Why is aspartame still a legal food additive?

Question

When not one report from anywhere in the world says its safe? in fact its a ant poison that turns to formaldehyde at body temp[eratures and it causes cancer in lab rats. I asked a doctor why they recommend it and she said they do cause its worth billions to the bastards who make it.

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rhya
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there are more than 92 side effects of aspartame for your body,,
because unlike the saccharine, aspartame dissolves into sollution and deposit within body tissues..

these are the side effects of aspartame :

Eye
blindness in one or both eyes
decreased vision and/or other eye problems such as: blurring, bright flashes, squiggly lines, tunnel vision, decreased night vision
pain in one or both eyes
decreased tears
trouble with contact lenses
bulging eyes

Ear
tinnitus - ringing or buzzing sound
severe intolerance of noise
marked hearing impairment

Neurologic
epileptic seizures
headaches, migraines and some severe
dizziness, unsteadiness, both
confusion, memory loss, both
severe drowsiness and sleepiness
paresthesia or numbness of the limbs
severe slurring of speech
severe hyperactivity and restless legs
atypic

Answer 1

There is no scientific evidence that aspartame is unsafe. It's been studied extensively for about thirty years, so you'd think that after all this time if it were that dangerous than more people would have cancer from it. But people who use aspartame don't have any more cancer than anyone else.

Your fear is unfounded. And, stories about aspartame are considered an urban legend.

Aspartame HOAX
http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hoaxes/hoaxDetails.asp?HName=ASPARTAME+HOAX

Aspartame Email Hoax - explains the long list of 'ailments' caused by aspartame is false.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blasp2.htm

Seems to be alot of people lately worried about aspartame. Here are some of the other questions concerning this sweetner:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AoersyP_OpN_KIOC6UsnBdXsy6IX?qid=20070626143024AAL9zC4&show=7#profile-info-9Q870Do4aa

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnDA43sDQOM6j.yd0Ft15Pbty6IX?qid=20070626122823AApdvKA&show=7#profile-info-xF025bpVaa

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApkMtyeKWHOVsZu5YZ1t2EDty6IX?qid=20070626114756AAqIC0T&show=7#profile-info-SIQUuNBKaa

But, if it bothers you that much, just don't use it.

Answer 2

I don't eat anything that I know has artificial sweeteners in it, anyway. I literally have a phobia of artificial sweeteners. Other substances are illegal more because of the behavior they're known to cause, rather than because of the effects that they have on your health. For example, cigarettes kill thousands of people a day, but people don't generally run off the road and kill people in their cars because their judgment is impaired from cigarettes. And it would be extremely rare for someone's behavior to change because of aspartame. I've never heard of someone running down a jogger with their car because they had some diet soda. I'd say a closer comparison to marijuana would be alcohol. And alcohol is legal, so cops won't arrest you for drinking it, but they will arrest you for how you behave afterwords. (Driving, public intoxication, etc.) I don't debate that aspartame is poison...I think it is, too. But there needs to be a big enough public outcry against it before they will take it off the market. And cops don't have a say in that at all... anymore than any other citizen. It has nothing to do with law enforcement. A cop can't just decide to arrest someone because they don't like something. They have to be actually breaking a law. Other than that...what would they arrest them FOR?

Answer 3

I wanted to know this same thing and did extensive research on aspartame-it is approved by the FDA so that would be one "report" saying it is safe-you would have to cosume ridiculosly high amts of it daily for it to cause the things you speak of-as far as it being an ant poison and turning to formaldehyde-this is is true of some prescription meds as well, a med my co worker takes actually has a minut amt of rat poison in it... i took the medication lipitor and couldnt walk for weeks becasue of severe pain and now have damaged muscles---so there pretty much isnt anything safe

Answer 4

To all of you who think the symptoms aspartame causes are a myth. Open your eyes and do some proper research. You can not take the FDA'S word on anything. The FDA has admitted to being bought out to aprove other drugs why would you not believe they could be bought out on aspartame. I personally get grand mal epileptic seizures from injesting this poison. It is not my imagination and I have tested the reaction on purpose and by accident. Aspartame has been proven to be a neuro toxin, No one should injest this substance!!!! To buffmountain you have obviously done your homework on this subject and have done a great job of answering this question!!! You even pointed out some things I did not know about the dangers of aspartame, I am impressed!!! Please everyone check out the links listed by buffmountain. It is your health and the health of your children that is at stake.

Answer 5

Wearing a tinfoil hat and sitting under a pyramid will help to offset the effects of aspartame. Researchers in India have also found that eating Chicken with white and wild rice soup can be beneficial.

Answer 6

Since there is some question on it, I take the side that it causes cancer and avoid it. I'm guessing that the probability of me getting cancer from getting fat by consuming too much sugar is still lower than if I used artificial sweeteners, plus sugar tastes a lot better. The FDA can no longer be trusted since their decisions are now political (pro big business) rather than to protect the public from harm.

Answer 7

Apartame is poison pure and simple and now theyre saving money by importing less real sugar and adding tons of aspartame to make bigger profits, all you clowns who are saying its false reporting need to be shot. Ive seen dozens of teenagers dying all around me from cancer over the last five years, in my day I never heard of one teenager dying from cancer not one!!!......there is something in the food chain thats killing us all, and why would anyone ingest ant poisons willingly???? would you drink aspartame on its own to prove how safe it was? I sure as hell wouldnt.

