Date: 7/7/06 Author: Diana Heil Source: Rense.com
NM Environmental Board
Nixes Petition To Ban Aspartame
By Diana Heil
The New Mexican
7-7-6
To some, Santa Fe gallery owner Stephen Fox
would have been a hero if he succeeded in
getting all foods and medicines containing
aspartame banned permanently from New Mexico.
Given the corporate heavyweights that came out
to fight this battle, including beverage
companies and the sweetener's manufacturer, Fox
would have accomplished quite a feat.
Sold under the brand names of NutraSweet and
Equal, aspartame was approved as a food additive
in 1981 and is found in thousands of products,
including diet sodas. Naysayers across the
nation, with a strong presence on the Internet,
call it a poison that can harm human health.
On Thursday, the state Environmental Improvement
Board unanimously shot down Fox's petition to
outlaw aspartame. "In light of our attorney's
advice and as the petition is currently written,
a citizens board is not the appropriate venue to
take on an aspartame ban," said Gay Dillingham,
head of the seven-member board.
Dr. Ken Stoller, a Santa Fe pediatrician,
lamented the outcome: "Today, the EIB,
succumbing to pressure from Ajinomoto (the
world's largest aspartame manufacturer), decided
not to hold a hearing on aspartame even though
they had twice previously voted to hold this
hearing. ... The poisoning continues."
Earlier this year, Fox tried to convince state
lawmakers to prohibit the sale of aspartame
products indefinitely, but the bill was tabled.
Now, Dillingham said, Fox still has the right to
revise his petition and try again with the
Environmental Improvement Board.
"I'm not going to repetition the EIB. The first
petition was perfect," Fox said. "The
(corporations) abnegated the regulatory powers
in New Mexico to protect food products. What a
loss for New Mexico."
In May, the board offered Fox the opportunity to
change the way he wrote his petition and
outlined options that would not require
statewide labeling or bans, but Fox refused.
One option would have been for the EIB to hold
hearings to review a reasonable amount of
scientific evidence and then petition the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration if the findings
raised concerns.
In a tie vote Thursday, the EIB decided not to
make public the attorney's letter that outlined
the pros and cons of seven options, which had
been summarized in an open meeting.
"There's really nothing that's not in the (May)
meeting minutes," said Dillingham, who voted to
make the attorney's letter public.
Fox took on the aspartame industry because of
moral concerns: "I don't think that
multinational corporate powers should be able to
poison people."
Originally, the EIB had scheduled hearings on
Fox's petition for this July. However, after
gathering legal advice on whether states have
the authority to override the FDA as well as
interstate-commerce laws, the board took another
approach.
"We are concerned about the issue," Dillingham
said, noting that she personally is troubled
when she sees signs that politics might be
"eclipsing" science at the FDA.
More than 100 toxicological and clinical studies
regarding the sweetener's safety have been
conducted so far. The FDA is reviewing a recent
controversial Italian study, which linked cancer
in rats to aspartame. Meanwhile, the European
Food Safety Authority found holes in the Italian
study and continues to call aspartame safe.
Aspartame, one of five approved artificial
sweeteners in the U.S., is widely consumed by
diabetics and dieters. Ruth Kava, a nutritionist
with the American Council on Science and Health,
which receives corporate funding, said it's a
good alternative to sugar for everyone except
those with the genetic disorder
phenylketonuriais a genetic disorder, which is
characterized by an inability of the body to use
an important amino acid.
"I don't understand why people are getting so
fearful of products that really have no
dangerous health effects whatsoever," she said
in an interview Thursday.
Kava said consumers get confused by the methanol
ingredient in aspartame, but must remember that
only in large doses is methanol toxic. The
amount of methanol in aspartame-sweetened foods
and beverages is well below the levels that
cause any harm, she co-wrote in a recent article
reviewing all artificial sweeteners.
"Many people do not realize that methanol is a
common constituent of foods and beverages and
that people routinely consume small amounts of
it without ill effect," the article in the
journal Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science
and Food Safety says. "Methanol is found in many
fruits and vegetables."
Contact Diana Heil at 986-3066 or
dheil@sfnewmexican.com.
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/46051.html
Comment
Dr. Betty Martini
7-7-6
Stephen Fox, a true American hero, in the end
will succeed.
The excuse of EIB is lame. They had no right to
deny the hearing they already voted to have.
They are empowered to ban aspartame and they
simply were manipulated by the aspartame
industry. Ajinomoto. Ajinomoto, Calorie Control
Council, and Coke would do anything to prevent a
hearing that would have given the EIB no choice
but to ban it.
