[Nettime-nl] VERY IMPORTANT

[Emanuel DM Pimenta <edmp@asa-art.com> (by way of *Alex Adriaansens* <alex@v2.nl>)]

Please, read with attention and pass ahead.

Nexus Magazine (http://www.nexusmagazine.com/Aspartame.html), from Australia, published a violent article about aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, Canderel, Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi etc). The article is supported by several important scientists. If the information there is correct, Monsanto's direction and all responsible people for its approval should be immediately accused and judged as criminous against the humanity.

"Aspartame sugar substitutes
causes worrying symptoms from
memory
loss to
brain
tumours. Aspartame is, by far,
the most dangerous substance on the market that is added to foods.
Aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food
additives reported to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Many of
these reactions are very serious including
seizures
and
death
as recently disclosed in a February 1994 Department of Health and Human
Services report. A few of the 90 different documented symptoms listed in
the report as being caused by aspartame include:
Headaches/migraines,
dizziness,
seizures,
nausea,
numbness,
muscle
spasms,
weight
gain,
rashes,
depression,
fatigue,
irritability,
tachycardia,
insomnia,
vision
problems,
hearing
loss,
heart
palpitations,
breathing
difficulties,
anxiety
attacks,
slurred
speech,
loss of
taste,
tinnitus,
vertigo,
memory
loss, and
joint
pain. According to researchers
and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, the following
chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting of
aspartame:
Brain
tumors,
multiple
sclerosis,
epilepsy,
chronic fatigue
syndrome,
parkinson's
disease,
alzheimer's,
mental
retardation,
lymphoma,
birth
defects,
fibromyalgia,
and
diabetes.

Dr Diana Dow Edwards, a researcher
was funded by Monsanto to study possible
birth
defects caused by the ingestion
of aspartame. After preliminary data showed damaging information about
aspartame, funding for the study was cut off. A Gentetic Pediatrician at
Emory University has testified that aspartame is causing
birth
defects.7360-367. In the book,
While Waiting: A Prenatal Guidebook by George R. Verrilli, M.D. and Anne
Marie Mueser, it is stated that aspartame is suspected of causing
brain
damage in sensitive individuals.
A fetus may be at risk for these effects. Some researchers have suggested
that high doses of aspartame may be associated with problems ranging from
dizziness
and subtle brain
changes to
mental
retardation. 

In 1981, Satya Dubey, an FDA
statistician, stated that the
brain
tumor data on aspartame was so
"worrisome" that he could not recommend approval of NutraSweet.
In a two-year study conducted by the manufacturer of aspartame, twelve of
the 320 rats fed a normal diet and aspartame developed
brain
tumors while none of the control
rats had tumors. Five of the twelve tumors were in rats given a low dose
of aspartame. The approval of aspartame was a violation of the Delaney
Amendment which was supposed to prevent cancer-causing substances such as
methanol (formaldehye) and DKP from entering our food supply. The late Dr
Adrian Gross, an FDA toxicologist, testified before the US Congress that
aspartame was capable of producing
brain
tumors. 

Both the Air Force's magazine Flying
Safety and the Navy's magazine, Navy Physiology published articles
warning about the many dangers of aspartame including the
cumlative
deliterious effects of methanol
and the greater likelihood of
birth
defects. The articles note that
the ingestion of aspartame can make pilots more susceptible to
seizures
and
vertigo.
Twenty articles sounding warnings about ingesting aspartame while flying
have also appeared in the National Business Aircraft Association Digest
(NBAA Digest 1993), Aviation Medical Bulletin (1988), The Aviation
Consumer (1988), Canadian General Aviation News (1990), Pacific Flyer
(1988), General Aviation News (1989), Aviation Safety Digest (1989), and
Plane and Pilot (1990) and a paper warning about aspartame was presented
at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Aerospace Medical Association (Gaffney
1986). 

Most people do not associate their
symptoms with the long-term use of aspartame. For the people who have
killed a significant percentage of the brain cells and thereby caused a
chronic illness, there is no way that they would normally associate such
an illness with aspartame consumption.

How aspartame was approved is a lesson in how chemical and pharmaceutical companies can manipulate government agencies such as the FDA, "bribe" organizations such as the American Dietetic Association, and flood the scientific community with flawed and fraudulent industry-sponsored studies funded by the makers of aspartame."