Bittersweet Symphony

Donald Rumsfeld orchestrated the poisoning of The World with ASPARTAME (also known as NutraSweet, Spoonful, Equal, Canderel and E951)

Yes, that Donald Rumsfeld – the ex-Secretary of Defense – the one that holds his fellow man in such high regard; he thinks its OK to torture innocent Iraqis to death; hold anyone at Guantanamo Bay, without trial, indefinitely; and as a founding member of The Project for a New American Century, calls for worldwide population reduction!

In December 1965, Jim Schlatter, a scientist working for the U.S. drug company Searle licked some of a new ulcer drug from his fingers and discovered the ultra-sweet taste of Aspartame.

His boss, Dr. Bob Mazur, realised that selling this chemical as a food additive to hundreds of millions of healthy people every day would mean billions of dollars profit for Searle.

Searle’s early tests of the substance showed it produced microscopic holes and tumours in the brains of mice, epileptic seizures in monkeys, and was converted by animals into dangerous substances, including Formaldehyde.

In 1974, however, in spite of the information in its files, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Aspartame as a dry-food only additive. But the agency also made public, for the first time, the data supporting a food-additive decision. This data was subsequently reviewed by renowned brain researcher, Dr. John Olney from Washington University in St. Louis, and many other scientists. Dr. Olney petitioned the FDA for a public hearing as he had already shown that Aspartic Acid (one Aspartame component) caused microscopic holes in the brains of rats after each feeding. Aspartame also includes Phenylalanine and Methanol which are neurotoxins.

Faced with this array of possible health dangers, the FDA granted the hearing requests. In lieu of withdrawing its Aspartame approval, the agency prevailed on Searle to refrain from marketing the sweetener until after completion of the hearing process. It then proposed that a Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) review the matter.

In July of 1975, as the FDA prepared for the PBOI, an FDA inspector conducted a routine review of the Searle's testing facilities in Skokie, Illinois, and found many deviations from proper procedures. This report led the FDA Commissioner to create a Special Commissioner's Task Force to review Searle's labs.

In December of 1975 the Task force reported serious problems with Searle research on a wide range of products, including Aspartame. It found 11 pivotal studies conducted in a manner that was so flawed as to raise doubts about the safety of Aspartame and create the possibility of serious criminal liability for Searle!

The FDA then halted Aspartame's approval. It also contracted with a group of university pathologists (paid by Searle) to review most of the studies. The FDA set up a task force to review three studies and asked the U.S. Attorney for Chicago to seek a grand jury review of the ‘monkey seizure’ study.

The pathologists paid by Searle only reviewed its failure to properly report data and not the study's design or its conduct. Surprise, surprise, they found no serious problems! The FDA Task Force found Searle's key tumour safety study unreliable, but was ignored. The U.S. Attorney let the statue of limitations run out, then (along with two aides) proceeded to join Searle's law firm. Just a coincidence, absolutely nothing to worry about.

In October 1980, even based on its limited review, the FDA Board blocked Aspartame marketing until the tumour studies could be explained. Unless the commissioner overruled the board, the matter was now closed.

In November 1980, however, the U.S. elected Ronald Reagan President - a friend and benefactor of the Searle family.

Enter Donald Rumsfeld, president of Searle since January 1977, who joined the presidential transition team and a concerted campaign against the FDA Board decision began.

In January 1981, Rumsfeld told a Searle sales meeting, according to one attendee, that he would “call in his chips to get Aspartame approved by the end of the year.”

On January 25th, the day the new president took office, the previous FDA Commissioner's authority was suspended by an Executive Order signed by Reagan, and the next month, the Commissioner's job went to Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes. Just another coincidence, nothing to worry about.

Transition records do not show why the administration chose Hayes, a professor and Defense Department contract researcher. In July, Hayes, defying his FDA advisors, approved Aspartame for dry foods - his first major decision. In November 1983 he approved Aspartame for soft drinks - his last decision at the FDA.

In November 1983 Hayes, under fire for accepting corporate gifts, left the agency and went to Searle's public-relations firm as a senior medical advisor. Later Searle lawyer, Robert Shapiro, renamed Aspartame NutraSweet; Monsanto (you know, the nice people that gave us genetically-modified food) purchased Searle; Rumsfeld received a $12,000,000 bonus and Shapiro became Monsanto president. Just a few coincidences, nothing to worry about.

Shortly after the FDA soft-drink approval, Searle began test marketing, and complaints began to arrive at the FDA of reactions such as dizziness, blurred vision, headaches, and seizures. The complaints were more serious than the agency had ever received on any other food additive. At the same time, scientists began looking more closely at this manufactured chemical sweetener.

In 1985, the FDA asked the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to review the first 650 complaints (there are now over 10,000 and the FDA estimate much less than 1% of complaints are actually reported to them). The CDC found that the symptoms in approximately 25% of the complainants had stopped and then restarted, corresponding with their having stopped and then restarted (either purposely or by accident) Aspartame consumption.

The day the FDA released the CDC report, Pepsi Cola, having obtained an advance copy, announced its switch to Aspartame with a worldwide multi-million dollar media blitz. Donald Rumsfeld owed a debt of gratitude to former White House confidante and friend Donald Kendal, Pepsi's chairman. The Pepsi announcement and aggressive marketing made NutraSweet a household brand name. Just another coincidence, hardly anything to worry about.

