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Visionary Tools said:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/361.html

  Poison in your food

Donald Rumsfeld and aspartame

  Guess what? He faked the evidenceOther names for aspartame: Equal, Nutrasweet, Sugar Twin

What was Donald Rumsfeld doing before he collaborated with George Bush and Dick Cheney to invade and destroy Iraq (and the US economy and military in the process?)

As CEO of G.D. Searle, he pimped for a chemical called "aspartame."

For eight years, even the highly corrupt FDA refused to certify aspartame as safe because it produced seizures and brain tumors in lab animals.

Then Ronald Reagan became president and removed the FDA commissioner who was blocking its acceptance.

Rumsfeld's company followed up by presenting the FDA "new and improved" studies showing the additive to be safe. The data presented was later proven to have been falsified.

Sound familiar?

Aspartame is everywhere

Take the time to watch this video if you or loved ones consume aspartame. It is a dangerous substance that causes cumulative damage to the brain and immune system.

The following products often have aspartame in them:

* Breath Mints
* Carbonated Soft Drinks
* Cereals
* Chewing Gum
* Flavored Syrups for Coffee
* Flavored Water Products
* Frozen Ice
* Frozen Ice Cream Novelties
* Fruit Spreads
* Gelatin, Sugar Free
* Hard Candies
* Ice cream Toppings
* Ice Creams, No Sugar Added or Sugar Free
* Iced Tea, Powder
* Iced Tea, Ready to Drink
* Instant Cocoa Mix
* Jams & Jellies
* Juice Blends
* Juice Drinks
* Maple Syrups
* Meal Replacements
* Mousse
* No Sugar Added Pies
* Non-Carbonated Diet Soft drinks
* Nutritional Bars
* Powdered Soft Drinks
* Protein Nutritional Drinks
* Pudding
* Soft Candy Chews
* Sugar Free Chocolate Syrup
* Sugar Free Cookies
* Sugar Free Ketchup
* Table Top Sweeteners
* Vegetable Drinks
* Yogurt, Drinkable
* Yogurt, Fat Free
* Yogurt, Sugar Free

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WordlessNature said:

Let's see some real evidence, links to specific studies etc.
Until I see something that doesn't appear to come from a duck's mouth, I only hear regurgitated quacking.

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badchad said:
So here is a rather large review of a few hundred studies suggesting no adverse effects of aspartame:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17828671?ordinalpos=5&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Another review of epidemiological and experimental evidence suggesting no ill effects of aspartame.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12180494?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed 

Although older, another review by the American medical association suggesting no adverse effects:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2861297?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=5&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

I realize these are peer-reviewed, professional, and don't have quite the entertainment value of randomly posted "the sky is falling" type blogs (and other conspiracy websites) but it should get us started.

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FDA revoked the petition for approval when Don Rumsfeld was CEO of Searle. Rumsfeld said he would call in his markers as discussed in the l985 congressional record, and 8 month investigation of aspartame by Gregory Gordon. He was on President Reagan's transition team, and the day after he took office he appointed Hayes as FDA Commissioner. The current FDA Commissioner was asked to resign, and Reagan wrote an executive order making the FDA then powerless to do anything about aspartame until Hayes got there. He then over-ruled the Board of Inquiry that revoked the petition, knowing full well aspartame violated the Delaney Amendment.

The late Dr. Adrian Gross, FDA toxicologist, on August 1 l985 (Senate page 10840) questioned how FDA could even set an allowable dose of a product that caused cancer and violated the Delaney Amendment. His last words to Congress were: "And if the FDA itself elects to violate the law, who is left to protect the health of the people?" When will FDA answer that question?

Michael Decourcy Hinds of the New York Times interviewed Arthur Hull Hayes in July, l982. He said: "You support proposals to ease the food safety laws, particularly those restricting the use of food additives. How would this benefit consumers?" Hayes answered, "The laws are not always flexible enough. They currently mandate, for example, that if a food additives causes cancer at any dose in any species of animal, it may not be licensed. It doesn't matter that the incidence of cancer was minuscule or that it occurred only in mice and only at extremely large dosage levels. It doesn't matter that science has changed since l938, when many of the food laws were passed, or the l950's when they were amended."

