| Back to... |
Share Our Stories! - Click Here |
 |
Egregious
Outrage - FDA Fights Rescinding Its Own |
| From
Betty Martini, D.Hum, Founder |
Steven Musser, Ph.D Dear Dr. Musser: I filed a petition for ban on aspartame in 2002 which required an answer in 180 days. When FDA refused to answer it, I filed an Imminent Health Hazard on aspartame in 2007, which required an answer in a week or ten days. It has never been answered. In 2009 some FDA physicians and scientists reported to President Obama they were broken, as if we didn't know that with FDA receiving over 50% of its funding from Big Pharma. This remark clearly is well known about the way the FDA serves above the law. In the letter it states "but, the many other FDA managers who have failed to protect the American public, who have violated laws, rules, and regulations, who have suppressed or altered scientific or technological findings and conclusions, who have their power and authority, and who have engaged in illegal retaliation against those who speak out, have not been held accountable and remain in place." Nothing has changed since 2009. In fact, a Dr. Delaney called me from the FDA in 2009 and told me no ban was going to happen. He said that Obama had told them they had to answer all petitions since 2007. I told him my original petition went back to 2002, and that I lecture all over the world, and people are sick and dying everywhere. He has the arrogance to say to me, "So what! We have to depopulate!" There have been demands to ban aspartame since the beginning. Did you answer the ban from 12 toxicologists? Pediatrician Ken Stoller also asked for a ban. Finally, after 14 years, FDA answers my petition and that of Dr. Stoller. Neither one of us received a letter. I had to find out through the National Law Review, which attached the letters we never received. I can see why they weren't sent. This letter to me is so full of propaganda and statements aimed at deception that it’s just a farce. I'm going to answer this first so the public can see how FDA attempts to deceive. Citizen Petition Denial Letter Response from FDA CFSAN to Betty Martini You go on about food safety and try to convince the reader it couldn't cause cancer or be unsafe because of the Delaney Clause: "In your words: "The anti-cancer of Delaney Clause in section 409(c)(3)(A) of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (the Act) (21 U.S.C. 348(c)(3)(A) ) provides that "...no additive shall be deemed to be safe if it is found to induce cancer when ingested by man or animal, or if it is found, after tests which are appropriate for the evaluation of the safety of food additives, to induce cancer in man or animal..." Aspartame’s market illegality derives from the fact this it VIOLATED the Delaney Amendment. On August 1, 1985, FDA toxicologist, Dr. Adrian Gross, told Congress that at least one of Searle’s studies “has established beyond any reasonable doubt that aspartame is capable of inducing brain tumors in experimental animals and that this predisposition of it is of extremely high significance.... In view of these indications that the cancer causing potential of aspartame is a matter that had been established way beyond any reasonable doubt, one can ask: What is the reason for the apparent refusal by the FDA to invoke for this food additive the so-called Delaney Amendment to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act?" The Delaney Amendment makes it illegal to allow any residue of cancer-causing chemicals in foods. Dr Gross concluded by asking, “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?” Congressional RecordSID835:131 (8/1/85). Dr. Musser, are you suffering from memory loss? Perhaps you just don’t know who was Dr. Gross? He was a lead scientist in the investigation of aspartame, and he's the one who asked for the indictment of fraud. On Jan 10, l977 in a 33 page letter, FDA Chief Counsel Richard Merrill recommended to U.S. 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, 18 U.S.C. 1001, for 'their willful and knowing failure to make reports to the Food and Drug Administration required by the Act, 21 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. Both US Prosecutors Sam Skinner and William Conlon hired on with the defense team and the statute of limitations expired. Dr. Gross headed the task force when they discovered how Searle had done studies. Dr Adrian Gross stated (Wilson l985): "They (G.D. Searle) lied and they didn't submit the real nature of their observations because had they done that it is more likely that a great number of these studies would have been rejected simply for adequacy. What Searle did, they took great pains to camouflage these shortcomings of the study. As I say filter and just present to the FDA what they wished the FDA to know and they did other terrible things for instance animals would develop tumors while they were under study. Well they would remove these tumors from the animals." It was well explained why the experiments were invalidated: "It is highly unlikely the FDA Investigative teams found all of the problems with G. D. Searle's studies. G. D. Searle seemed so intent on covering up their misconduct, that it is quite likely that they were able to hide many of the problems from the FDA. The original test results presented to FDA for aspartame approval were doctored to conceal the rat cancers the poison caused according to examining FDA scientists in the FDA Task Force Report which found these deceits: "Excising masses (removing tumors) from live animals in some cases without histological examination of the masses, in others without reporting them to the FDA." (Schmidt 1976c, page 4 of US Senate l976b). Searle's representatives, when caught and questioned about these actions, stated that "these masses were in the head and neck areas and prevented the animals from feeding." (Buzzard l976a) [In other words, the cancers were so big they choked the animals. G. D. Searle told the FDA 12 lots of diketopiperazine were manufactured and tested in one study, yet only seven batches were actually made. (Gross l985, page S10835), Diketopiperazine is a brain tumor agent and is one of the byproducts occurring from the breakdown of the aspartame molecule. In the aspartame (DKP) 115 week rat study the written observations of the pathology report was changed by the supervising pathologist, Dr. Rudolph Stejskal