Aspartame - History of fraud and deception

[Guest guest]

Aspartame - History of fraud and deception

 

http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/fraud.htm

 

Today we have " Nutra-Sweet " , which is widely used in a plethora of

consumables, despite a demonstrated neurological reaction in some people. In

February 1996, it was decided to also use the product name " Benevia " . It is

estimated that as many as 20,000,000 people cannot metabolize phenylalimine,

and this inability is genetically inherited by children. The inability to

metabolize phenylalinine can lead to mental retardation in children. This

means a risk of retardation for millions of children. A multi-billion dollar

enterprise, this substance is said to be " refined " from " natural " substances.

Like other " refined " substances, it represents a health threat to the

general public. No long term studies have been performed to evaluate the

physiological effects of this substance, yet the public is lead to believe

it is absolutely safe. Technically, the chemical is called aspartame, and it

was once on a Pentagon list of biowarfare chemicals submitted to Congress.

[1] Aspartame is in over 4,000 products worldwide and is consumed by over

200 million people in the United States alone. What follows is a skeletal

examination of the chronology related to aspartame. A more detailed

chronology is given later in this chapter based on information provided to

us by the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network.

 

Aspartame is produced by G.D. Searle Company, founded in 1888 and located in

Skokie, Illinois. Searle is now owned by others. It is about 200 times

sweeter than the refined sugar that it is meant to replace, and it is known

to erode intelligence and affect short-term memory. It is essentially a

chemical weapon designed to impact populations en masse. It is an rDNA

derivative made from two amino acids, L-phenylalanine, L-aspartic acid and

methanol. Originally discovered during a search for an ulcer drug in 1966,

it was " approved " by the FDA in 1974 as a " food additive " .

 

Approval was followed by a retraction based on demonstrated public concern

over the fact that the substance produced brain tumors in rats. According to

the 1974 FDA task force set up to examine aspartame and G.D.Searle, " we have

uncovered serious deficiencies in Searles operations and practices, which

undermine the basis for reliance on Searle’s integrity in conducting high

quality animal research to accurately determine the toxic potential of its

products. " The task force report concluded with the recommendation that G.D.

Searle should face a Grand Jury " to identify more particularly the nature of

the violations, and to identify all those responsible. " [2]

 

In 1976, an FDA " task force " brought into question all of G.D. Searle’s

aspartame testing procedures conducted between 1967 and 1975. The final FDA

report noted faulty and fraudulent product testing, knowingly misrepresented

product testing, knowlingly misrepresented findings, and instances of

irrelevant animal research. In other word, illegal criminal activity.

Understandably scared, Searle officials sought to suppress the FDA findings

and obstruct justice. They turned to Nixon and Ford administration operative

Donald Rumsfeld and elected him " chairman of the Searle organization. " In

1977, the Wall Street Journal detailed the fact that Rumsfeld made efforts

to " mend fences " by asking " what Searle could do " in the face of the

changes. Also in 1977, Dr. Adrian Gross, a pathologist working for the FDA,

uncovered evidence that G.D.Searle might have committed criminal fraud in

withholding adverse data on aspartame. [3]

 

The FDA requested that U.S. Attorney Samuel Skinner be hired to investigate

Searle’s aspartame testing procedures in January 1977. Samuel Skinner was

the federal prosecutor responsible for convincing the Grand Jury to

investigate whether Searle willfully and criminally withheld data that cast

doubt on the safety of aspartame. In February 1977, Skinner met with Searle

attorneys at the Chicago law firm of Sidney & Austin. Suddenly, newly

elected President Carter announced that Skinner would not remain in office,

and Skinner thereafter announced that he would be hired by Sidney & Austin.

Obviously, Skinner then had to recuse himself from the Searle prosecution.

The case was taken over by U.S. Attorney William Conlon, who essentially sat

on the case, despite complaints from the Justice Department, which was

urging that a grand jury be convened to prosecute Searle Company for

falsifying Nutra-Sweet test data. Failing to preform his duty, Conlon also

joined Searle’s law firm in January 1979.