Aspartame violates state and federal
adulteration statutes. Here in the congressional
record is the NSDA (now American Beverage)
admitting it:
http://www.wnho.net/congressional_record1.doc
Because it is a crime to "ship for sale" an
adulterated product then it violates Interstate
Commerce Laws. The EIB hearing would have heard
that the FDA actually revoked the petition for
approval after they first tried to have the
manufacturer indicted for fraud but the defense
team hired the US Prosecutors. Here is the
actual petition:
http://www.wnho.net/fda_petition1.doc Many
of the EIB had seen the movie Sweet Misery: A
Poisoned World and heard and saw James Turner,
Atty, tell how Don Rumsfeld called in his
markers when the FDA said no.
http://www.soundandfury.tv/pages/Rumsfeld2.html
Ajinomoto had to stop this hearing.
The methanol propaganda is getting kind of old.
In molecular chemistry its one molecule of
aspartic acid (an excitotoxin), to one molecule
of methanol (a neurotoxin) to one molecule of
phenylalanine (as an isolate a neurotoxin). All
scientists know this and this is no small amount
of methanol. It has been shown on the Trocho
Study that the formaldehyde converted from this
free methyl alcohol accumulates in the cells and
damages DNA. This is pre-embalming as discussed
in the medical text, Aspartame Disease: An
Ignored Epidemic by H. J. Roberts, M.D.,
www.sunsentpress.com. How serious is the
methanol? Found on the autopsy of athlete
Charles Fleming, an aspartame addict, after it
killed him, his wife was sent to prison for 30
and 20 years years where she remains today.
Diane Fleming, a Sunday School teacher, who was
the one who called the police because she didn't
know the toxic poison they were drinking
liberated free methyl alcohol, took a lie
detector test and passed. She helped the police
and the detective said to me, "I wouldn't have
allowed her to be indicted because she is
innocent but just at that time they promoted me
and took me off the case." The usual excuse of
the manufacturers is there is more methanol in
oranges knowing full well that in fruits and
vegetables methanol binds to pectin, and is
removed safely from the body. It also has
ethanol which is the classic antidote for
methanol toxicity. The Trocho Study is so
damaging the scientists were threatened. As one
told a TV crew: "And now I have to keep my job".
Why are there diet soda naysayers? Because the
methanol causes chronic methanol poisoning like
found on the autopsy of Charles Fleming. This
affects the dopamine system and causes
addiction. How bad is the addiction? As a
surgeon told the diabetic wife of Lane Shore,
"stop the aspartame and we may be able to save
your foot". She replied, "I'm too addicted take
if off." They did.
The Ramazzini Study in Italy has no holes. It
was the most impeccable study ever done on
aspartame confirming once again what the FDA had
also found, that this poison is a multipotential
carcinogen. The now discredited European Food
Safety Authority also manipulated by the
manufacturer could find nothing so they said the
cancers had to have come from the respiratory
disease. They knew as director Dr. Soffritti
said that respiratory disease is part of the
dying process. We also see it on the autopsies
of victims who die of aspartame like Charles
Fleming. But the EFSA could have said "the
bluebird of happiness flies at dawn". They just
had to have an excuse, any excuse, to not do
anything. What shame they brought upon
themselves to aid and abet the maker of this
poison.
http://www.wnho.net/halt_the_spin_on_bogus_studies.htm
By LAW the FDA is now obligated to recall
aspartame:
http://www.wnho.net/cancer_study_obligates_recall.htm
But laws mean nothing. The manufacturers of
aspartame have bigger attorneys and bottomless
checkbooks and people in high places. They offer
influence and money. They know how to
manipulate. There is a name for those who do it
for money and they have their hands out
everywhere. They now have money for anything
they want but their home may be void of mirrors
to view their sin. Front groups like Calorie
Control Council and American Council on Science
and Health spin yarns and take "funding". And
when the brains of our children are destroyed by
aspartame
http://www.wnho.net/dr_olney1.doc they look
the other way because they don't have to take
care of the autistic or ADD, ADHD, or mentally
retarded child.
Stephen, you were right not to revise the
petition. It is perfect, that's why they want it
revised. They are saying "we'll find something
to give you, if you go away". We just have to
keep going and get a bigger sling shot. David
did it and so you can you. That sling shot may
up the uprising of the people of New Mexico
being outraged by the denial of due process. The
Bill of Rights, 9 & 10, says you cannot remove
the rights of the people and the rights of the
states. And the people of New Mexico have the
right to have the facts heard. The EIB is
empowered to hold hearings, and they are
empowered to ban aspartame. As Dr. Stoller said,
they voted twice to have these hearings. They
had no right to deny the hearing to expose the
facts. Dr. H. J. Roberts met with Governor
Richardson who said aspartame should be banned.
(HJrobertsmd@aol.com).
It was the people of New Mexico who lost. And it
is New Mexico who must stand up and object over
the outrageous manipulation of environmental
powers to protect them. We salute you, Stephen,
American hero. Now let's keep going and get this
poison out of New Mexico.
Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum, Founder
Mission Possible International (warning the
world off aspartame)
9270 River Club Parkway
Duluth, Georgia 30097
770 242-2599
www.wnho.net and
www.dorway.com
Aspartame Toxicity Center,
www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
.