even though he was not physically present during the autopsies and could not have verified the observations of the pathologist who did perform the autopsies. The pathologist who did perform some of the autopsies had no formal training for such procedures. (Gross 1985, page S10837 of Congressional Record 1985b) "Contrary to protocol, slides were not prepared of the (unusual lesions from the aspartame (DKP) study tissue for microscopic examination..." (Gross 1985, page S10837 of Congressional Record l985b) All this information and much more has been discussed with FDA. So don't throw a bunch of regulations out as if aspartame hadn't violated them. The task force was so damning about the fraud and deceit that G. D. Searle filed to have the report removed from public view, but please don't worry: we have all the records. Next, you write that "FDA concludes that your petition contains no substantive scientific evidence demonstrating that aspartame's use presents a public health risk or that this sweetener is adulterated or misbranded under the Act." Lying to the public is a crime. FDA received a report of protest from the National Soft Drink Association, now American Beverage. Here it is - read it: http://www.rense.com/general96/pepsi.htm It's also in the congressional record on our web site, www.mpwh.com Aspartame is adulterated. From this report from NSDA: "As discussed above, it is well established that the petitioner for issuance of a regulation authorizing the use of a food additive bears the burden of proving, through reliable and competent data, each element of the criteria set forth in section 409 of the FDC Act, 21 U.S.C. 348. for issuance of a food additive regulation. The present record does not contain data which demonstrate that the use of APM in soft drinks will not result in the adulteration of the beverages under section 402 (a) (3) of the FDC Act. 21 U.S.C. 342 (a) (3), which provides that a food is adulterated if it contains, in whole or in part, "...a decomposed substance or if it is otherwise unfit for food." Indeed, the present record strongly suggests that the rapid degradation of APM in soft drinks and the consequent loss of sweetness may well result, under certain actual time and temperature conditions, in products which would be adulterated under section 402. Without data which demonstrate that APM-sweetened beverages will not be adulterated under section 402 (a) (3). Searle has not met its burden of proof under section 409 (c) (3) (B) of the FDC Act. 21 U.S.C. 348 (c) (3) (B).As discussed above, it is well established that the petitioner for issuance of a regulation authorizing the use of a food additive bears the burden of proving, through reliable and competent data, each element of the criteria set forth in section 409 of the FDC Act, 21 U.S.C. 348. for issuance of a food additive regulation. The present record does not contain data which demonstrate that the use of APM in soft drinks will not result in the adulteration of the beverages under section 402 (a) (3) of the FDC Act. 21 U.S.C. 342 (a) (3), which provides that a food is adulterated if it contains, in whole or in part, "...a decomposed substance or if it is otherwise unfit for food." Indeed, the present record strongly suggests that the rapid degradation of APM in soft drinks and the consequent loss of sweetness may well result, under certain actual time and temperature conditions, in products which would be adulterated under section 402. Without data which demonstrate that APM-sweetened beverages will not be adulterated under section 402 (a) (3). Searle has not met its burden of proof under section 409 (c) (3) (B) of the FDC Act. 21 U.S.C. 348 (c) (3) (B). " Therefore, aspartame violates Interstate Commerce laws which forbid shipping for sale a product that is adulterated. It travels with a Hazmat Placard. Years later, I gave American Beverage the opportunity to explain why they used it anyway knowing it’s against the law, and out of their own mouth, and if they refused to answer their original protest establishes they are using it knowing it was never proven safe. No doubt industry got to them. Not a peep! It's the guilty who take the Fifth! The propaganda you use in your letter is proof of your intent to deceive. You say, "In 1984 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) determined that the investigation of consumer complaints reporting symptoms associated with aspartame consumption did not identify any "specific constellation of symptoms clearly related to aspartame consumption;" the majority of frequently reported symptoms were "mild" and commonly seen in the general population; and the data did not provide evidence for the "existence of serious, widespread, adverse health consequences attendant to the use of aspartame." This is an absolute lie and you know it. Here is the entire CDC investigation. http://www.mpwhi.com/damning_cdc_investigation_on_aspartame.htm Someone put a summary on this damning investigation that contradicted it saying they were mild symptoms. I don't consider mood alterations, myocardial infarctions, grand mild seizures and cardiac arrest mild symptoms. I've definitely never seen a "mild death"! Have you no conscience at all in covering this up? If you go to the CDC web site you'll see they are still using this summary and don't show you the real report. I showed this investigation on film in the movie "Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI7_8FDzuJE I sent FDA a copy of this documentary. You want to know how low industry will stoop? The United States Air Force warned pilots off of aspartame so industry got to them, and they retracted their warning saying the CDC showed mild findings. So I called and sent "Flying Safety", (the magazine of the USAF) the real investigation. I then called the lady back and said, "After looking at the CDC investigation did you see the findings were not mild, and will you report the error and retract your retraction? She said, "I did see that we were in error but I can't retract the article. The Pentagon told me if you called again to call them at this number..." So I called the pentagon and when I mentioned aspartame they hung up on me. Then they removed the recording. So I called back the lady at Flying Safety and told her. "First of all this article is not the writing of the Air Force. They don't say stupid things like "aspartame