Dear Scott,
While the aspartame warning is not actually an urban legend, per se, this
piece of aspartame hysteria has been circulating for awhile. The following
is copied from
http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/
This site keeps track of current net rumors and urband legends while
attempting to sort out which ones are true and which are false. It's worth
bookmarking for the next time some questionable e-mail "warning" appears in
your in-box.
Carolyn
>
> Aspartame Warning
>
> Posted: 01/06/99 (Updated: 02/20/99)
>
> This specimen of email scarelore, in wide circulation since mid-December,
> warns that the artificial sweetener aspartame (a.k.a. "NutraSweet" and
> "Equal") is toxic to humans in a hundred different ways. It even coins a new
> medical term for these effects: "aspartame disease."
>
> Most of the allegations contradict the bulk of medical evidence (see Guide's
> note below), but its author offers a convenient explanation: collusion between
> aspartame's manufacturers, the medical establishment, and the U.S. Food &
> Drug Administration.
>
> Far be it from me to insist that the FDA is infallible and incorruptible,
but I
> would point out that the agency has common sense and years of
> accumulated research on its side when it maintains that the sweetener is
> safe for most people. As to aspartame's critics, it doesn't help their cause
> that the information presented in the email is disorganized, hysterical, and
> poorly substantiated.
>
> Read carefully and see if you think it deserves your credence:
>
> Subject: FW: Health information on ASPARTAME
>
> WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE
> and the
> MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS FOUNDATION
> F.D.A. ISSUING FOR COLLUSION WITH MONSANTO
> Article written by Nancy Markle (1120197)
>
> I have spent several days lecturing at the WORLD
> ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE on "ASPARTAME marketed
> as 'NutraSweet', 'Equal', and 'Spoonful"'. In the
> keynote address by the EPA, they announced that
> there was an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and
> systemic lupus, and they did not understand what
> toxin was causing this to be rampant across the
> United States.
>
> I explained that I was there to lecture on
> exactly that subject. When the temperature of
> Aspartame exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol
> in ASPARTAME coverts to formaldehyde and then to
> formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic
> acidosis. (Formic acid is the poison found in the
> sting of fire ants). The methanol toxicity mimics
> multiple sclerosis; thus people were being
> diagnosed with having multiple sclerosis in
> error. The multiple sclerosis is not a death
> sentence, where methanol toxicity is.
>
> In the case of systemic lupus, we are finding it
> has become almost as rampant as multiple
> sclerosis, especially Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi
> drinkers. Also, with methanol toxicity, the
> victims usually drink three to four 12 oz. Cans
> of them per day, some even more. In the cases of
> systemic lupus, which is triggered by ASPARTAME,
> the victim usually does not know that the
> aspartame is the culprit The victim continues its
> use aggravating the lupus to such a degree, that
> sometimes it becomes life threatening.
>
> When we get people off the aspartame, those with
> systemic lupus usually become asymptomatic.
> Unfortunately, we can not reverse this disease.
> On the other hand, in the case of those diagnosed
> with Multiple Sclerosis, (when in reality, the
> disease is methanol toxicity), most of the
> symptoms disappear. We have seen cases where
> their vision has returned and even their hearing
> has returned. This also applies to cases of
> tinnitus. During a lecture I said "If you are
> using ASPARTAME (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful,
> etc.) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms,
> spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs,
> cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus,
> joint pain, depression, anxiety attacks, slurred
> speech, blurred vision, or memory loss-you
> probably have ASPARTAME DISEASE!" People were
> jumping up during the lecture saying, "I've got
> this, is it reversible?"
>
> It is rampant. Some of the speakers at my lecture
> even were suffering from these symptoms. In one
> lecture attended by the Ambassador of Uganda, he
> told us that their sugar industry is adding
> aspartame! He continued by saying that one of the
> industry leader's son could no longer walk - due
> in part by product usage!
