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October 2005, Vol. 15, Iss. 4
Table of Contents
A Time to Change • CBP® Annual Convention News • CBP® Performs Groundbreaking Car Crash Research • CCE Cited for Accreditation Violation • Dr Colloca Becomes a Reviewer for Spine and the European Spine Journal • ICA's Involvement in Hurricane Relief Efforts • JMPT Publications: Impulse™ Fairs Best Among Chiropractic Adjusting Instruments • Its Paul's Opinion • Letters to the Editor • Life University Opens Its Arms and Hearts to Katrina Victims • Micro-Reports Don't Work • PosturePrint™ Can Determine Axial Rotations • Quackbuster vs. Dr Ted Koren • The Chiropractic Genome • The Start of Something Big • The Unspoken • Updates on Aspertame
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Updates on Aspertame
by Daniel J. Murphy, DC, FACO
Vice President of ICA
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Dan Murphy graduated magna cum laude from Western States Chiropractic College in 1978, and has more than 20 years of practice experience. He received Diplomat status in Chiropractic Orthopedics in 1986. Since 1982, Dr. Murphy has served part-time as undergraduate faculty at Life Chiropractic College West, currently teaching classes to seniors in the management of spinal disorders.
Dr. Murphy is on the post-graduate faculty of several chiropractic colleges. His post-graduate continuing education classes include “Whiplash and Spinal Trauma” and “Pain Neurology.” Dr. Murphy is the coordinator of a year-long certification program in “Chiropractic Spinal Trauma,” now (2000) in its twelfth year of being offered. This year, the program is being offered through the International Chiropractors Association of California. He has taught more than 700 post-graduate continuing education seminars.
Dr. Murphy is a contributing author to the book Motor Vehicle Collision Injuries, published by Aspen, 1996; and to the book Pediatric Chiropractic, published by Williams & Wilkins, 1998. He writes a quarterly column in the Journal of Clinical Chiropractic.
In 1987, 1991 and 1995 Dr. Murphy received the Post-graduate Educator of the Year award, given by the International Chiropractic Association. In 1997, he received The Carl S. Cleveland, Jr., Educator of the Year award, given by the International Chiropractic Association of California.
Aspartame is a neurotoxin that has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) for human consumption. “The l977 Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Bressler Report remains a key document against aspartame, the synthetic sweetener known as NutraSweet and Equal. This 76 page report was the culmination of a priority investigation at G. D. Searle’s laboratory in Skokie, Illinois. It compared all the available raw and summary data of a 115 week oral tumorgenicity rat study, against the manufacturer’s FDA submission.”1
“Jerome Bressler, the team leader, found missing raw data, errors and discrepancies in available data, exclusions of animals, organ masses and enlarged and atrophied organs. An undiagnosed uterine polyp increased the incidence to 15 percent of the aspartame-dosed animals. The FDA’s Bureau of Foods officials chose to ignore the findings of the Bressler Report.1
“In l981, FDA Commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr., M.D. approved aspartame in dry goods and in l983, Mark Novitch, acting for the commissioner, approved aspartame in liquids. The 92 symptoms, in the 10,000 plus consumer complaints reported to the FDA, include those suffered by the rats as noted in the Bressler Report.”1
“The Bressler report is one of the most damning documents about aspartame in existence. While the original owners of the aspartame patent, the GD Searle Company, were attempting to gain FDA approval of aspartame as an additive in foods, they were obliged to conduct tests with laboratory animals. When the tests began turning out badly, as the lab rats turned up with brain tumors, atrophied testicles, and other conditions and anomalies, and many of them began dying unexpectedly, they began a shoddy job of covering up the evidence.”1
The FDA’s Bressler report is a scathing, 76 page report uncovering the discrepancies, inconsistencies, and evidence of fabrication of records in Searle’s lab work. They also performed their own autopsies on the remaining corpses of the rats and found a large number of pathological conditions that were caused by the
aspartame but not reported by Searle in their analysis of the results.1
“The Bressler report was obtained by a health activist, Barbara Mullarkey, using the Freedom of Information Act. The FDA has since passed into the control of persons with economic and political ties to the new owners of the GD Searle Company — the notorious Monsanto Corporation — makers of poisons and political
intriguers who are number one on the list of companies being watched by
environmentalists worldwide for their campaign of destruction of the environment and disregard for human health in the name of corporate greed. The FDA, prior to turning the report over to Mullarkey, blanked out some of the attached charts and memos, as if they were some sort of state secrets.”1
Dr. H J. Roberts, MD, is considered by many to be a leading authority on
aspartame’s effects on human health. The following are his comments on the Bressler Report. In his book, ASPARTAME (NutraSweet) IS IT SAFE?, he discusses the aspartame studies by GD Searle Company and their shortcomings, including:
1) The investigators failed to detect or to report, tumors of the brain, uterus and ovary to the FDA.