is just living and breathing". In reality it’s "not breathing and dying". I will not allow pilots to not be warned that aspartame is a deadly excite-neurotoxin and I'm coming to New Mexico." The pentagon knows all about aspartame since it was listed with the pentagon in an inventory of a prospective biochemical warfare weapons submitted to Congress. http://www.mpwhi.com/ecologist_september_2005.pdf The studies were done at Ft. Detrick under a number, not under aspartame. The researcher doing the studies told his wife "get everything with aspartame out of this house". He said the studies were horrible. What do you expect from a biochemical warfare agent? Today, it’s very well known. Roger Williams, a parliamentarian tried to have it banned, especially since it’s a biochemical warfare weapon. From the UK Parliamentary Information Management Service (PIMS), Early Day Motion EDM 1517 on TOXIC PROPERTIES OF ASPARTAME January 30,2006, Rogers Williams said: That this House expresses deep concern over the numerous independent toxicological studies and thousands of subjective reports attesting to the toxic effects of the artificial sweetener aspartame on human health; notes that aspartame, once patented as a BIOCHEMICAL WARFARE AGENT is the synthetically produced methyl ester of a dipeptide which is readily broken down in the gut to release methanol; further notes that in naturally occurring foodstuff methanol is either not released into the body or present together with natural defense mechanisms that mitigate its toxic effects; recognizes that methanol is a well known poison and is further converted into formaldehyde, a class A carcinogen according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer; accepts that severe health concerns occur from the gradual accumulation of formaldehyde in the body which cannot be excreted and that further research has shown that long term low level exposure to formaldehyde induces leukemia and nasopharyngeal cancer in humans; acknowledges that of the 166 studies conducted on aspartame's safety deemed relevant to humans, 92 per cent of independently sponsored studies identified one or more problems with aspartame's safety whereas industry-sponsored studies found unanimously in favor of aspartame's safety; and urges the Government to abide by the precautionary principle and make use of Statutes 13 and 16 of the 1990 Food Safety Act to remove aspartame from the permitted list of additives on the UK market. (47 members signed) After talking to the woman at Flying Safety, my husband and I went to Kirtland Air Force base in New Mexico. I explained the situation to the Air Force Police and gave out pilot packets to warn pilots. I founded Mission Possible Aviation when pilot Cliff Evans crashed his plane on aspartame and lived to tell about it. http://www.mpwhi.com/pilot_aspartame_alert_with_letters.htm As you will see, Captain Fred Fox, our representative for aviation safety, gave us a list of some of the pilots that died on aspartame. One died in flight drinking a diet pop. You will notice that neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D. explains how aspartame causes sudden cardiac death. You know what that is - one of those mild findings found on the CDC investigation!! Your letter is a disgusting sham. I've been taking the cases of the sick and dying for 27 years. Do you not think we haven't investigated every lie and cover-up? You ought to be ashamed. As to methanol, FDA didn't even do a NOAEL on the methanol. You say, "One would have to be exposed to repeated doses of methanol at levels well above those resulting from consumption of aspartame containing food products before any accumulation would occur.” If FDA would stop using industry's studies and lies being silent on the constant flow of independent peer reviewed studies, FDA would report the facts instead of Disney World shams. After the first Ramazzini Study was performed showing aspartame to be a multipotential carcinogen, Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, MD, one of the world's leading authorities on aspartame neurotoxicity, extensively reviewed the report. "This study confirmed the previous study by Dr. Trocho and co-workers (1998), which also found the formaldehyde breakdown product of aspartame to be damaging to cellular DNA and that this damage was cumulative. The type of damage was a duplicate of that associated with cancers. These two studies strongly indicate that drinking a single diet cola sweetened with aspartame every day could significantly increase one's risk of developing a lymphoma or leukemia. "This study should terrify mothers and all those consuming aspartame sweetened products. This was a carefully done study which clearly demonstrated a statistically significant increase in several types of lymphomas and leukemia in rats. Both of these malignancies have increased significantly in this country since the widespread use of aspartame." You will notice he says drinking a "single diet cola” could increase one's risk of developing the blood cancers. It can easily be proven. One mole of aspartame yields one mole of methanol in its complete hydrolysis, thus, the ingestion of 294 mg. of aspartame yields 32 mg. of methanol. Consequently, the intake of 211 mg. of aspartame results in the actual intake of the limit of 23,000 micrograms, thus the MADLs (Maximum Allowable Dose Levels".} of aspartame should be established at this daily level in compliance with the OEHHA ruling, (California Environmental protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment) since aspartame is a fabrication containing methanol which is released in the gut. This represents about 0.38 liters of diet soda per day, little more than a single can of soda. There is no way for the FDA to get around this and no doubt the reason my FOIA requests have gone unanswered for almost three decades. Consider the fact aspartame is extremely addictive. The methanol is classified as a narcotic, causes chronic methanol poisoning. This affects the dopamine system of the brain and causes the addiction. Remember in the case of methanol it not only affects food, but also breathing the alcohol vapor. Dr. Musser, I find it hard to believe your lack of real world knowledge on aspartame. You say, "Second, you asked if FDA was aware of "the severe toxic cumulative effect of free methanol in the body, building up