Answer 8

That's actually an urban legend that it causes cancer, not a single report says it's unsafe.
Just like KFC chicken not being "chicken", milk causing congestion, and mothers being turned on by breastfeeding.

Answer 9

read this book and it is amazing. aging without growing older by Judy McFarland.
They have lobbyists on capital hill . it is so wrong! we got hormones in chicken and meat products also.
I grow a garden in self defense

Answer 10

It seems Rumsfeld had a hand in promoting it via his interests in Gilead. And its a known fact that the FDA are motivated by profits NOT health. Theyre even trying to outlaw natural vitamins so their big bizzo mates can sell you the artificial versions for major profits fer krissakes!!! Aspartame was not approved until 1981, in dry foods. For over eight years the FDA refused to approve it because of the seizures and brain tumors this drug produced in lab animals. The FDA continued to refuse to approve it until President Reagan took office (a friend of Searle) and fired the FDA Commissioner who wouldn't approve it. Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes was appointed as commissioner. Even then there was so much opposition to approval that a Board of Inquiry was set up. The Board said: "Do not approve aspartame". Dr. Hayes OVERRULED his own Board of Inquiry.

Shortly after Commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr., approved the use of
aspartame in carbonated beverages, he left for a position with G.D. Searle's Public Relations firm.

Long-Term Damage. It appears to cause slow, silent damage in those unfortunate enough to not have immediate reactions and a reason to avoid it. It may take one year, five years, 10 years, or 40 years, but it seems to cause some reversible and some irreversible changes in health over long-term use.

METHANOL (AKA WOOD ALCOHOL/POISON) (10% OF ASPARTAME) Methanol/wood alcohol is a deadly poison. People may recall that methanol was the poison that has caused some "skid row" alcoholics to end up blind or dead. Methanol is gradually released in the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounter the enzyme chymotrypsin.

The absorption of methanol into the body is sped up considerably when free methanol is ingested. Free methanol is created from aspartame when it is heated to above 86 Fahrenheit (30 Centigrade). This would occur when aspartame-containing product is improperly stored or when it is heated (e.g., as part of a "food" product such as Jello).

Methanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in the body. Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin. An EPA assessment of methanol states that methanol "is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid; both of these metabolites are toxic." The recommend a limit of consumption of 7.8 mg/day. A one-liter (approx. 1 quart) aspartame-sweetened beverage contains about 56 mg of methanol. Heavy users of aspartame-containing products consume as much as 250 mg of methanol daily or 32 times the EPA limit.

The most well known problems from methanol poisoning are vision problems. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen, causes retinal damage, interferes with DNA replication, and causes birth defects. Due to the lack of a couple of key enzymes, humans are many times more sensitive to the toxic effects of methanol than animals. Therefore, tests of aspartame or methanol on animals do not accurately reflect the danger for humans. As pointed out by Dr Woodrow C. Monte, Director of the Food Science and Nutrition Laboratory at Arizona State University, "There are no human or mammalian studies to evaluate the possible mutagenic, teratogenic, or carcinogenic effects of chronic administration of methyl alcohol."
Aspertame is possibly being put into sugar imported from other countries. Read your labels folks!! Be-Aware!! Also finally someone is suing the companies making and distributing Aspertame. See the first link for more info including links to some newer sites (sorry I havn't been able to update this page with newer links etc.). Please read your labels, let people know. Stay away from Aspertame. For that matter add MSG, and Sucralose as well as anything made with Olean to the list of questionable - non-foods which you probably should avoid.

Aspertame was first discovered in 1966 by a scientist working at G.D.Searle Industries as he was trying to develop an ulcer drug. It was suggested as a sugar substitute after the scientist accidentally licked his fingers and found them to taste sweet. It is an rDNA deriviative, made by combining two amino acids.It was once listed as a prospective chemical warfare weapon on a list submitted to Congress by the Pentagon. It has three components,asparatic acid, phenylalaline, and methanol amino acids saturated in petrochemicals. when ingested, aspertame breaks down into it's constituent amino acids, and methanol, which then biodgrades into formaldehyde.Mmmmm...formaldehyde. says Monsanto, one of the leading suppliers of aspertame, "Formaldehyde has been implicated as a possible carcinogen when inhaled, but this hasn't been shown to be the case when taken by mouth."

Aspertame used in diet drinks, affects the brains production of serotonin, making the body crave more carbohydrates, cancelling out it's effectiveness as a diet aid. It can produce brain tumors, lead to blindness, and dries up the lubricating synovial fluid and turns joints into plastic. It can cause memory loss, chronic fatigue, and even death at extreme levels. One man who walked into a manufacturing facility with out proper protection died instantly.
From it's inception, aspertame was a drug. An addictive drug. So how did it become a food additive?
Searle had been seeking FDA approval for fifteen years for aspertame as a drug. While it funded a number of reports minimizing aspertame's dangers, a number of independent tests proved it to be unsafe.That all changed with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. A member of Reagan's transition team, Donald Rumsfeld was appointed CEO of Searle.Calling in all his markers Rumsfeld was able to get aspertame fast tracked as a food additive despite FDA reports it caused brain tumors. It's so deadly, flies won't touch it. Yet this person, looking to line his pockets, use politics to unleash a potentially deadly ingredient into the American diet. So excuse me if I feel he is unfit to defend the country from a terrorist attack. He has already unleashed a deadly chemical weapon upon the American people.