove the summary, I would
put the entire document on the Web for the whole world to
read. He didn't and I did, and it can now be read on Dorway.

It's hard to believe anyone associated with the approval of
aspartame didn't know the gun was loaded. Glutamate
researchers used aspartame as a placebo in studies so they
could say MSG wouldn't react anymore than the placebo. MSG
is also an excitotoxin, as discussed in Dr. Blaylock's book
Excitotoxins. In l993 Jack Samuels, President of the Truth
in Labeling Campaign, was reviewing FDA docket files
relating to an FDA study on the safety of amino acids in
supplements. In the files, he found a letter dated March 22,
l991, from Andrew G. Ebert, PhD, Chairman, International
Glutamate Technical Committee—a glutamate industry
organization—in which Ebert admitted that aspartame had been
used since at least l978 in test and placebo materials that
his organization provided to scientists who study the safety
of MSG.

A review of studies conducted with the above-referenced test
material clearly indicates that some subjects reacted to
both MSG test material and placebo material. Scientists
conducting such studies concluded that since subjects
reacted to both MSG and placebos, their reactions were not
from MSG. Even though such logic is highly questionable, we
now know that subjects reacted to placebos because of the
presence of aspartame, an additive that causes MSG-type
responses in MSG-sensitive people. Because of the disclosure
of the use of aspartame in placebo material by Jack Samuels,
the Federation of American Societies for Experimental
Biology, in its July l995 report on the safety of MSG in
food, concluded that the use of aspartame in placebo
materials was inappropriate.

All the articles, all the TV shows, and all the
organizations warning the public could not bring Monsanto
Chemical Company to its knees, although I believe getting
out the warning has saved the lives of thousands of people.
But at the end of l998 something happened that even Monsanto
and the FDA could not contain—the email that made world
news.

In l995 I had lectured for the World Environmental
Conference sponsored by the Department of Environmental
Justice of the EPA through a grant. Dr. Clarice Gaylord gave
the keynote address and said: "We have an epidemic of MS and
lupus and cannot identify the toxin." I answered: "I'm Betty
Martini of Mission Possible International, and I'm here to
lecture on MS and lupus and identify the toxin as
NutraSweet." When I returned to Atlanta I wrote about this
conference and the epidemic on a neurological list headed by
a Dr. Rivner. I put on the list a position paper by Dr.
Roberts titled Multiple Sclerosis or Aspartame Disease? and
material on the subject by neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock,
M.D., author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills,
explaining that aspartame disease mimics multiple sclerosis.
I also discussed many of the other problems it triggers. The
post was put on the Web at Dorway, where it still remains
today.

A person calling herself Nancy Markle published the article
under her name, changing the title and some of the wording.
John Smith saw it in the UK and sent it to a global
networker in Clarkston, Georgia—Shoshanna Allison.
Shoshanna's marriage had been shattered when her husband
developed lupus and the usual mood swings from aspartame.
She didn't want it to happen to anyone else, so with the
help of Jean Hudon in Canada, she put the post in
cyberspace, and it made world news. Today Shoshanna is
dubbed Paula Revere for firing the shot heard around the
world.

Who could have predicted what would happen as this post was
sent to hospitals, clinics, doctors, media, corporations,
and victims? It didn't take long for people to realize I was
the author, as all you had to do was search the Web for
"aspartame" to find Dorway and read the original article. My
phone wouldn't stop ringing, and finally I had to remove
call waiting because it was impossible to talk to two people
at once all day long and do radio shows. Over a year and a
half later, the phone still has not stopped ringing.
Articles continue to be written, some exposing the truth,
while others simply repeat industry-influenced lies. I
believe thousands have been yanked from the jaws of death.

