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Aspartame, are we risking our lives?

A U.S. consumer group called for an urgent Food and Drug Administration review of the safety of aspartame, but the FDA said there was no immediate need to do so despite a new study showing the sweetener may cause cancer. Italian researchers published a new study last week that showed aspartame -- widely used in soft drinks -- might cause leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancer in rats. This is the second study by the same lab showing that aspartame causes cancer in rats, executive director Michael Jacobson said in a telephone interview. Aspartame is used mostly in soft drinks but is also sold in packets to use in coffee, tea or on food. "People can easily avoid products using Nutrasweet or Equal and keep these products away from kids," Jacobson added.

Morando Soffritti of the Ramazzini Foundation in Bologna, Italy, and colleagues tested aspartame in rats, which they allowed to live until they died naturally. Their study of more than 4,000 rats showed a lifetime of eating high doses of the sweetener raised the likelihood of several types of cancer. On the basis of the present findings, we believe that a review of the current regulations governing the use of aspartame cannot be delayed," Soffritti's team wrote in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, which is published by the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. "This review is particularly urgent with regard to aspartame-containing beverages, heavily consumed by children."FDA spokesman Michael Herndon said the agency had not yet reviewed the study.

However, the conclusions from this second European Ramazzini Foundation are not consistent with those from the large number of studies on aspartame that have been evaluated by FDA, including five previously conducted negative chronic carcinogenicity studies. "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 CSPI said the "Acceptable Daily Intake" of aspartame in the United States is 50 mg per kilogram of body weight, equivalent to a 50-pound child drinking 2.5 cans of diet soda a day, or a 150-pound adult drinking about 7.5 cans a day. The Italian researchers found a cancer risk at the very highest doses -- double the U.S. Acceptable Daily Intake. A spokesman for Coca-Cola was not immediately available for comment. Merisant, which makes Equal, has this statement on its Web site: "The safety of aspartame has been confirmed by regulatory authorities in more than 100 countries, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Health Canada, and the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Food, as well as by experts with the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization and World Health Organization."Jacobson said people should avoid the product for now." People shouldn't panic, but they should stop buying beverages and foods containing aspartame," he advised. This was in CNN news long ago. I thought this post might help people get back to the issue and remember it.

Comments

Rich Murray said…
Methyl alcohol ingestion as a model etiologic agent in multiple sclerosis, WC Monte, D Glanzman, C Johnston; Methanol induced neuropathology in the mammalian central nervous system, Woodrow C. Monte, Renee Ann Zeising, both reports 1989.12.04: Murray 2007.12.28
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.htm
Friday, December 28 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1499

[ These seminal 1989 studies by Prof. Woodrow C. Monte are also given in this previous post, along his two recent comprehensive reviews:

role of formaldehyde, made by body from methanol from foods and aspartame, in steep increases in fetal alcohol syndrome, autism, multiple sclerosis, lupus, teen suicide, breast cancer, Nutrition
Prof. Woodrow C. Monte, retired, Arizona State U., two reviews, 190 references supplied, Fitness Life, New Zealand 2007 Nov, Dec: Murray 2007.12.26
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.htm
Wednesday, December 26 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1498 ]

Methyl alcohol ingestion as a model etiologic agent in multiple sclerosis, WC Monte, D Glanzman, C Johnston; Methanol induced neuropathology in the mammalian central nervous system, Woodrow C. Monte, Renee Ann Zeising, both reports 1989.12.04: Murray 2007.12.28
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.htm
Friday, December 28 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1499

[ These seminal 1989 studies by Prof. Woodrow C. Monte are also given in this previous post, along his two recent comprehensive reviews:

role of formaldehyde, made by body from methanol from foods and aspartame, in steep increases in fetal alcohol syndrome, autism, multiple sclerosis, lupus, teen suicide, breast cancer, Nutrition
Prof. Woodrow C. Monte, retired, Arizona State U., two reviews, 190 references supplied, Fitness Life, New Zealand 2007 Nov, Dec: Murray 2007.12.26
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.htm
Wednesday, December 26 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1498 ]

folic acid prevents neurotoxicity from formic acid, made by body from
methanol impurity in alcohol drinks [ also 11 % of aspartame ], BM
Kapur, PL Carlen, DC Lehotay, AC Vandenbroucke, Y Adamchik, U. of
Toronto, 2007 Dec., Alcoholism Cl. Exp. Res.: Murray 2007.11.27
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.htm
Wednesday, November 27, 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1495

"Of course, everyone chooses, as a natural priority, to enjoy peace,
joy, and love by helping to find, quickly share, and positively act
upon evidence about healthy and safe food, drink, and environment."

Rich Murray, MA Room For All rmforall@comcast.net
505-501-2298 1943 Otowi Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505

http://RMForAll.blogspot.com new primary archive

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages
group with 115 members, 1,501 posts in a public archive

details on 6 epidemiological studies since 2004 on diet soda (mainly
aspartame) correlations, as well as 14 other mainstream studies on
aspartame toxicity since summer 2005: Murray 2007.11.27
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.htm
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1490
Anonymous said…
As long as there are big businesses making money from this product it will be difficult to get people to listen because they will continue to claim this product is safe.

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