>
> We have a very serious problem. Even a stranger
> came up to Dr. Espisto (one of my speakers) and
> myself and said, "Could you tell me why so many
> people seem to be coming down with MS?" During a
> visit to a hospice, a nurse said that six of her
> friends, who were heavy Diet Coke addicts, had
> all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond
> coincidence.
>
> Here is the problem. There were Congressional
> Hearings when aspartame was included in 100
> different products. Since this initial hearing,
> there have been two subsequent hearings, but to
> no avail. Nothing as been done. The drug and
> chemical lobbies have very deep pockets. Now
> there are over 5,000 products containing this
> chemical, and the PATENT HAS EXPIRED!!!!! At the
> time of this first hearing, people were going
> blind. The methanol in the aspartame converts to
> formaldehyde in the retina of the eye.
> Formaldehyde is grouped in the same class of dmgs
> as cyanide and arsenic- DEADLY POISONS!!!
> Unfortunately, it just takes longer to quietly
> kill, but it is killing people and causing all
> kinds of neurological problems.> Aspartame
> changes the brain's chemistry. It is the reason
> for severe seizures. This drug changes the
> dopamine level in the brain. Imagine what this
> drug does to patients suffering from Parkinson's
> Disease. This drug also causes Birth Defects.
>
> There is absolutely no reason to take this
> product. It is NOT A DIET PRODUCT!!! The
> Congressional record said, "It makes you crave
> carbohydrates and will make you FAT". Dr. Roberts
> stated that when he got patients off aspartame,
> their average weight loss was 19 pounds per
> person. The formaldehyde stores in the fat cells,
> particularly in the hips and thighs.
>
> Aspartame is especially deadly for diabetics. All
> physicians know what wood alcohol will do to a
> diabetic. We find that physicians believe that
> they have patients with retinopathy, when in
> fact, it is caused by the aspartame. The
> aspartame keeps the blood sugar level out of
> control, causing many patients to go into a coma.
> Unfortunately, many have died. People were
> telling us at the Conference of the American
> College of Physicians, that they had relatives
> that switched from saccharin to an aspartame
> product and how that relative had eventually gone
> into a coma. Their physicians could not get the
> blood sugar levels under control. Thus, the
> patients suffered acute memory loss and
> eventually coma and death.
>
> Memory loss is due to the fact that aspartic acid
> and phenylalanine are neurotoxic without the
> other amino acids found in protein. Thus it goes
> past the blood brain barrier and deteriorates the
> neurons of the brain. Dr. Russell Blaylock,
> neurosurgeon, said, "The ingredients stimulates
> the neurons of the brain to death, causing brain
> damage of varying degrees. Dr. Blaylock has
> written a book entitled "EXCITOTOXINS: THE TASTE
> THAT KILLS" (Health Press 1-800-643-2665). Dr.
> H.J. Roberts, diabetic specialist and world
> expert on aspartame poisoning, has also written a
> book entitled "DEFENSE AGAINST ALZHEIMER'S
> DISEASE" (1-800-814-9800). Dr. Roberts tells how
> aspartame poisoning is escalating Alzheimer's
> Disease, and indeed it is. As the hospice nurse
> told me, women are being admitted at 30 years of
> age with Alzheimer's Disease. Dr. Blaylock and
> Dr. Roberts will be writing a position paper with
> some case histories and will post it on the
> Internet. According to the Conference of the
> American College of Physicians, 'We are talking
> about a plague of neurological diseases caused by
> this deadly poison".
>
> Dr. Roberts realized what was happening when
> aspartame was first marketed. He said "his
> diabetic patients presented memory loss,
> confusion, and severe vision loss". At the
> Conference of the American College of Physicians,
> doctors admitted that they did not know. They had
> wondered why seizures were rampant (the
> phenylalanine in aspartame breaks down the
> seizure threshold and depletes serotonin, which
> causes manic depression, panic attacks, rage and
> violence).
>
> Just before the Conference, I received a FAX from
> Norway, asking for a possible antidote for this
> poison because they are experiencing so many
> problems in their country. This "poison" is now
> available in 90 PLUS countries worldwide.