over time (0-20 years) eventually causing organ, tissue and neurological damage." FDA is not aware of any information that substantiates this claim as it relates to methanol exposure from the use of aspartame. From the data reviewed by FDA, methanol in aspartame (or in fruits and juices) does not accumulate in the body and is easily metabolized by the body's metabolic capacities. One would have to be exposed to repeated doses of methanol at levels well above those resulting from consumption of aspartame containing food products before any accumulation would occur." Here is an article by Dr. J. Barua published in the Journal of the Diabetic Association of India: http://www.wnho.net/emerging_aspartame_facts.htm She explains the cumulative effects in great detail. Furthermore, the Trocho Study by Dr. M. Alemany in Barcelona showed that the formaldehyde converted from the free methyl alcohol embalms living tissue and damages DNA. http://www.mpwhi.com/aspartame_and_preembalming.htm I visited Dr. Alemany in Barcelona and he told me aspartame would kill 200 million people. I believe it already has because of the different neurodegenerative diseases and cancers it triggers or precipitates. Why so many symptoms (92 from your own report) and diseases. Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D. explained: “We know that aspartame -- because it is poison that affects protein synthesis; because it affects how the synapses operate in the brain; and because it affects DNA -- can affect numerous organs. So you can get a lot of different symptoms that seem unconnected". Dr. Blaylock is the author of "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills" about aspartame. This poison is also an abortifacient and teratogen. As I stated above, if you were to examine independent peer reviewed studies instead of industry propaganda you would have the facts. They couldn't show aspartame safety in original studies what makes you think any studies from the manufacturer could show it now. They should have been indicted for fraud like the FDA asked originally. Now we have a global epidemic off Aspartame Disease. Have you not researched how they fix the studies? Check out Aspartame and Manufacturers Scientific Reviews: http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/burdock/ Now checkout abuse of the scientific method http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/abuse/ Welcome to the Aspartame Toxicity Center where you will get facts instead of industrial originated claptrap. Also understand the difference of methanol in aspartame and methanol in fruit juice. Read the peer reviewed journal article, "Aspartame: Methanol and the Public Health" by Dr. Woodrow Monte: http://www.mpwhi.com/aspartame_methanol_and_public_health.pdf You have received this in the past, now read it. Ethanol is the antidote for methanol toxicity, so for instance in oranges or other fruit and vegetables methanol is always accompanied by ethanol. Also in nature methanol is bound to pectin. Aspartame has no ethanol. The free methyl alcohol converts to formaldehyde. It turns the tissue to plastic. Now let’s discuss the ADI. FDA scientist and toxicologist, Dr. Adrian Gross, as stated above told the Senate the FDA should not have been able to set an allowable daily intake on aspartame because it causes cancer and violates the law. However, aspartame was not approved by science but the political chicanery of Donald Rumsfeld. FDA first set the ADI at 20 mg/kg. Then without any meeting or discussion Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes approves aspartame in carbonated beverages. He realized with the public drinking an addictive product they would abuse this ADI and it was changed to 50 mg/kg. In reality there is no safe dose. Dr. Jeri Goyan, FDA Commissioner, was about to sign the Board of Inquiry report revoking the petition for approval when G. D. Searle filed suit to try and stop him. Searle hired Don Rumsfeld to get aspartame approved. He said he would call in his markers. Ronald Reagan owed him a favor and Rumsfeld was on his transition team. The day after Reagan took office he had someone call Dr. Goyan and fire him so he would not sign the petition. According to his wife in a phone call and letter it was 3:00 AM. Then Reagan wrote an executive order making the FDA powerless to sign the petition or do anything that had to do with aspartame until he got a new commissioner, and he knew it would take at least 30 days. Dr. Hayes, now deceased, was a friend of Rumsfeld at the Defense Department and he was put there for the purpose of getting aspartame on the market. Then he went to work for the PR agency of the manufacturer, Burson Marsteller, at $1000 a day on a 10 year contract. Read about it here: http://www.verontrustemoeders.nl/Sweet%20misery%20-%20interview%20over%20Aspartaam.pdf An old report says he was only there about 15 days. This was his payment for getting an addictive, excitoneurotoxic, carcinogenic, genetically engineered drug, adjuvant and teratogen on the market. It damages the mitochondria or powerhouse of the cell and interacts with drugs and vaccines. FDA also said I didn't give the mechanisms by which aspartame causes the symptoms and diseases. If I gave you this information this letter might end up being a book, so what I'm going to do is enclose the 1000 page medical text, "Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic" by the late world expert, H. J. Roberts, M.D. He gives the mechanism for each disease and there is a chapter on drug interaction. Aspartame is being added to more and more drugs, especially generic, and obviously being done on purpose. There is not a drug company on this planet that doesn't know aspartame is poison. As one informant told me, "There are 3 things all drug companies know - that aspartame is a deadly poison, Tamoxifen targets other organs and chemotherapy spreads cancer." Many drug company employees have told me this as well. Hearsay it may be, but I hear what they are saying. I've been poisoned by aspartame in prescription drugs myself and stopped breathing 3 times before I found out. One physician told me aspartame was in all gastrointestinal generic drugs which are what insurance companies pay for. Isn't it interesting that all of a sudden the Supreme Court says you can no longer sue on generic drugs? You say: "FDA requires that all products