2) Dr. Roberts suggests there is evidence that aspartame causes behavioral reactions in children, headaches, seizures, and adversely affect non-insulindependent diabetics.
3) The FDA Commissioner Arthur Hayes, who had held his office for only several months, failed to heed the strong dissenting opinions of in-house FDA scientists concerning aspartame licensure.
One can access the entire Bressler Report at www.dorway.com/bressler.txt.2 The following was printed in the Sacramento Bee newspaper, in September 2004:
Racketeering Charges Filed Against NutraSweet Co., American Diabetes
Association, Monsanto & Dr Robert H. Moser for Manufacturing and
Marketing “Toxic Aspartame”
San Francisco, CA: September 2004
“A RACKETEER INFLUENCED & CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS [RICO] complaint has been filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The suit, filed by a member of The National Justice League, charges the defendants with manufacturing and marketing a deadly neurotoxin unfit for human consumption,
while they assured the pubic that aspartame (also known as NutraSweet/Equal) contaminated products are safe and healthful, even for children and pregnant women. Present Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is mentioned throughout
the lawsuit.”
“As evidence, an explosive affidavit from a former employee of the G.D.
Searle Co — the developer of aspartame — will be made public at a National Press Conference on Thursday, September 16 at 11:00 a.m.”
“For 16 years, the FDA denied approval of aspartame because of compelling evidence of its contributing to brain tumors and other serious disabilities. Donald Rumsfeld, present Secretary of Defense in the Bush Administration, left President Ford’s administration as Chief of Staff to become the CEO of aspartame producer G. D. Searle Co. in 1981. Shortly after, Rumsfeld became the CEO, and the day after President Reagan took office, aspartame was quickly approved by FDA Commissioner Arthur Hayes over the objections of the FDA’s Public Board of Inquiry. Hayes had been recently appointed by the Reagan Administration. Shortly after aspartame’s approval by the FDA, Hayes joined NutraSweet’s public relations firm under a ten-year contract at $1,000 a day.”
“Aspartame/NutraSweet was the product of the G. D. Searle Co. In January 1977, the FDA wrote a 33 page letter to U.S. Justice Department Attorney Sam Skinner: ‘We request that your office convene a Grand Jury investigation into apparent violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.’ Skinner allowed the Statute of Limitations to run.”
“Three FDA Commissioners and eight other officers and Skinner took jobs in the aspartame industry shortly after it was approved in 1982.”
“The Food and Drug Administration once listed 92 adverse reactions from 10,000 consumer complaints and sent the list to all inquirers. In 1996, the FDA stopped taking complaints and now denies existence of the report. Seizures, blindness,
sexual dysfunction, obesity, testicular, mammary and brain tumors and death, plus dozens of other dread diseases named in the suit arise from the consumption of this neurotoxin.”3
SOME BACKGROUND
INFORMATION:
Methanol = methyl alcohol = wood alcohol, is a poisonous liquid used as an antifreeze, solvent, fuel, and was used by the Egyptians for embalming.
Methanol is metabolized into formaldehyde, and formaldehyde is metabolized into formic acid. Methanol, formaldehyde, and formic acid are all extremely toxic especially to fetal tissues. Sadly, the article below notes that pregnant mothers are the greatest users of aspartame.
Methanol, formaldehyde, and formic acid cause symptoms such as headache, dizziness, nausea, lack of coordination, confusion, and drowsiness. Most recently, the following article was published:
Aspartame induces lymphomas and leukaemias in rats Aspartame, a leukaemogenic compound European Journal of Oncology, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 00-00, 2005 IN PRESS
By Morando Soffritti, Fiorella Belpoggi, Davide Degli Esposti, Luca Lambertini. Cancer Research Centre, European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences, Bologna, Italy3
This article notes that aspartame is a widely used artificial sweetener
consumed by hundreds of millions of people around the world. It is found in more than 6,000 products, including soft drinks, chewing gum, candy, yogurt, tabletop sweeteners and some pharmaceuticals such as vitamins and sugar-free cough drops.
Dietary surveys, performed among aspartame consumers, have shown that the average aspartame daily intake in the general population ranged from 2 to 3 mg/kg body weight and was even more in children and pregnant women.
These researchers administered aspartame, with feed, to 8 weeks-old male and female rats, and continued until spontaneous death of the animals. They showed that aspartame, in human consumption dose equivilents, causes a statistically significant, dose-related increase in lymphomas and leukemias in females. The aspartame used was produced by Nutrasweet. They note that aspartame is metabolized in the gastrointestinal tract into aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol. Importantly, methanol is a toxin. The amount of aspartame used in these animals was chosen to simulate an
assumed daily intake by humans. Control animals received the same feed without aspartame.
Yellowing of the coat was observed in animals exposed to aspartame. This is a change that is known to occur by exposing rats to formaldehyde in their drinking water. This is important because it is known that aspartame metabolizes into formaldehyde. These authors have also shown:
1) Methanol administered in drinking water increased the incidence of
lymphomas and leukemias in female rats.
