The Truth about Aspartame

In the first test of aspartame, seven infant monkeys were given aspartame with milk. One died after 300 days. Five others (out of seven total) had grad mal seizures. The actual results were hidden from the FDA when G.D. Searle submitted its initial applications.

"The thing that bugs me is that people think the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is protecting them -- it isn't. What the FDA is doing and what the public thinks it's doing are as different as night and day."
Dr. Herbert L. Ley, former Commissioner of the FDA

99% of non-industry independently sponsored research finds one or more problems with aspartame. 100% of FDA and industry sponsored research finds NO problems.

http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/100.html

1970 - Neuroscientist John W. Olney found that oral intake of glutamate, aspartate and cysteine, all excitotoxic amino acids, cause brain damage in mice.

1974 - Eighty percent of tests submitted to the FDA were conducted by G.D. Searle or by their major contractor, Hazleton Laboratories, Inc.

1977 - Donald Rumsfeld, former member of the U.S. Congress and the Chief of Staff in the Gerald Ford Administration, was hired as G.D. Searle's President. Attorney James Turner, Esq. alleged that Rumsfeld was hired to handle aspartame approval as a "legal problem rather than a scientific problem."

According to a former G.D. Searle salesperson, Patty Wood-Allott, Donald Rumsfeld told his sales force that "he would call in all his markers and that no matter what, he would see to it that aspartame would be approved.”

1979 - FDA somehow concludes that G.D. Searle's aspartame studies could be accepted. They convene the Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) which was agreed to by Dr. John Olney and Attorney James Turner.

1980 - The Public Board Of Inquiry voted unanimously to reject the use of aspartame until additional studies on aspartame's potential to cause brain tumors could be done.

1981 - On January 21, 1981, the day after Ronald Reagan takes office as U.S. President, G.D. Searle reapplied for the approval of aspartame.  In April 1981, FDA Commisioner Jere Goyan is replaced by Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr. by Ronald Reagan.

On July 18, 1981 aspartame was approved for use dry foods by FDA Commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr. overruling the Public Board of Inquiry and ignoring Section 409(c)(3) of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 348), which says that a food additive should not be approved if tests are inconclusive.

1983 - On July 8, 1983, Dr. Woodrow Monte, Director of the Science and Nutrition Laboratory at Arizona State University filed a petition objecting to the approval of aspartame based on possible serious adverse effects from the chronic intake of aspartame. Dr. Monte was especially concerned about the chronic intake of methanol.  PBOI member James Turner filed a petition with the FDA on behalf of himself and Community Nutrition Institute objecting to the approval of aspartame.

1984 - On February 17, the FDA denied Dr. Woodrow Monte and James Turner the opportunity to hold a safety hearing on questions raised in their petition.

1987 - The United Press reported that more than 10 federal officials involved in the NutraSweet decisions took jobs in the private sector linked to the aspartame industry.