containing aspartame include a statement specifically to alert phenylketonurics of the presence of phenylalanine,” That’s true, so why then did you allow aspartame in 13 dairy products without this labeling. This includes low fat milk. I decided to check out the milk so gave it to wild raccoons knowing animals will not knowingly consume poison. I poured a half gallon in a bowl and the raccoons who love milk refused to drink it. When I tried to pour it out, it had formed a gel. Don't you ever stop violating the law? What about Neotame not labeled, and recently it was announced Neotame is being added to pork. The public has no opportunity to avoid it because they don't know it. With the history from FDA's own records on aspartame FDA approved Advantame. Will it ever be labeled? After all half of it is aspartame and the other half Vanillin which many times has aspartame in it. Vanillin interacts with aspartame: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1988.tb07756.x/abstract Did FDA even check this out. It's public knowledge: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf9912102?journalCode=jafcau Advantame could be worse than aspartame. Vanillin itself can interact with drugs: FDA violates the law to such an extent it even violates your own rule on sanitary transport: http://www.rense.com/general96/FDAruleAspar.htm You violate the law continually and yet you go after supplements and herbs. I'm very aware of how FDA went to an herbalist in Georgia who grew herbs just like his father and grandfather before him and had the Forestry spray and kill all his herbs because some of them can cure cancer. You forgot it’s a small town and people know each other. One man from the Forestry apologized to Earl and said, "The FDA made us do it. They couldn't have cancer cured." Then when he bought herbs FDA fined him $75,000 and had him sign something that he wouldn't tell anyone. Then FDA expunged the record. I knew what was going on, In Genesis 1:29 Almighty Jehovah God said: "And God went on to say: "Here I have given to you all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the whole earth and every tree on which there is the fruit of a tree bearing seed. To you let it serve as food." How low can FDA get in its fight against natural green vegetation? Read all about it: http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-07-07-u-s-government-gives-amish-man-six-year-prison-sentence-for-growing-and-selling-his-own-natural-herbal-supplement.html An Amish man was sent to prison for growing and selling his own natural herbal supplement. On the other hand you allow the mass poisoning of consumers with aspartame. FDA had this letter from Dr. James Bowen three decades ago. STATEMENT TO THE FDA ON FOOD LABELING - JAMES D. BOWEN, M.D. 3118 S Logan Ste.3, Lansing, MI 48910 To Whom It May Concern: My statement for the public record regarding food labeling and the aspartame issue is serious if not somewhat facetious at times. The reason for this is because I have found little evidence of honesty, integrity or stability on the part of Food & Drug Administration officials regarding the aspartame issue, since its approval in 1981. This attitude is largely shared by the general public. I come in contact with approximately two new people each week who are now being or who have in the past been poisoned by aspartame. All of them share the same reactions that it is not worth writing to the FDA or NutraSweet, because you and your agency have run amuck and are no longer a valid public benefactor. The recent revelations about the problems surrounding generic drug approvals are compelling evidence of what happens when an agency considered itself above the law in dealing with these matters. In my opinion, this has resulted in the mass poisoning of the American public as well as seventy-plus countries in the rest of the world. Watching FDA officials walk through the "revolving door" and be further rewarded by being promoted to other positions of high public responsibility is clear evidence of a government out of control. For this reason, I am opposed to labeling aspartame content of food and drinks. To do so would imply that the government is taking some sort of responsible action...when the only responsible action would be to immediately take aspartame off the market, fully disclose its toxicities, offer full compensation to the injured, public and criminally prosecute anyone who participated in the fraudulent placement of aspartame on the marketplace. That includes those who work so diligently to keep in on the market as well. Further, to label the purported aspartame content of a product would cover a number of toxic flaws in the product and its allowable daily intake (ADI) as follows: That the amount stated on the label was accurate and factual rather than theoretical. Aspartame breaks down relatively quickly in solution. Given the well established modus operandi of the manufacturer, there is no concern given the ultimate consumer. And cover-ups seem to be a part of the routine of doing business. The public should be well advised that the amounts really used in liquid products are relatively greater than those stated to accomplish a relative compensation for the loss of product sweetness occurring during storage in solution. That the ADI presently allowed is 50% greater than that expected to cause a reversal of the phenylalanine/tyrosine ratios in the human brain. This has profoundly bad implications for the human being, including dopamine and serotonin synthesis inhibition, causing depression, appetite changes, mental inabilities, increased susceptibility to seizures and a host of neuro-hormonal problems. Every known metabolite of aspartame is of marked or questionable toxicity and patently unsafe for human use. Methyl alcohol is metabolized to nascent formaldehyde in the eye, nervous system and other metabolically active organs. It immediately attacks and denatures the tissue structure proteins in which are metabolized to nascent formaldehyde. This stimulates specific organ and sub cellular autoimmunity which seems to be a preponderant source of the bad experiences reported by NutraSweet victims. Aspartic Acid is a neuro-excitotoxic present in damaging amounts, it own right, at the ADI for aspartame. Simple logic tells one that it will vastly increase the metabolism of methyl alcohol to formaldehyde attach