Two support groups were set up online to help the victims
calling from all over the world: the Aspartame Support Group
and Aspartame Survivors International. The Aspartame
Toxicity Center in Concord, New Hampshire, continues to
report the case histories of the victims, some of whom have
now passed on.

http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id992/pg4/

When this post began its world tour, the propaganda mills
geared up. First came Lauren Neergard's Associated Press
article on January 29, l999, titled Internet Health Scares.
She wrote: "An email campaign attacking an artificial
sweetener was spreading fear facts. 'Could I have been
misdiagnosed? Will eliminating the aspartame in my diet
eliminate the MS symptoms?' a panicked patient asked the
Multiple Sclerosis Foundation." She quoted Jeff Stier of the
American Council on Science and Health, who said: "I call
them toxic terrorists."

I called Lauren Neergard and told her I was the one who
lectured for the World Environmental Conference, and there
was no hoax. She said: "But Mrs. Martini, I didn't use your
name." Does that mean she knew there was no hoax but
published the article anyway? Why didn't she use my name?
She finally said, "If you can prove that the FDA doesn't
report all the complaints, I'll consider doing the story." I
explained that we had the copies, but Ms. Neergard has never
done the story and never retracted the misinformation she
published.

On February 8, l999, Time magazine contained Web of Deceit,
an article that read like a Monsanto commercial down to,
"Aspartame sweetens your life without shortening it." I
guess that's a little reverse psychology! The article
contained the usual propaganda about there being four times
as much methanol in a glass of tomato juice as in a can of
aspartame-sweetened soda. The truth is written in a paper by
Dr. Woodrow Monte titled Aspartame: Methanol and the Public
Health—"Ethanol, the classic antidote for methanol toxicity,
is found in natural food sources of methanol at
concentrations 5 to 500,000 times that of the toxin. Ethanol
inhibits metabolism of methanol and allows the body time for
clearance of the toxin through the lungs and kidneys." [17]
There's no ethanol in aspartame—thus, no counteracting
effect on the methanol—but the propaganda put out by
NutraSweet finds itself rubberstamped in newspapers,
articles, and Web sites geared at protecting industry.

The interesting thing about Christine Gorman's article in
Time is that she was on the Dorway Website and knew the
truth. She says: "When I searched Altavista for aspartame
and brain and seizure and sclerosis, I learned that Markle's
message is almost identical to an anti-aspartame screed
first penned under a different name in l995." So she saw my
original post and all the evidence of facts on Dorway,
including the damning CDC investigation, the FDA's own
audit, the Bressler Report, the secret trade information,
and even the protest of the National Soft Drink Association.
She must have seen Dr. Robert's position paper Multiple
Sclerosis or Aspartame Disease? The least she could have
done was to call me, but instead she spewed the real web of
deceit and misled the public.

Phyllis Weidmann had seen the original post and quit using
aspartame. However, misled by Time, she started the use of
aspartame again and sustained a grand mal seizure. Now that
she’s permanently off the toxin, her seizures have stopped,
and she is an activist on the Aspartame Survivors Support
list.

Many people repeated Christine Gorman's search, and when
reading the facts on Dorway told me they were outraged that
Time would publish such an article, having known the truth.

David Emery, who runs the Urban Legends Web site at
About.com, insisted there were many questions I could not
answer, but when I did answer them, he refused to put them
on his site. It continues to mislead the public to this day.
That also goes for Dr. Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch.

As my phone was ringing off the hook, I called Dr. Rudolph
Harris, who confirmed the FDA was having the same
experience. I said: "How can you tell consumers aspartame is
safe when we have FDA's own audit, the Bressler Report, on
the Web." His only answer was, "I can't refute that.

In an interview with Dr. James Bowen, he stated: "The FDA
has made aspartame a self-validating compound, meaning that
since they have released it to market generally recognized
as safe, it must be held blameless. Therefore, their own
studies which show horrendous toxicity must be held
invalid." Dr. Bowen—who says aspartame triggered his Lou
Gehrig's Disease, toxic cardiopathy, and severe depression,
not to mention changing his hair from rich, dark brown to
total silver gray in six weeks—wrote the FDA several years
ago telling them that aspartame was a mass poisoning of the
American public and more than 70 other countries. Their only
response to this, says Dr. Bowen, was to send an FDA
investigator to his office after he collected 30 other cases
for them. This investigator told Dr. Bowen, "We don't like
what you're doing, and we want you to stop." He told me she
repeatedly refused to accept the 30 cases of aspartame
poisoning he collected. Whereupon he said to her, "Did you
come here to intimidate me, or did you come here to review
the case reports, as you say you have?" He says she merely
glared at him and refused to take the reports until he
repeatedly pressured her to do so, and nobody has seen those
reports since.

