By JAMES D. BOWEN, M.D.
My statement for the public record regarding food labeling and the
aspartame issue is serious if not somewhat facetious at times. The
reason for this is because I have found little evidence of honesty,
integrity or stability on the part of Food & Drug Administration
officials regarding the aspartame issue, since its approval in 1981.
This attitude is largely shared by the general public. I come in
contact with approximately two new people each week who are now being or
who have in the past been poisoned by aspartame.
All of them share the same reactions that it is not worth writing to
the FDA or NutraSweet, because you and your agency have run amuck and
are no longer a valid public benefactor.
The recent revelations about the problems surrounding generic drug
approvals are compelling evidence of what happens when an agency
considered itself above the law in dealing with these matters. In my
opinion, this has resulted in the mass poisoning of the American public
as well as seventy-plus countries in the rest of the world. Watching
FDA officials walk through the “revolving door” and be further rewarded
by being promoted to other positions of high public responsibility is
clear evidence of a government out of control.
For this reason, I am opposed to labeling aspartame content of food and
drinks. To do so would imply that the government is taking some sort of
responsible action…when the only responsible action would be to
immediately take aspartame off the market, fully disclose its
toxicities, offer full compensation to the injured, public and
criminally prosecute anyone who participated in the fraudulent placement
of aspartame on the marketplace.
That includes those who work so diligently to keep in on the market as
well.
Further, to label the purported aspartame content of a product would
cover a number of toxic flaws in the product and its allowable daily
intake (ADI) as follows:
1. That the amount stated on the label was accurate and factual rather
than theoretical. Aspartame breaks down relatively quickly in solution.
Given the well established modus operandi of the manufacturer, there is
no concern given the ultimate consumer. And cover-ups seem to be a part
of the routine of doing business. The public should be well advised
that the amounts really used in liquid products are relatively greater
than those stated to accomplish a relative compensation for the loss of
product sweetness occurring during storage in solution.
2. That the ADI presently allowed is 50% greater than that expected to
cause a reversal of the phenylalnine/tyrosine ratios in the human brain.
This has profoundly bad implications for the human being, including
dopamine and serotonin synthesis inhibition, causing depression,
appetite changes, mental inabilities, increased susceptibility to
seizures and a host of neurohormonal problems.
3. Every known metabolite of aspartame is of marked or questionable
toxicity and patently unsafe for human use. Methyl alcohol is
metabolized to nascent formaldehyde in the eye, nervous system and other
metabolically active organs. It immediately attacks and denatures the
tissue structure proteins in which is metabolized to nascent
formaldehyde. This stimulates specific organ and subcellular
autoimmunity which seems to be a preponderant source of the bad
experiences reported by NutraSweet victims. Aspartic Acid is a
neuroexcitotoxic present in damaging amounts, it own right, at the ADI
for aspartame. Simple logic tells one that it will vastly increase the
metabolism of methyl alcohol to formaldehyde attach there. This
corresponds well with the symptomalogies often experienced, such as Lou
Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), bulbar palsies, neurohormonal disorders,
diketopiperazine issue remains totally unresolved and dangerous. The
amino acids that are released by hydrolysis, form eimers and isomers
that are either not sufficiently studied, or which are known substrates
in undesirable pathological states such as Alzheimer’s disease.
4. There is the issue of the approval of aspartame for market, which
has violated every principle of responsible science and responsible
government. Everyone responsible for this hearing should at least
completely review the approval process and the comments of the
participants and observers who have so excellently elucidated all the
malfeasance for the public record, such as Dr. Adrian Gross and many,
many others (all on the public record).
In light of the above 4 points, I highly recommend that you deny in
every way possible any subterfuge of respectability that the aspartame
people have enshrouded themselves and their product within hopes of
quickly denying its access to the worldwide marketplace. I write this,
not believing that it will do the slightest bit of good in the sense of
affecting the labeling issue per se, but that instead, it might reach
some honest, concerned, conscientious individuals in the process.