http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4683371.stm
Racketeering (Rico)Charges filed Against NutraSweet, Dr. Moser of NS, American Diabetes Assn and Monsanto
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/9/emw159017.htm
Ayup...that wondrous chemical Reagan and Rumsfeld railroaded thru the FDA. NutraSweet had been denied for years and years by the FDA. Then, Rumsfeld took hold of G.D. Searle and within months of Reagan's new FDA appointee in 1981 had NutraSweet approved.Fresh doubts about the safety of an artificial sweetener have been raised by Italian scientists who have linked its use to leukaemias in rodents.
Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar and is used throughout the world in low-calorie drinks and foods.
Regulators say existing studies show it is safe, but will look at the European Journal of Clinical Oncology study.
But they said it was unlikely that the sweetener was harmful to humans to the same extent as in rats.
Concerns have been raised about the aspartame in the past, but an analysis of 500 papers by UK regulators in 2002 concluded there was no threat to consumers.
The Food Standards Agency said: "The European Food Safety Authority intends to undertake an urgent assessment of this study to establish whether there are any implications for human health.
"We will study EFSA's opinion carefully and consider what, if any, action may be required."
Dr Elaine Vickers, cancer information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "If a risk to humans does exist, it will almost certainly be very small.
"However, we welcome the news that the EFSA will undertake an urgent assessment of this work."
The study
Dr Morando Soffritti and colleagues at the Cancer Research Centre in Bologna fed eight-week-old rats varying concentrations of aspartame.
Compared with control rats given no sweetener, many of the female rats in the experiment developed lymphomas or leukaemias - the risk increasing with the dose of aspartame.
The researchers say their study raises concerns about the levels of aspartame to which humans can be exposed and, therefore, "urgent re-examination" of aspartame's safety is needed, "especially to protect children".
The existing European Food Safety Authority safety assessment for aspartame led to the setting of an Acceptable Daily Intake, or ADI.
This is an estimate of the amount of an additive that could be routinely consumed every day over a lifetime with no appreciable health risk.
'Safe' intake
Aspartame's ADI is set at 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. This is equivalent to 2,800 milligrams for an average British adult.
For an average three-year-old child the amount is of the order of 600 milligrams.
An adult would have to consume 14 cans of a sugar-free drink every day before reaching the ADI, assuming the sweetener was used in the drink at the maximum permitted level.
In practice, most drinks use aspartame in combination with other sweeteners so that the level is considerably lower, says the FSA.
Previous work by the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of Health showed that aspartame intakes were considerably below the recommended maximum level, even among children and diabetics who consume large quantities of sugar-free drinks.
Racketeering (Rico)Charges filed Against NutraSweet, Dr. Moser of NS, American Diabetes Assn and Monsanto
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/9/emw159017.htm
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) September 17, 2004 --
SENT AS A COURTESY OF:
WORLD NATURAL HEALTH ORGANIZATION
http://www.wnho.net - Click on Racketeering Banner
National Press Conference held Thursday 9/16 at
Sheraton Grand Hotel, Sacramento, Ca
Filed In: The United States District Court for the Northern District of California
Plaintiff: Joe Bellon, individually and as a representative of a class of plaintiffs
Damages $350,000,000
Click to see video: Rumsfeld/Aspartame
http://www.soundandfury.tv/Pages/Rumsfeld.html
A RACKETEER INFLUENCED & CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS [RICO]complaint has been filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The suit charges the defendants with manufacturing and marketing a deadly neurotoxin unfit for human consumption, while they assured the pubic that aspartame (also known as NutraSweet/Equal) contaminated products are safe and healthful, even for children and pregnant women. Present Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is mentioned throughout the lawsuit.
As evidence, an explosive affidavit from a former translator for the G.D. Searle Co - the developer of aspartame - will be made public at a National Press Conference on Thursday, September 16 at 11:00 a.m. at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel, 1230 J Street, Sacramento, California 95814, phone (916) 447-1700.
For 16 years, the FDA denied approval of aspartame because of compelling evidence of its contributing to brain tumors and other serious disabilities. Donald Rumsfeld, present Secretary of Defense in the Bush Administration, left President Ford's administration as Chief of Staff to become the CEO of aspartame producer G D Searle Co. in 1981. Shortly after, Rumsfeld became the CEO, and the day after President Reagan took office, aspartame was quickly approved by FDA Commissioner Arthur Hayes over the objections of the FDA's Public Board of Inquiry. Hayes had been recently appointed by the Reagan Administration. Shortly after aspartame's approval by the FDA, Hayes joined NutraSweet's public relations firm under a ten year contract at $1,000 a day.
Aspartame/NutraSweet was the product of the G. D. Searle Co. In January 1977, the FDA wrote a 33 page letter to U.S. Justice Department Attorney
Sam Skinner: "We request that your office convene a Grand Jury investigation into apparent violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act." Skinner allowed the Statute of Limitations to run.
Three FDA Commissioners and eight other officers and Skinner took jobs in the aspartame industry.
The Food and Drug Administration once listed 92 adverse reactions from 10,000 consumer complaints and would send the list to all inquirers. In 1996 the FDA stopped taking complaints and now denies existence of the report. Seizures, blindness, sexual dysfunction, obesity, testicular, mammary and brain tumors and death, plus dozens of other dread diseases named in the suit arise from the consumption of this neurotoxin.
Defendant Moser, past CEO of NutraSweet, is cited for misrepresenting facts to public and commercial users with full knowledge of the deceptions. The toxin is sold to Bayer, Con Agra Foods, Dannon, Smucker, Kellogg, Wrigley, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods (Crystal Light), Conopco (Slim-Fast), Coke, Pfizer, Wal-Mart and Wyeth (to name a few), who use it in some of their products, including children's vitamins. These entities are named in other suits now in California Courts.
Defendant American Diabetes Association's mission is to care for diabetics. A 35 year ADA member, diabetic specialist H.J.Roberts, M.D.FACP discovered aspartame can precipitate or aggravate diabetes and its complications, or simulate the complications (especially neuropathy and retinopathy). His report, intended for the Annual Scientific Meeting of the ADA, was rejected for presentation - and even publication of the abstract (!) - but was then published in another scientific medical journal.
The seven count indictment includes charges for violation of California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, Fraud, violations of California Civil Code §1780-1784 and Injunctive Relief: that Defendants be enjoined from future use/sale of aspartame.