Why is the post still heavily circulated after a year and a
half? Why is it still causing articles to be written? The
post contained so many symptoms and problems triggered by
aspartame that many victims read their problems and got off
the toxin, and then continued to forward it to friends. Even
if the reader was not using aspartame, many saw the problems
in their friends and family.

Nancy Markle reared her head again when she wrote The
Ecologist in the UK, using my home address. After explaining
the situation, I received a call from journalist Ed
Metcalfe, who did his own investigation on aspartame, which
was published in the June 2000 issue of The Ecologist. He
discusses the FDA-commissioned taskforce, headed by Jerome
Bressler, that investigated some studies to determine
whether or not they had been properly conducted. "In August
l977 the Bressler Report (as it became known) was released.
Investigators found significant deviations from acceptable
procedures for conducting non-clinical laboratory studies.
They discovered, for instance, that a significant proportion
of animal tissues from one of the studies had been allowed
to decompose before post-mortem examinations could be
performed. Original animal pathology sheets and the
pathology sheets submitted to the FDA showed marked
differences. Animals were recorded as dead and then
subsequent records would indicate that the same animal was
still alive—almost certain evidence of a mix-up—which
tallied with evidence that animals had not been correctly
tagged. In one of the studies examining the possible
carcinogenicity in rats of a breakdown product of aspartame
called diketopiperazine (DKP), investigators could not
ascertain what dosage of DKP had been fed to the rats. There
was also evidence that the feed in the DKP test had been
improperly mixed, allowing the animals to avoid the DKP
while eating.

"In l987 Dr. Jacqueline Verrett, a toxicologist and member
of the Bressler Task Force, testified before a US Senate
hearing. She described the discrepancies found in the Searle
tests of aspartame as 'serious departures from acceptable
toxicological protocols.'

"'It is unthinkable," she said, 'that any reputable
toxicologist giving a complete, objective evaluation of the
data resulting from such a study could conclude anything
other than that the study was uninterpretable and worthless
and should be repeated.

"On the crucial question itself: 'It would appear that the
safety of aspartame and its breakdown products has still not
been satisfactorily determined, since many of the flaws
cited in these three studies were also present in all of the
other studies submitted by Searle.'" [18]

The Ecologist's investigation shows again that aspartame was
never proven safe.

http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id992/pg5/

Today physicians are opening aspartame detoxification
centers to help the victims of this chemical poison. The
first one was set up by Dr. Paula Rhodes in Atlanta,
Georgia. When I first saw a sign for the Aspartame
Detoxification Center, I knew the world was getting the
message. Likewise, Dr. David Dahlman of the Hyde Park
Holistic Center in Cincinnati has been treating aspartame
victims from all over the country. Dr. Ron Austin is not
only detoxifying aspartame victims but plans in the future
to have them treated with hyperbaric oxygen. I also received
a call from the Hyperbaric Oxygen Department of the Whitaker
Wellness Center saying their doors are now open aspartame
victims who want assistance.

Monsanto could not put out the fire and sold the NutraSweet
Company. They also sold the rights to Neotame, a more potent
aspartame product. Dr. Jeffrey Bada, a peptide chemist, told
me by phone that Neotame had the same dangerous breakdown
products as aspartame. A 1998 study published in the
prestigious journal Life Sciences showed that formaldehyde
from aspartame accumulates in the cells and damages DNA,
with substantial amounts of toxicity in the liver, kidneys,
adipose tissue, retina, and brain. [19]

The poisoning of the world's population by this FDA-approved
potion is a tragedy on a scale unrivaled in history. Little
blue packs of rat poison nestle in neat containers on every
restaurant table, and it's added to thousands of foods. An
avalanche of new afflictions is sweeping away the well-being
of millions to feed the greed of corporations and
bureaucrats without conscience, without honor. It is time to
stop the massacre, destroy the destroyers.