 

Skinner’s defection from the FDA might have been prompted by the results of

the review of the Searle studies. David Hattan, deputy director of the FDA

Division of Toxicological Review and Evaluation, concedes that anyone

reading the orginal FDA investigation reports is likely to be " shocked " by

what they reveal. He says that the ensuing review of the Searle studies, in

which he was involved from the time of his arrival in 1978, was one of the

most thorough in the agency’s history. It included an unprecedented hearing

before a public board of inquiry composed of experts from outside the

agency. Arthur Hayes, Jr., then Commissioner of the FDA appointed by Reagan,

agreed with Searle and the FDA’s Bureau of Foods (now the Center for Food

Safety and Applied Nutrition) that " an appropriate analysis of the data

showed no significant increases in tumor incidence in rats exposed to

aspartame or DKP, one of the breakdown products of aspartame. The board of

inquiry rejected concerns that aspartame’s components could cause

neurological damage.[4]

 

In 1981, under pressure from the soft drink lobby, FDA Commissioner Hayes

approved the initial use of aspartane in dry foods and as a tabletop

sweetner, discounting public complaints as anecdotal and ignoring three FDA

scientists.[5] who voiced the fact that there were serious questions

concerning brain tumor tests after having done an in-house study. Hayes was

widely profiled as a man who believed that approval for new drugs and

additives was " too slow " because " the FDA demanded too much information. "

Hayes also ignored the fact that the biased scientific studies paid for by

Searle were faulty.[6] After leaving the FDA, Hayes took the post of senior

medical consultant for the public relations firm retained by Searle..[7] A

subsequent inquiry " found no improprieity " .

 

In July 1983 it was approved for use in soft drinks in the United States,

followed three months later by approval in Britain by the Ministry of

Agriculture. All this was done despite the fact that the Department of

Defense knew that aspartane was neurotoxic and harmful to human health.

These facts were deliberately suppressed by the government. It is also

interesting that in 1981 FDA scientist Dr. Robert Condon, in an internal

government document, said " I do not concur that aspartame has been shown to

be safe with respect to the induction of brain tumors. " All safety was

thrown aside because of pressure from Searle. Considering the connections

the drug companies have to the medical and intelligence community, it would

not be surprising that there were other factors involved in the pressure to

adopt aspartame into the diet of the population.

 

In 1984, the Arizona Department of Health began testing soft drinks to

ascertain the level of toxic deterioration by-products in soft drinks. It

was determined that soft drinks stored in elevated temperatures promoted

more rapid deterioration of aspartame into poisonous methyl alcohol

(methanol). The FDA decided to ignore these results. Public complaints about

the effects of aspartame began to come in. People complained of headaches,

dizziness, vomiting, nausea, blurred vision, seizures, convulsions and a

host of other reactions to aspartame.

 

Also in 1984, the Centers for Disease Control made the fraudulent

announcement that " no serious, widespread " side effects of aspartame had

been found. It was an outright lie, and this announcement was quickly

followed by another from PepsiCo that it was dropping saccharin and adopting

aspartame as the sweetener it all its diet drinks. Others followed suit,

despite the January 1984 broadcast on CBS Nightly News where the chief

scientist for the FDA task force investigating Searle publicly stated that

Searle company officials made " deliberate decisions " to cloak aspartame’s

toxic effects.

 

When a human consumes " Nutra-Sweet " , it breaks down above 85° not only into

its constituent amino acids, but into methanol, which further breaks down

into formaldehyde, which is carcinogenic[8] and very toxic, as well as

formic acid and a brain tumor agent called diketopiperazine (DKP). In a meek

attempt to ward off further public inquiry, the FDA in 1984 announced that

" no evidence has been found to establish that aspartame’s methanol

by-product reaches toxic levels " . This was a direct lie, since Medical World

News reported in 1978, six years earlier, than the methanol content of

aspartame is 1,000 times greater than most foods under FDA control.

Furthermore, the methanol in aspartame is " free methanol " , which is never

found in nature. Methanol in nature is always accompanied by ethanol and

other compounds which mitigate the methanol when introduced into the body.

 

In 1985, Searle Company was bought by Monsanto, the maker of other insidious

substances that manage to find their way into human food, including Bovine

Growth Hormone (BGH). Senator Metzenbaum, commenting on the FDA relative to

the aspartame issue in 1985 said, " the FDA is content to have Searle conduct

all safety tests on aspartame. That’s absurd. "

 

Supreme Court Collusion in Aspartame Coverup Clarence Thomas Former Monsanto

Lawyer

 

In 1986, the Washington Post reported that the Supreme Court refused to

consider arguments that the FDA had not followed proper procedures in

approving aspartame, despite arguments that the product " may cause brain

damage. " (Supreme Court obstructing Justice). Since Bush-nominated Supreme

Court Justice Clarence Thomas

is a former attorney for Monsanto [9],it is unlikely that hundreds of

millions of people will find redress. There are also indications of ties

between Monsanto and elements in the CIA.