there. This corresponds well with the symptomology often experienced, such as Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS), bulbar palsies, neuro-hormonal disorders, diketopiperazine issue remains totally unresolved and dangerous. The amino acids that are released by hydrolysis, form eimers and isomers that are either not sufficiently studied, or which are known substrates in undesirable pathological states such as Alzheimer's disease. There is the issue of the approval of aspartame for market, which has violated every principle of responsible science and responsible government. Everyone responsible for this hearing should at least completely review the approval process and the comments of the participants and observers who have so excellently elucidated all the malfeasance for the public record, such as Dr. Adrian Gross and many, many others (all on the public record). In light of the above 4 points, I highly recommend that you deny in every way possible any subterfuge of respectability that the aspartame people have enshrouded themselves and their product within hopes of quickly denying its access to the worldwide marketplace. I write this, not believing that it will do the slightest bit of good in the sense of affecting the labeling issue per se, but that instead, it might reach some honest, concerned, conscientious individuals in the process." >>>>>>>>>>> If FDA had any demonstrable or credible concern for the public’s health, they would have protected the public. Instead, they sent an agent to his office upset because he sent it. He finally made the agent take 29 more cases of aspartame disease. Dr. Bowen has Lou Gehrig’s aspartame. Every time I read any of the statements in your letter, I remember the real facts, which always show how FDA serves above the law. You remind me of how aspartame became a general purpose sweetener. " ...and in the 1996 final rule that replaced individually listed uses of aspartame with one regulation providing for the safe uses of aspartame as a general purpose sweetener (61 FR 33654, June 28, 1996).” Dr. David Kessler was FDA Commissioner at the time, and he said only 1% of consumers report reactions to FDA. In the case of aspartame because of the misinformation of the FDA many don't know their problems are from aspartame. In 1995 there were reported 10,000. The FDA was flooded with so many complaints when aspartame was marketed it was said to the Senate that FDA was referring them to the AIDS Hotline. Dr. Kessler said if reactions go down he would declare aspartame as a general sweetener, I could see how they could stop the reactions from rising by simply not taking them. Indeed, that is exactly what FDA did. We were flooded with consumers saying, “FDA said we no longer accept symptoms on aspartame." But I couldn't figure out how even FDA could make the complaints go down without simply throwing them in the trash. Indeed, that is what FDA did. Dr. Roberts called me when he got a letter from FDA saying they had changed their bookkeeping which required them to remove many aspartame complaints. His words were "Betty, this is outrageous." Even the manufacturer, G. D. Searle had admitted it couldn't be added to everything. http://www.mpwhi.com/trade_secret_information_on_aspartame.htm This isn't the first time FDA did something outrageous. They originally said you couldn't heat aspartame because they knew it broke down at 86 degrees or moderate temperature. That's why it was first approved only in dry foods. Even that was outrageous. A child knows if you put Equal in hot coffee or tea you would be heating it. So in 1993 FDA approved aspartame in baking. Baking is heating! Don't you people have any grown-ups around? If you think I'm being disrespectful, consider what a physician said to me when he found out aspartame was in drugs, “This is a horrendous crime. How could the FDA tie our hands like this? It's public knowledge aspartame is dangerous but we didn't know it was in drugs, so we've been poisoning our patients instead of helping them!" The cemeteries are full of those who trusted the FDA! You say, "FDA is not aware of any scientific evidence that would change FDA's safety determination regarding aspartame." It's not that you are not aware of scientific evidence, it's that you don't consider it, and when studies are published that are damning like the Ramazzini studies showing aspartame to be a multipotential carcinogen you side with industry to cover it up. It was peer reviewed by 7 world experts and so prestigious that Dr. Morando Soffritti received an award only given twice in history. I know because I was there in New York at Mt. Sinai Hospital with him when he got it. At the same time he met with the press to announce his second study showing aspartame to be a carcinogen. So what does FDA do on that day? They actually went public announcing they didn't accept the Ramazzini Study. They were talking about the original sell-out but by announcing it on the day of the press conference for the second so people would think they were disagreeing with the new one. Criss Jami once said: “Just because something isn't a lie does not mean that it isn't deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.” Who first said aspartame is a carcinogen? The FDA!!! FDA's lead scientist on the aspartame investigation was Dr. Adrian Gross who testified against his own FDA because the FDA violated the Delaney Amendment. http://www.mpwhi.com/aspartame_study_strokes.htm Then you said you researched toxicological information. "The results of its search showed that there was no new information that would raise concerns regarding the safety off aspartame" Is FDA insane? Dr. Ralph Walton did research for 60 Minutes some years ago and found that, 92% of independent peer reviewed research showed problems with aspartame. Then he said if you eliminate 6 studies that the FDA had something to do with and one pro-industry summary 100% of independent scientific peer reviewed research shows the problem. Obviously the FDA can't be considered independent. The old FDA before Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes could be trusted. As some of FDA themselves admitted they are now broken. All loyalty is to Big Pharma. Only studies controlled or financed by the aspartame industry have ever said it was safe. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8479/b5aaa60a97619f97c8b61cfa0afac6c7d082.pdf The medical text goes through 2001. If Dr. H. J. Roberts hadn't died, he intended to add 200 pages, because he said there were so many new damning studies on aspartame. The last one showed the link to dementia and stroke http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/04/21/daily-dose-diet-soda-tied-to-triple-risk-deadly-stroke.html I wrote about it: http://www.mpwhi.com/aspartame_study_strokes.htm At the time you wrote the letter there was a new one showing aspartame raises blood sugar: https://www.wsj.com/articles/research-shows-zero-calorie-sweeteners-can-raise-blood-sugar-1410973201 Both industry and physicians push aspartame on diabetics when it can actually precipitate diabetes, simulates and aggravates diabetic retinopathy and neuropathy, destroys the optic nerve, causes diabetics to go into convulsions and even interacts with insulin. The methanol causes them to lose limbs. Read it in the medical text: Dr. Roberts was a diabetic specialist. I wrote about two new studies at the time. There was also one on how it causes you to gain weight. http://www.mpwhi.com/aspartame_confession_at_diabetic_conference.htm Besides the three Ramazzini Studies there was one by Harvard, this was a human study linking aspartame to cancer. When released they said it was the strongest and the longest. Industry got to them so quickly that the next day they apologized for publishing it. It's hard to say it’s weak after you just said it was the strongest and longest: http://www.mpwhi.com/harvard_sorry_they_told_you_aspartame_is_bad.htm How about this one on oxidative stress: http://www.rense.com/general96/asparoxidated.html Here is one from Massachusetts General on how it disrupts metabolism: This one has to do with diabetes: http://www.rense.com/general96/asparstudy.htm Another one on gaining weight with aspartame: Pub Med: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20589192 This one has to do with aspartame and asthma, and perhaps, you remember the Denmark study on aspartame and premature birth: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3584110/ Here are 13 studies: http://www.mpwhi.com/13_aspartame_research_studies.htm I could keep on giving you studies all day. Dr. Roberts gave me his 30 years of research before he died. They are constantly doing studies showing the deadly effects of aspartame. Dr. Woodrow Monte took a ban all the way to the Supreme Court. This had to do with the seizures and blindness it causes. Even the FDA said they were ready to take it off the shelves at one of their meetings. Yes, the aspartame industry has power at a high level. They know taken off the market people will wake up from a lot of the symptoms and diseases you can read about in the medical text. It happened here in Atlanta when an organic market put out thousands of brochures titled "Killer Cola". They used 16 of the worst reports on aspartame and people got off of it because they hadn't known how dangerous aspartame is. In about 60 days the owner of "Return to Eden" called me and said: "You won't believe what is going on, people are coming in by the thousands or calling because they have woken up well from medical problems the doctors couldn't diagnose. MS victims are walking out of wheelchairs and fibromyalgia victims can now run. It was just that morning that a woman had fallen in my arms when I answered the door. She said, "I was blind and now I can see." The methanol is blinding them. Dr. Morgan Raiford wrote that if vision is in the wet stage they can regain their sight. Imagine how many thousands of the blind could see again if aspartame was removed from the market?! You talk about methanol like its harmless while people are not only going blind but dying of methanol poison. Here is a death case: http://www.rense.com/general74/deatjb.htm You can call it an anecdote, but Merry Kay was somebody's wife and somebody's daughter. If FDA had taken it off the market when Dr. Monte filed or when I filed in 2002, she might still be alive today! Mrs. Kovac in New York used aspartame because it said diet. When she continued to gain weight because aspartame triggers obesity she decided to only use aspartame products. She died of acute methanol poisoning. Even though they couldn't find any methanol because she had consumed it the last time I spoke to her husband's attorney they were trying to prosecute him. Even in the case of Merry Kay, she told me the police were outside her door and she heard them say "when she dies we will go after the husband". She fortunately lived long enough to tell them it was the aspartame. It is deceptive to market aspartame as diet so the "Right to Know" people filed with the Federal Trade Commission who refused to do anything about it and the FDA said they needed more time. Isn't 30 years of suffering and death and a global epidemic enough for the FDA? Here Dr. James Bowen explains how methanol gets in the blood stream: "Only after longer aspartame usage does liver damage cause blood methanol levels to measurably rise because the liver mitochondria are so damaged that the liver no longer quickly processes either methyl or ethyl (drink) alcohol. Then the acute methanol poisoning is directly measurable from lab results, as the blood methanol level elevates. This entire sequence or "toxic axis" begins with your very first dose of aspartame. Both acute and chronic poisonings from this methanol toxic axis, and other additive and synergistic aspartame poisonings, steadily accumulate in the aspartame consumer.” When you read about the real facts of methanol in aspartame in the medical text, note that Dr. Roberts says the methanol consumed in aspartame beverages could readily exceed 250 mg. daily, especially in hot weather or after exercise. This is 32 times the consumption limit for methanol recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency, and only yesterday a woman called from Nebraska and discussed her friend who is addicted to diet pop and is blind. Would you like her telephone number? You can tell her that her friend is just an anecdote. Now I've answered your letter. Add these facts to the imminent health hazard petition that should have been answered in 2007. Ten years have gone by and you have violated the law by not answering it, I hate to think of the millions who have perished in this time. We're in 44 countries and we all work free to