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Aspartame directly affects the NMDA N-Methyl D-Aspartate subtype Glutamate receptors, injuring neurons and directly and indirectly interfer with AChE Acetylcholinesterase receptors, functionally interfering with the ability to learn new tasks and causing a functional frontal lobotomy of those suffering toxicity. Cytochrome P450 Phase I enzyme induction depletes the brain of Glutathione Peroxidase Phase II enzymatic ability to clear hydroperoxynitate free radical. This is cotoxic with MSG, DU and organic acids in new GMO foods that induce NMDA receptor Glutamate pathways.

Loss of executive inhibitory influences may explain more violent or spontaneous out of control behavior, autism of all forms, and onset and progression of many neurological disorders from cortical to midbrain motor interneuron Parkinson?s to ALS amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and peripheral motor and sensory neuropathic disorders. Increased mental illness, behavioral and learning disorders, autism, dementia and violent behaviors can be now explained by population neurotoxicity. Autism rates have gone up 2800% in three decades, organic dementia in the over 60 age group 1000% in 20 years, and Aspartame is a major player in this toxic soup that has pushed the canary in the mineshaft, the neuron to sing its swan song.

Aspartame is directly toxic to Beta Islet cells and induces diabetes as does MSG to a lesser extent in animal models. This would explain MODY Mature Onset Diabetes of the Young and the exploding diabetes and obesity with Glutamate toxins that destroy insulin production and amplify tissue insulin resistance. It is a major factor destroying appestat control of appetite control with blood sugar, and endorphin related hypothalamic pituitary axis. I conclude that along with DU NotSo Depleted Uranium, MSG and other toxins that have similar or lesser toxicities of these types, are contributors to the diabetes and obesity global pandemic.

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WordlessNature said:
Anyone with a basic grasp of medical terminology can say "this does this because of this and this is important because the word I am using is very long and sounds technical".

Visionary, your references are utterly and unmistakably biased. These are not good websites to reveal if you wish to garner credibility towards your assertion that aspartame poses a significant health risk to the community at large.

That said, I remain unconvinced by studies conducted by the NIH or any other government agency, simply because of the known influence of money towards what is declared true.

Aspartame has proved empirically safe to me thus far. Objectively, I do not know, and remain open minded either way.

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because we all know the FDA is not money influenced.   

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June 26, 2007 -- Researchers and a scientific watchdog group are calling on regulators to take a new look at the safety of aspartame following a new study concluding that the popular sweetener promotes cancer in rats.

The study, published in a U.S. government journal, found increased rates of malignancies in animals fed aspartame throughout their lifespan. The product, which is the key ingredient in sweeteners including NutraSweet and Equal, is also used to sweeten thousands of food products and is widely used in diet soft drinks.

Aspartame first gained U.S. approval in 1981. Ever since, manufacturers have vigorously defended its safety. On Tuesday, an industry group blasted the study as flawed and warned it would needlessly alarm consumers.

But the Italy-based research team said their study shows that lifetime exposure of rats to aspartame -- beginning in the womb -- increased the incidence of having cancerous tumors by the time they died.

"We believe that a review of the current regulations governing the use of aspartame cannot be delayed," wrote researchers from the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences in Bologna.  The study was published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

The consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest followed the study with a call on the FDA to revisit its original approval of aspartame.

"Because aspartame is so widely consumed, it is urgent that the FDA evaluate whether aspartame still poses a 'reasonable certainty of no harm,' the standard used for gauging the safety of food additives," Michael Jacobson, the group's executive director, said in a statement.