 

University of Illinois Fraudulent Study on Aspartame

 

In August of 1987, the University of Illinois, a recipient of funding from

Monsanto, issued a study " exonerating aspartame of causing seizures in

laboratory animals. " The fact that they were paid by Monsanto automatically

invalidates the results. U.S. Senate hearings in 1987 showed that G.D.Searle

used " psychological strategy " to get regulators at the FDA " into a

yes-saying habit " to " bring them into a subconscious spirit of

participation. " .[10] More than half of 69 medical researchers polled by the

FDA in 1987 said they were concerned about aspartame’s safety.[11]

 

FDA Ignores Complaints of Neurological Symptoms

 

In 1989, the FDA received over 4,000 complaints from people who described

adverse reactions. Because the FDA conveniently lists aspartane as a " food

additive " , it removes the legal requirement for adverse effect reporting to

any Federal agency and the necessity for safety monitoring processes.

Research also indicates that aspartame, when combined with glutamine

products (such as MSG, widely used in foods) increase the likelihood of

brain damage occurring in children.[12]

 

Aspartame Affecting Airline Pilots

 

Some of the more interesting developments in 1989 surfaced in the Palm Beach

Post on October 14th, where an article by Dr. H.J. Robert described several

recent aircraft accidents involving confusion and aberrant pilot behavior

caused by ingestion of products containing aspartame.[13] Soft drink makers

were notified of this problem in 1991. It is interesting to note that after

Samuel Skinner left Sidney & Austin, Searle’s law firm, he was appointed

Secretary of Transportation. Hence, he was in charge of the FAA, just in

time to head off complaints from pilots affected by aspartame. His wife was

employed by Sidney & Austin. Later as George Bush’s Chief of Staff in 1991,

during the Gulf War, he was in a position to head off all inquiries relative

to asparatame, no matter where they were directed - to the FDA, FAA or

Department of Defense. This constitutes criminal negligence and

racketeering. George Bush, of course, was an ex-director of the Central

Intelligence Agency.

 

British News: " Nutrasweet Tests Faked "

 

On July 20, 1990, an article in the national British newspaper The Guardian,

entitled " NutraSweet test results ‘faked’ " , revealed that the British

government had finally been persuaded to review the safety of aspartame

after " receiving a dossier of evidence highlighting its potential dangers. "

According to The Guardian, the dossier alleged that laboratory tests were

falsified, tumors were removed from laboratory animals and animals were

‘restored to life’ in laboratory records.[14] The dossier against NutraSweet

was compiled by Erik Millstone, a lecturer at the Science Policy Research

Unit at Sussex University and author of two books on food additives. It was

based on thousands of pages of evidence, much of which was obtained under

the Freedom of Information Act. The COT, Committee on Toxicity, was at the

time looking into consumption of artificial sweeteners and did not possess

the key documents covering alleged mishandling of the safety tests which

Millstone was asked to provide.

 

The British Ministry of Agriculture and Department of Health have never

revealed the evidence upon which approval was given in England for the

distribution of aspartame, maintaining that " these are matters of commercial

confidence. " The British government does not testing of its own but relies

on safety tests provided by the manufacturer, which of course constitutes a

conflict of interest. The 1990 article quoted the British Department of

Health as saying " NutraSweet is not a health hazard on the available

evidence, but people do suffer ‘ideosyncratic reactions’ to food additives. "

Interestingly, it was pointed out that three out of 14 members of the

Committee on Toxicity have direct or indirect links with the artificial

sweetener industry, according to David Clark, the Labour Party Agriculture

spokeman, who requested a Parliamentary Answer to address questions of

conflict of interest. Aspartame is also sold in England under the product

name " Canderel. " In 1990, the market for asparatame in England was estimated

at £800 million.

 

Aspartame

 

Dosing of the Military in the Gulf War

 

During the 1991 Gulf War, all military personnel were provided free supplies

of aspartame-laced soft drinks together with experimental vaccines, nerve

gas antidotes and personal insecticides. They were also treated to direct

biochemical warfare compounds. The result is Gulf War Syndrome, which is

communicable and deadly, and 50,000 military personnel and their dependents

are wasting away before our eyes. Criminal negligence? Of course. Criminal

conspiracy? Yes. Genocide? Probably - we’re waiting to see.

 

Aspartame Alters Brain Chemicals That Affect Behavior

 

Independent tests on animals have shown that aspartame alters brain

chemicals that also affect behavior. The chemical nature of aspartame was

also shown to defeat its own alleged " purpose " as a " diet aid " , since high

doses instill a craving for calorie-laden carbohydrates. Then, the

aspartame-carbohydrate combination further increases the effect of aspartame

on the brain.[15]

 

Fraudulent Claims of Aspartame as a " Diet Aid "

 

Interestingly, even the American Cancer Society confirmed that users of

artificial sweeteners gained more weight than those who didn’t use the

products, further undermining the supposed " purpose " for the existence of

aspartame in the food.[16] Haven’t we heard this kind of criminal fraud

before?