> Fortunately, we had speakers and ambassadors at
> the Conference from different nations who have
> pledged their help. We ask that you help too.
>
> Print this article out and warn everyone you
> know. Take anything that contains aspartame black
> to the store. Take the "NO ASPARTAME TEST" and
> send us your case history.
>
> I assure you that MONSANTO, the creator of
> aspartame, knows how deadly it is. They fund the
> American Diabetes Association, American Dietetic
> Association, Congress, and the Conference of the
> American College of Physicians. The New York
> Times, on November 15, 1996, ran an article on
> how the American Dietetic Association takes money
> from the food industry to endorse their products.
> Therefore, they can not criticize any additives
> or tell about their link to MONSANTO. How bad is
> this? We told a mother who had a child on
> NutraSweet to get off the product. The child was
> having grand mal seizures every day. The mother
> called her physician, who called the ADA, who
> told the doctor not to take the child off the
> NutraSweet. We are still trying to convince the
> mother that the aspartame is causing the
> seizures. Every time we get someone off of
> aspartame, the seizures stop. If the baby dies,
> you know whose fault it is, and what we are up
> against. There are 92 documented symptoms of
> aspartame, from coma to death. The majority of
> them are all neurological, because the aspartame
> destroys the nervous system.
>
> Aspartame Disease is partially the cause to what
> is behind some of the mystery of the Dessert
> Storm health problems. The burning tongue and
> other problems discussed in over 60 cases can be
> directly related to the consumption of an
> aspartame product. Several thousand pallets of
> diet drinks were shipped to the Dessert Storm
> troops. (Remember heat can liberate the methanol
> from the aspartame at 86 degrees F). Diet drinks
> sat in the 120 degree F. Arabian sun for weeks at
> a time on pallets. The service men and women
> drank them all day long. All of their symptoms
> are identical to aspartame poisoning. Dr. Roberts
> says "consuming aspartame at the time of
> conception can cause birth defects". The
> phenylalanine concentrates in the placenta,
> causing mental retardation, according to Dr.
> Louis Elsas, Pediatrician Professor - Genetics,
> at Emory University in his testimony before
> Congress.
>
> In the original lab tests, animals developed
> brain tumors (phenylalanine breaks down into DXP,
> a brain tumor agent). When Dr. Espisto was
> lecturing on aspartame me, one physician in the
> audience, a neurosurgeon, said, "when they remove
> brain tumors, they have found high levels of
> aspartame in them".
>
> Stevia, a sweet food, NOT AN ADDITIVE, which
> helps in the metabolism of sugar, which would be
> ideal for diabetics, has now been approved as a
> dietary supplement by the F.D.A. For years, the
> F.D.A. has outlawed this sweet food because of
> their loyalty to MONSANTO.
>
> If it says "SUGAR FREE" on the label-DO NOT EVEN
> THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!l! Senator Howard Hetzenbaum
> wrote a bill that would have wamed all infants,
> pregnant mothers and children of the dangers of
> aspartame. The bill would have also instituted
> independent studies on the problems existing in
> the population (seizures, changes in brain
> chemistry, changes in neurological and behavioral
> symptoms). It was killed by the powerful drug and
> chemical lobbies, letting loose the hounds of
> disease and death on an unsuspecting public.
> Since the Conference of the American College of
> Physicians, we hope to have the help of some
> world leaders. Again, please help us too.
>
> There are a lot of people out there who must be
> warned, *please* let them know this information.
>
>
> Guide's note: First off, despite the attribution at the top (absent in some
> versions of the message), this text was not written by "Nancy Markle" �
> whoever that may be. Its real author was one Betty Martini, who posted a
> host of similar messages to Usenet newsgroups in late 1995 and early 1996.
> The original email was penned exactly three years ago.