"But consumers, particularly parents, shouldn't wait for the FDA to act. People shouldn't panic, but they should stop buying beverages and foods containing aspartame," he said.
Previous Study 'Reassuring'

A study published last year by the National Cancer Institute found no correlation between aspartame consumption and cancer growth in nearly 475,000 people. While the study was not designed to find a causal link between aspartame and cancer, Jacobson's group at the time said they were reassured that aspartame is safe for humans at typical amounts most people consume.

On Tuesday, Jacobson said that sense of reassurance was gone thanks to the latest Italian animal study.

"The previous study was reassuring but certainly not definitive," Jacobson tells WebMD. "I think the FDA needs to take a new look at this, and then we'll go from there."

Beth Hubrich, a spokeswoman for the industry group Calorie Control Council, criticizes the study's methods.

"This goes against the overwhelming scientific literature that aspartame is safe," she tells WebMD.

That was echoed by the FDA. Spokesman Michael Herndon says the agency was interested in reviewing the Italian study. But he says the results are "not consistent" with results from a large number of other studies evaluated by the agency.

"Therefore, at this time, FDA finds no reason to alter its previous conclusion that aspartame is safe as a general purpose sweetener in food," the statement says.

Jacobson argues that most of those studies left "question marks" because they were industry funded.

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Seuss said:
> How about something with a "materials and methods" section and experimental, empirically derived evidence?

That would require comprehension to accompany the ability to read.  Much easier to parrot what others have said.  If enough people believe something, then obviously it it is true.

http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2005/8711/abstract.html
http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2007/10271/abstract.html

From http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20070626/aspartame-safety-study-stirs-emotions:

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June 26, 2007 -- Researchers and a scientific watchdog group are calling on regulators to take a new look at the safety of aspartame following a new study concluding that the popular sweetener promotes cancer in rats.

The study, published in a U.S. government journal, found increased rates of malignancies in animals fed aspartame throughout their lifespan. The product, which is the key ingredient in sweeteners including NutraSweet and Equal, is also used to sweeten thousands of food products and is widely used in diet soft drinks.

Aspartame first gained U.S. approval in 1981. Ever since, manufacturers have vigorously defended its safety. On Tuesday, an industry group blasted the study as flawed and warned it would needlessly alarm consumers.

But the Italy-based research team said their study shows that lifetime exposure of rats to aspartame -- beginning in the womb -- increased the incidence of having cancerous tumors by the time they died.

"We believe that a review of the current regulations governing the use of aspartame cannot be delayed," wrote researchers from the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences in Bologna.  The study was published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

The consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest followed the study with a call on the FDA to revisit its original approval of aspartame.

"Because aspartame is so widely consumed, it is urgent that the FDA evaluate whether aspartame still poses a 'reasonable certainty of no harm,' the standard used for gauging the safety of food additives," Michael Jacobson, the group's executive director, said in a statement.

"But consumers, particularly parents, shouldn't wait for the FDA to act. People shouldn't panic, but they should stop buying beverages and foods containing aspartame," he said.
Previous Study 'Reassuring'

A study published last year by the National Cancer Institute found no correlation between aspartame consumption and cancer growth in nearly 475,000 people. While the study was not designed to find a causal link between aspartame and cancer, Jacobson's group at the time said they were reassured that aspartame is safe for humans at typical amounts most people consume.

On Tuesday, Jacobson said that sense of reassurance was gone thanks to the latest Italian animal study.

"The previous study was reassuring but certainly not definitive," Jacobson tells WebMD. "I think the FDA needs to take a new look at this, and then we'll go from there."

Beth Hubrich, a spokeswoman for the industry group Calorie Control Council, criticizes the study's methods.

"This goes against the overwhelming scientific literature that aspartame is safe," she tells WebMD.

That was echoed by the FDA. Spokesman Michael Herndon says the agency was interested in reviewing the Italian study. But he says the results are "not consistent" with results from a large number of other studies evaluated by the agency.

"Therefore, at this time, FDA finds no reason to alter its previous conclusion that aspartame is safe as a general purpose sweetener in food," the statement says.

Jacobson argues that most of those studies left "question marks" because they were industry funded.

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