Endnotes

[1]. Roberts, H.J., M.D. (1990) Aspartame (NutraSweet): Is
it safe? Philadelphia, PA: The Charles Press.

2. Wurtman, Richard J. & Timothy J. Maher. (1987). Effects
of aspartame on the brain: Neurologic effects of aspartame.
Presented at the symposium: "Sweeteners: Health Effects,"
Naylor-Dana Foundation, New York; February 18-20, l987.

[3]. Congressional Record. Senate, May 7, l985 (S5507 -
S5511).

[4]. Louis, R. J. (1992).

[4]. Sax's Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials
(eighth edition). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold: 2251-
2252.

[5]. G. D. Searle Company. (1970).

Confidential internal memorandum entitled "Food and drug
sweetener strategy documents supplied by Sen. Howard
Metzenbaum's office. December 28.

[6]. Federal Register 39: 27317 (July 25, l974).

[7]. Federal Register 46: 38285 (July 24, l981); US Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, No. 84-1153
Community Nutrition Institute, et al, Petitioners v Dr. Mark
Novitch, Acting commissioner, Food and Drug Administration,
Respondent, G. D. Searle Co., Intervenor, Petition for
Review of an Order of the Food and Drug Administration, No.
84-5253 Community Nutrition Institute et al, Appellants v.
Dr. Mark Novitch, Acting Commissioner, food and Drug
Administration, Appellee (September 24, l985).

[8]. Food and Drug Administration, Searle Investigation Task
Force Chaired by Carlton Sharp. (1976). "Final report of
Investigation of G. D. Searle Company." March 24.

[9]. Letter from Richard A. Merrill, Chief counsel,
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Food and Drug
Administration, to Honorable Samuel K. Skinner, US Attorney,
Northern district of Illinois, requesting that Skinner's
office convene a Grand Jury investigation into G. D. Searle
co. for submitting false reports. (January 10, l977).

[10]. Letter from Dr. Rudolph Harris of FDA to Barbara
Alexander Mullarkey, dated August 10, l994.

[11]. Gordon, Gregory. (1987). NutraSweet: Questions swirl.
United Press International, 3-part series.

[12]. Bowen, James, M.D. (2000). Aspartame murders infants
in violation of Title 18 of the Genocide Law. Dorway Web
site, June 6.

[13]. Roberts, H.J., M.D. (1994). Statement of H.J. Roberts,
M.D., concerning the use of products containing aspartame
(NutraSweet) by persons with diabetes and hypoglycemia.
Dorway Web site, August 9.

[14]. Olney, John, M.D. (l996). "Increasing brain tumor
rates: Is there a link to aspartame?" Journal of
Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology, Vol 55, No 12
(December).

[15]. Walton, Dr. Ralph (1993). "Adverse reactions to
aspartame: Double-blind challenge in patients from a
vulnerable population." Society of Biological Psychiatry.

[16]. Congressional Record SID835:131. (August 1, l985).

[17]. Monte, Dr. Woodrow. (1984). "Aspartame: Methanol and
the public health." Journal of Applied Nutrition, Vol 36, No
1.

[18]. Metcalfe, Ed. (2000). "Sweet talking." The Ecologist,
Vol 30, No 4 (June).

[19]. Trocho, C., R. Pardo, I. Rafecas, J. Virgili, X.
Remesar, J.A. Fornandex-Lopez, M. Alemany. (1998).
"Formaldehyde derived from dietary aspartame binds to tissue
components in vivo." Life Sciences 63 (5), June 26, pp 337-
49.

Aspartame Detoxification Centers:

Dr. Paula Rhodes 3767 Chamblee Dunwood Road Atlanta GA 30341
770-455-3999

Dr. David Dahlman of the Hyde Park Holistic Center
(Cincinnati OH) 513-871-3300

Dr. Ron Austin 13132 Studebaker Road, Suite 1 Norwalk, CA
40650 562-863-5754

Hyperbaric Oxygen Department Whitaker Wellness Center 4320
Birch Street New Port Beach, CA 92660 949-851-1550