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Not sure if this belongs in the debate forum and I sure dont' want to come off as a nut who gets bad news and then looks for blame...but...from a diet-coke-aholic out to all of you:
Aspartame: Scientific Studies Link Sweetener to Cancers
The controversial artificial sweetener Aspartame is making headline news, after a recent Italian study linked the common ingredient in diet drinks to lymphomas and leukemias. Aspartame was approved in a highly politicized maneuver involving pressure from Donald Rumsfeld, former CEO of Searle, the Aspartame manufacturer. The recommendations of the FDA's own scientific board of inquiry were disregarded by a political appointee to the FDA's top job, Arthur Hull Hayes, who over-ruled that board of inquiry approving Aspartame for sale, and soon after went to work for the PR Agency of Searle, Burson-Marstaller.
Aspartame critics have pointed to the FDA's own adverse events data and asked that the sweetener be taken off the market, but since the "forced" approval of Aspartame, the agency has been extremely reluctant to revisit the science or to even acknowledge the presence of apparently numerous reports of the sometimes severe side effects, such as sudden cardiac death, vision degradation and multiple sclerosis.
The recent Italian study linking the sweetener to cancers in laboratory animals, has forced the issue into view again. The European Food Control Agency announced that it will initiate a review of Aspartame in the light of this new new data.
A detailed comment from Betty Martini, referencing much of the previously collected information about adverse events calls for schools to prohibit the sale of aspartame laced diet drinks in the ever present vending machines...
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ATLANTA, July 18, 2005 - The Cancer Research Center of the European Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences in Bologna, Italy reported this week that a long-term study to evaluate the potential carcinogenic effects of aspartame demonstrates the chemical sweetener "induces an increase in lymphomas and leukemias in female rats." The research will be presented at a September international scientific conference, "Framing the Future in the Light of the Past: Living in a Chemical World."
Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock M.D. commented: "The new study released in the European Journal of oncology by Morando Soffritti and co-workers should terrify mothers and all those consuming aspartame sweetened products. This was a carefully done study which clearly demonstrated a statistically significant increase in several types of lymphomas and leukemias in rats. Both of these malignancies have increased significantly in this country since the widespread use of aspartame.
"This study confirmed the previous study by Dr. Trocho and co-workers, which also found the formaldehyde breakdown product of aspartame to be damaging to cellular DNA and that this damage was accumulative. The type of damage was a duplicate of that associated with cancers. Along with this most recent study, this means that drinking a single diet cola sweetened with aspartame every day could increase one's risk of developing a lymphoma or leukemia.
"They also found an increased incidence of malignant brain tumors, even though it was not statistically significant. This does not mean there is no association to brain tumors, since only the animals exposed to aspartame developed the tumors. With children and pregnant women drinking the largest amount of diet colas, this puts their children at the greatest risk of developing one of these horrible diseases . Their study found that even low doses of aspartame could cause these malignancies; yet, the higher the dose, the more cancers that were seen.
"Since aspartame can increase obesity and may even cause the metabolic syndrome that affects 48 million Americans, there is no reason to ever consume this product. At the least it should be immediately banned from all schools."
Needless to say...I'll never touch the stuff again.
kris
Aspartame: Scientific Studies Link Sweetener to Cancers
The controversial artificial sweetener Aspartame is making headline news, after a recent Italian study linked the common ingredient in diet drinks to lymphomas and leukemias. Aspartame was approved in a highly politicized maneuver involving pressure from Donald Rumsfeld, former CEO of Searle, the Aspartame manufacturer. The recommendations of the FDA's own scientific board of inquiry were disregarded by a political appointee to the FDA's top job, Arthur Hull Hayes, who over-ruled that board of inquiry approving Aspartame for sale, and soon after went to work for the PR Agency of Searle, Burson-Marstaller.
Aspartame critics have pointed to the FDA's own adverse events data and asked that the sweetener be taken off the market, but since the "forced" approval of Aspartame, the agency has been extremely reluctant to revisit the science or to even acknowledge the presence of apparently numerous reports of the sometimes severe side effects, such as sudden cardiac death, vision degradation and multiple sclerosis.
The recent Italian study linking the sweetener to cancers in laboratory animals, has forced the issue into view again. The European Food Control Agency announced that it will initiate a review of Aspartame in the light of this new new data.
A detailed comment from Betty Martini, referencing much of the previously collected information about adverse events calls for schools to prohibit the sale of aspartame laced diet drinks in the ever present vending machines...
- - -
ATLANTA, July 18, 2005 - The Cancer Research Center of the European Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences in Bologna, Italy reported this week that a long-term study to evaluate the potential carcinogenic effects of aspartame demonstrates the chemical sweetener "induces an increase in lymphomas and leukemias in female rats." The research will be presented at a September international scientific conference, "Framing the Future in the Light of the Past: Living in a Chemical World."
Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock M.D. commented: "The new study released in the European Journal of oncology by Morando Soffritti and co-workers should terrify mothers and all those consuming aspartame sweetened products. This was a carefully done study which clearly demonstrated a statistically significant increase in several types of lymphomas and leukemias in rats. Both of these malignancies have increased significantly in this country since the widespread use of aspartame.
"This study confirmed the previous study by Dr. Trocho and co-workers, which also found the formaldehyde breakdown product of aspartame to be damaging to cellular DNA and that this damage was accumulative. The type of damage was a duplicate of that associated with cancers. Along with this most recent study, this means that drinking a single diet cola sweetened with aspartame every day could increase one's risk of developing a lymphoma or leukemia.
"They also found an increased incidence of malignant brain tumors, even though it was not statistically significant. This does not mean there is no association to brain tumors, since only the animals exposed to aspartame developed the tumors. With children and pregnant women drinking the largest amount of diet colas, this puts their children at the greatest risk of developing one of these horrible diseases . Their study found that even low doses of aspartame could cause these malignancies; yet, the higher the dose, the more cancers that were seen.
"Since aspartame can increase obesity and may even cause the metabolic syndrome that affects 48 million Americans, there is no reason to ever consume this product. At the least it should be immediately banned from all schools."
Needless to say...I'll never touch the stuff again.
kris
I guess I never really realized that. I was a 12-pack a day kind of a gal. 
really....I never went anywhere without a diet coke in my hand...and often I would go through the drive-thru and grab a large one each day too. 
). I always wondered why that was.
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