In May 1992, the U.S. Navy and Air Force published articles in Navy Physiology and Flying Safety with this warning: "several researchers have found Aspartame can increase the frequency of seizures, or lower the stimulation necessary to induce them. This means a pilot who drinks diet sodas is more susceptible to flicker vertigo, or to flicker-induced epileptic activity. It also means that all pilots are potential victims of sudden memory loss, dizziness during instrument flight, and gradual loss of vision."

According to data released in 1995, human brain tumours like those in the animal studies have risen by 10% and previously benign tumours turned virulent. Searle and the FDA's deputy commissioner, Dr. Michael A. Friedman, said the data posed no problem and was probably the result of improved diagnosis techniques. Later, Dr. Friedman became senior vice president of clinical research for Searle. Just one more coincidence, not much to worry about.

From 1985 to 1995, researchers did about 400 Aspartame studies. They were divided almost evenly between those that gave assurances and those that raised questions about the sweetener. Searle paid for 100% of those finding no problem, but all studies paid for by the non-industry sources raised serious issues!

Just too many coincidences, time to start worrying !!!


How does it cause long-term damage?

Aspartame is comprised of two Amino Acids; Aspartic Acid and Phenylalanine. Aspartic Acid acts as an "excitatory" neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger, stimulating neurons to fire. Problems can arise when Aspartic Acid is out of balance with "inhibitory" Amino Acids that calm things down. Phenylalanine also easily enters the brain, where it is transformed into neurotransmitters that can further interfere with normal brain function.

This is a likely reason why Aspartame lowers the threshold for seizures, mood disorders, and other nervous system problems. This altered brain chemistry may also be responsible for the addictive nature of Aspartame. Some report that it takes more willpower to give up diet soft drinks than cigarettes!

The remaining component, which makes up 10 percent of Aspartame, may be the most dangerous part. It is a methyl ester that breaks down after ingestion into Methanol, a nervous system toxin also known as free methyl alcohol or wood alcohol, which is extremely harmful to the optic nerve. An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assessment of Methanol states that it "is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, Methanol is oxidized to Formaldehyde and Formic Acid; both of these metabolites are toxic."

In a 2011 report prepared for the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), scientists warned that people with higher exposure to formaldehyde were more at risk for certain types of rare cancers. This has prompted the U.S. government to add formaldehyde to a list of known and potential carcinogens.

Aspartame causes slow, silent damage in those unfortunate enough to not have immediate reactions and hence a good reason to avoid it. It may take one year, five years, ten years, or more, as it causes some reversible and many irreversible changes in health.


What problems does ASPARTAME (NutraSweet, Spoonful, Equal, Canderel, E951) cause?

In February of 1994, the United States Department of Health and Human Services released the following list of the reactions caused and/or severely aggravated by Aspartame reported to the FDA. Adverse Aspartame reactions accounted for more than three-quarters of ALL reports to their Adverse Reaction Monitoring System in the preceding year:

Abdominal Pain

Allergic Reactions

Alzheimer's Disease

Anxiety Attacks

Arthritis

Asthma

Asthmatic Reactions

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

Birth Defects

Bloating, Edema (Fluid Retention)

Brain Tumours

Breathing Difficulties

Burning Eyes and/or Throat

Burning Urination

Chest Pains

Chronic Cough

Chronic Fatigue

Confusion

Death (yes, to the FDA this as an adverse reaction !!!)

Depression and/or other Psychological Disorders

Diabetes and Diabetic Complications

Diarrhoea

Dizziness

Epilepsy

Excessive Thirst and/or Hunger

Fatigue

Fibromyalgia

Hair Loss (Baldness) and/or Thinning of Hair

Headaches and/or Migraines

Hearing Loss

Heart Palpitations

Hives (Urticaria)

Hypertension (High Blood Pressure)

Hypoglycemia/Hyperglycemia (Blood Sugar)

Impotency and/or Sexual Problems

Inability to Concentrate

Increased Infection Susceptibility

Insomnia

Irritability

Itching

Joint Pains

Laryngitis

Lupus

Lyme Disease

Lymphoma

Marked Personality Changes

Memory Loss

Menstrual Problems and/or Changes

Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS)

Muscle Spasms/Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Nausea and/or Vomiting

Numbness or Tingling of Extremities

Panic Attacks

Parkinson's Disease

Rapid Heart Beat

Seizures and Convulsions

Skin Problems and/or Rashes

Slurring of Speech

Swallowing Pain

Tachycardia

Tremors

Tinnitus

Various Phobias

Vertigo

Vision Loss

Weight Gain

The last one on the list, Weight Gain, is ironic as Aspartame is primarily marketed as a Low-Calorie alternative to sugar and is in every ‘diet’ soft drink! Before Aspartame, the number of Americans who were overweight was static at 24% of the population. However, from the mid 1980s to the present, this number has more than doubled to 54%!

Donald Rumsfeld and his corrupt friends don’t care about you; your health means absolutely nothing to them. You’re helping to make them very rich people and the only way to stop them is for everybody to say NO to Aspartame.

Stop consuming any product containing Aspartame now !!! That means reading the (usually tiny print) labels on everything you buy as it’s in 1000s of products. Then it will take at least 60 days to reverse the non-permanent changes to your body that have been caused by this powerful neurotoxin.

And, of course, TELL EVERYONE !!!




by Neil Kerslake for crazations.tv

illustrations by David Dees

>>>> discuss this article with the author @ TPUC Forum >>>>