warn the public and take the case histories because FDA won't protect the public. Other countries relied on FDA and rubberstamped approval. Now I will discuss the most heinous crime of the FDA. When Jerome Bressler retired from the FDA, the last employee who was there during the aspartame investigation, I called him and thanked him for the Bressler Report reporting the fraud. He asked me realized that there was something missing and I said, "Yes, I did." He told me it was the worst 20% of the report and that people were consuming it including pregnant women and I had to find those studies. Not wanting to be the only one who knew about it, I reported it also to Dr. H. J. Roberts and Dr. Russell Blaylock who called him. Dr. Roberts wrote his Congressman and he sent me the letter from the FDA saying it was confidential. What was so confidential that the public shouldn't know about it? It took me 8 years to find what the FDA removed! Aspartame caused neural tube defects, cleft palate and spina bifida for starters, Then when I added it back to the Bressler Report the FDA released the studies to Dr. Monte who wrote "While Science Sleeps: A Sweetener Kills". You can read the last chapter on www.whilesciencesleeps.com having to do with aspartame and autism. It tells about the deal G. D. Searle made with FDA to never let the public know. Not even the decency of a pregnancy warning. Here is a case of a baby born with a neural
tube defect annotated in a letter from ... Cheryl Bridges, Subject: Aspartame Hello Dr Martini, I spoke to you earlier today inference to my son’s birth defect. He was born in 1991 and passed away in 2001. Prior to his conception, I was dieting and using aspartame religiously and throughout all trimesters of my pregnancy. My son was born with a neural tube defect. There was no awareness of this until his birth. Throughout his short life, he suffered from numerous medical complications, surgeries, doctor’s appointments and countless hospital admissions. He had intractable seizures and was prescribed numerous medications in an attempt to decrease the number of seizures. For the first few years of his life, aspartame was also a regular part of his diet as I was not aware of the dangers at this time. It was not until I was able to associate aspartame with my headaches that I ceased using it and giving it to my son. Through my own research, I realized how dangers this product is and became an advocate of warning people against using it. The pain that was caused by this poison continues to be almost unbearable as I realize how the quality of my son’s life and my life was taken away. The heartache and grief continues to linger. If only I knew. This was my only child and I loved him very much! But after watching him suffer almost daily, I decided not to have any more children afraid they may suffer the same fate. In a sense, Aspartame altered my life and what could have been my family. Thank you for the contribution you have made in bringing awareness to this dangerous poison. As a result, others will not have to suffer the same experience and heartache as me and my son. Sincerely, >>>>> I would be happy to give you her telephone number. You want to tell her that what happened to her baby is only an anecdote?! In 27 years I've spoken to and received emails and letters from at least 50,000 people. Many died of aspartame like Dave Rietz who created www.dorway.com which has been hacked again. We just added it to www.mpwhi.com My computer once crashed after I lectured for the World Environmental Conference and received 12,000 cases from people suffering from everything from MS and seizures to brain tumors and Alzheimers due to aspartame. Here is a study by Dr. Walton and Dr. Woodrow Monte on autism and methanol: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987715002443 One lady used aspartame through 3 pregnancies and has 3 autistic children. She and her husband work two jobs so when they are gone there is a trust to take care of their children. Tell me Dr. Musser if it was your family would you still call it an antidote, Dr. Roberts reports in his medical text, "Defining anecdotal evidence as "what really happens to real people and they tell you about it," the editors of Diabetic Reader (Fall/Winter 1996) stated, "We find anecdotal evidence, especially in diabetes, is often ahead of the scientific pack and is often right." I'm glad you told me that FDA was given mandatory recall authority on food with the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act which was signed into law on January 4, 2011. Consider this a new imminent health hazard petition since you didn't answer the one in 2007. Remove this chemical poison from the market immediately and aspartame with other names like Neotame and AminoSweet and Advantame. In the movie, "Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World" Attorney James Turner who with the famed Dr. John Olney tried to prevent approval of aspartame explains that Dr. Olney got so disgusted with Searle's intention to deceive that he demanded the studies be done in his lab where he could oversee them. Sure enough, it showed brain damage but Searle never gave the studies to FDA and instead got Rumsfeld to get it marketed. When this was done, the FDA promised Dr. Olney that no baby or child would ever get aspartame. Today it’s in all kinds of pediatric drugs and over the counter drugs. Our children today are medicated instead of educated so the experts wrote the "Report for Schools" on our web site. In "Sweet Remedy", www.sweetremedyradio.com the ADD people were interviewed, Feingold, who said prior to aspartame approval they hardly used the term ADD. Aspartame has psychotropic propensities, and because of this many mental hospitals are full of patients who are nothing but aspartame victims, consuming more aspartame and taking anti-depressants that interact with it. Dr. Ralph Walton did a study: He didn't even use the maximum ADI and Monsanto wouldn't sell him the aspartame because they couldn't control the study. The administrator who took part in it got a retinal detachment and lost his sight in that eye. Another woman had conjunctival bleeding. Some said they were being poisoned, and the study was stopped. September is Aspartame Awareness Month and be assured this open letter will be forward around the globe. Sincerely, Betty Martini, D.Hum, Founder |