 

The major selling point of aspartame is as a diet aid, and it has been

demonstrated that the use of this product actually causes people to consume

more food. Normally, when a significant quantity of carbohydrate are

comsumed, serotonin levels rise in the brain. This is manifested as a

relaxed feeling after a meal. When aspartame is ingested with carbohydrates,

such as having a sandwich with a diet drink, aspartame causes the brain to

cease production of serotonin, meaning that the feeling of having had enough

never materializes. You then eat more foods, many containing aspartame, and

the cycle continues. Monsanto’s profit from its NutraSweet Division was $993

million in 1990.

 

Governments Continue Suppression and Coverup on Aspartame

 

In 1991, the National Institutes of Health.[17] listed 167 symptoms and

reasons to avoid the use of aspartame , but today it is a multi-million

dollar business that contributes to the degeneration of the human

population, as well as the deliberate suppression of overall intelligence,

short-term memory[18] and the added contribution as a carcinogenic

environmental co-factor. The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control

continue to receive a stream of complaints from the population about

aspartane. It is the only chemical warfare weapon available in mass

quantities (should keep the cone-heads happy) on the grocery shelf and

promoted in the media. It has also been indicated that women with an

intolerance for phenylalinine, one of the compoents of aspartame, may give

birth to infants with as much as a 15% drop in intelligence level if they

habitually consume products containing this dangerous substance.[19]

 

FAA Collusion in Suppression of Facts on Aspartame

 

The March 1995 issue of The Pacific Flyer published a pro-aspartame article

in which it stated, " the Federal Aviation Administration conducted its own

cognitive research and, according to experts, found no contraindications

that would prevent pilots, or anyone, from ingesting aspartame. " This flies

in the face of consistent reports from pilots who maintain they have

suffered severe and dangerous repercussions in the air after drinking soft

drinks containing aspartame. Virtually every time, symptoms disappeared when

aspartame-laced drinks were discontinued.[20] Over 600 pilots have reported

this problem.

 

FDA " Findings " on Aspartame Remain Based on Faked Tests

 

So, the faked Searle tests remain. The FDA bases its findings on the faked

Searle tests, and the Journal of the American Medical Association, examining

the FDA findings, based on the faked Searle tests, announced " the

consumption of aspartame poses no health risk for most people. " Searle

officials argue that the use of aspartame as an artificial sweetener " has

been officially approved not only by the FDA, but by foreign regulatory

agencies and the World Health Organization " - based on Searle-sponsored

aspartame research, not independently conducted tests.

 

Symptoms of Aspartame Intoxication: Minimal to Severe

 

The symptoms of aspartame intoxication include severe headaches, nausea,

vertigo, insomina, loss of control of limbs, blurred vision, blindness,

memory loss, slurred speech, mild to severe depression often reaching

suicidal levels, hyperactivity, gastrointestinal disorders, seizures, skin

lesions, rashes, anxiety attacks, muscle and joint pain, numbness, mood

changes, loss of energy, menstrual cramps out of cycle, hearing loss or

ringing in the ears, loss or change of taste, and symptoms similar to those

in a heart attack. In addition, aspartic acid chelates (combines) with

chromium - which is a necessary element for proper operation of the thyroid

gland. People who consume large quantities of aspartame may end up with a

false diagnosis of Graves disease and suffer allopathic irradiation of their

thyroid gland for no reason. Complaints about aspartame represent 80-85% of

all food complaints registered with the FDA. More than 6,000 complaints have

been made concerning the effects of aspartame. Thirty independent doctors

and scientists have conducted research on the adverse effects of aspartame

or have compiled supporting data against its use.The use of NutraSweet® or

Equal® should be seriously curtailed or stopped.

 

Aspartame Use Part of Planetary Biomedical Genocide

 

The fact that tons of aspartame is pumped into the world population each

year, knowingly and deliberately, especially with the historical and

documented record of fraud and misrepresentation, constitutes a conspiracy

of the highest order, as well as criminal negligence. The rewards of

continued use are increased profits for the medical and pharmaceutical

industries and chemical companies who produce aspartame and treat people

suffering from the effect of it. Aspartame is the only biochemical warfare

product on grocery shelves. And, the band plays on ....

 

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