2) The same effect was induced in females treated with the gasoline oxygenated additive methyl-tert-butyl-ether (MTBE), which is also metabolized to methanol.
3) An increase in the incidence of lymphomas and leukemias was also observed in females treated with formaldehyde.
A recent reevaluation of the carcinogenicity of formaldehyde by the
International Agency for Research on Cancer found strong evidence of an
association with leukemias in humans. These authors concluded:
“In our experimental conditions, it has been demonstrated, for the first time, that aspartame causes a dose-related statistically significant increase in lymphomas and leukaemias in females at dose levels very near those to which humans can be exposed.”
“Moreover, it can hardly be overlooked that at the lowest exposure of 80 ppm, there was a 62% increase in lymphomas and leukaemias compared to controls.”
“When compared to the concurrent control group, an increase in the incidence of these neoplasias was also observed in males exposed to the highest dose.”
“These experiments demonstrate that the increase in lymphomas and
leukaemias, observed in the aspartame study, could be related to methanol, a metabolite of aspartame, which is metabolised to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, both in humans and rats.”
“Since the results of carcinogenicity bioassays in rodents have been shown to be a consistent predictor of human cancer risk, the first results of our study call for urgent re-examination of permissible exposure levels of aspartame in both food and beverages, especially to protect children.”
THIS ARTICLE GENERATED THE FOLLOWING PUBLIC WARNING:
Center for Science in the Public Interest For Immediate Release: July 27, 2005, Aspartame: New Study Renews Cancer Concern, Says CSPI
1) “The Food and Drug Administration should immediately review the safety of the artificial sweetener aspartame, and possibly ban it, in light of a new study published in the European Journal of Oncology.”
2) “The study, conducted in Italy, found statistically significant increases in lymphomas and leukemias among female rats given aspartame.”
3) “The smallest amount of aspartame (20 milligrams per kilogram of body weight) that caused a significant increase in cancer incidence is in the ballpark of what many people consume.”
4) “At a minimum, the government should conduct new animal studies of aspartame.”
5) “Aspartame, also sold as Equal and NutraSweet, is used in Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, and thousands of other foods and is consumed by 200 million people in the United States and around the world, according to the industry’s Calorie Control Council.”
6) “The FDA immediately should ask the government’s National Toxicology Program to conduct new animal studies to assess the cancer risk from aspartame. As a precautionary measure, in the several years it would take to design and conduct such studies, the FDA should consider ordering aspartame off the market,” said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson.
7) Importantly, this study was conducted independently, while “virtually all of the previous research was sponsored by the makers of aspartame.”
8) “In 1996, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the FDA repeatedly stopped the National Toxicology Program from conducting lifetime animal tests of aspartame.”
9) “The authors of the Italian study call for urgent re-examination of permissible exposure levels of [aspartame] in both food and beverages, especially to protect children.”
KEY POINTS FROM DAN MURPHY
1) Aspartame is a widely used artificial sweetener consumed by hundreds of millions of people around the world. The aspartame used in this study was Nutrasweet. Another brand name for aspartame is Equal.
2) Aspartame is found in more than 6,000 products, including soft drinks, chewing gum, candy, yogurt, tabletop sweeteners and some pharmaceuticals such as vitamins and sugar-free cough drops.
3) In the general population, children and pregnant women consume the most aspartame.
4) In humans, aspartame is metabolized into aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol. Methanol is then metabolized into formaldehyde.
5) The original studies in the 1970s on aspartame safety were done by the companies that make aspartame, and “these studies did not comply with the basic requirements which must nowadays be met when testing the carcinogenicity potential of a chemical.”
6) The amount of aspartame used in this study was chosen to simulate the daily intake by humans.
7) In this study, aspartame caused a statistically significant increase in the incidence of lymphomas and leukemias, primary in females rats. This increase is dose-related.
8) The lowest exposure of aspartame at 80 ppm caused a 62% increase in lymphomas and leukemias compared to controls.
9) These authors believe that aspartame caused these cancers because methanol, a toxin, is metabolized to formaldehyde, also a toxin, and then to formic acid, another toxin.
10) These authors “call for urgent re-examination of permissible exposure levels of aspartame in both food and beverages, especially to protect children.”
11) “The Food and Drug Administration should immediately review the safety of the artificial sweetener aspartame, and possibly ban it.”
12) The FDA should immediately order aspartame off the market until the government’s National Toxicology Program conducts new animal studies to assess the cancer risk from aspartame.
REFERENCES
1) www.presidiotex.com/bressler
2) www.dorway.com/bressler.txt
3) Morando Soffritti, Fiorella Belpoggi, Davide Degli Esposti, Luca Lambertini; Aspartame induces lymphomas and leukaemias in rats: Aspartame, a leukaemogenic compound; European Journal of Oncology, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 00-00, 2005; IN PRESS
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