>
> Ms. Martini, who is not a physician but says she has worked in the medical
> profession, has waged a single-minded battle for years against what she calls
> "the propaganda put out by industry and the FDA" regarding aspartame. To
> that end, she founded an organization called "Mission Possible International,"
> represented on such Websites as Dave Reitz's http://www.dorway.com,
> which houses a vast archive of anti-aspartame literature.
>
> Even if we credit Martini with good intentions (and there's no reason not to),
> it's difficult to take her email warning seriously. Among other things, it
> blithely implicates aspartame as the cause of just about every malady known
> to humankind. To recap the laundry list:
>
> "The methanol toxicity mimics multiple sclerosis..."
>
> "In the cases of systemic lupus, which is triggered by ASPARTAME,
> the victim usually does not know that the aspartame is the culprit."
>
> "If you...suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting pains,
> numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches,
> tinnitus, joint pain, depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech,
blurred
> vision, or memory loss-you probably have ASPARTAME DISEASE!"
>
> "In one lecture attended by the Ambassador of Uganda, he told us that
> their sugar industry is adding aspartame! He continued by saying that
> one of the industry leader's son could no longer walk - due in part by
> product usage!"
>
> "At the time of this first hearing, people were going blind. The methanol
> in the aspartame converts to formaldehyde in the retina of the eye."
>
> "Aspartame changes the brain's chemistry. It is the reason for severe
> seizures."
>
> "This drug also causes Birth Defects."
>
> "It makes you crave carbohydrates and will make you FAT."
>
> "The ingredients stimulates the neurons of the brain to death, causing
> brain damage of varying degrees."
>
> "...aspartame poisoning is escalating Alzheimer's Disease..."
>
> "...the phenylalanine in aspartame breaks down the seizure threshold
> and depletes serotonin, which causes manic depression, panic
> attacks, rage and violence..."
>
> "Aspartame Disease is partially the cause to what is behind some of
> the mystery of the Dessert [sic] Storm health problems."
>
> "When they remove brain tumors, they have found high levels of
> aspartame in them."
>
> That's a dizzying array of charges � to which it's perfectly reasonable to
> respond: if it's all provable, why isn't the entire medical establishment
up in
> arms about it? Why does the substance continue to have the FDA's
> approval? Why do reputable scientists and doctors scoff?
>
> Martini's answer, as I mentioned above, is pat and comes in the form of a
> conspiracy theory: the Monsanto Company, which created aspartame, has
> used its deep pockets to buy all but a very few critics off. I.e., the only
> authorities you can trust are those who agree with Martini.
>
> Naturally, Monsanto insists � as it has ever since the product was invented
> in 1965 � that aspartame is safe for nearly everyone to use. In answer to the
> Internet rumors charging that aspartame is deadly, the company has posted a
> detailed rebuttal on its NutraSweet promotional Website. Labeling Martini's
> allegations "egregious," the document states: "None of the symptoms she and
> her 'sources' have attributed to aspartame have been substantiated in any
> clinical scientific study."
>
> Those who are inclined to think that's nothing but a corporate whitewash will
> probably also reject the FDA's Statement on Aspartame published in 1996.
> The statement disputes charges that aspartame is associated with brain
> tumors.
>
> A very recent MIT study reaffirms that aspartame is harmless for most
> users, but again, skeptics will observe that the research was funded by a
> grant from the NutraSweet Co. (a division of Monsanto), and therefore
> cannot be trusted.
>
> On Jan. 12, the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation posted its own rebuttal of the
> aspartame rumors, referring to them as "rabidly inaccurate and scandalously
> misinformative." The article was researched and written by Dr. David
> Squillacote, neurologist and Senior Medical Advisor for the Foundation.
>
> Simeon Margolis, M.D., Ph.D. and professor of medicine and biological
> chemistry at Johns Hopkins University, agrees. In a recent article, he wrote:
> "A letter recently circulating on the Internet stated that aspartame can cause
> a number of illnesses: multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus
> (SLE), as well as Alzheimer's disease. As far as I can ascertain, there is no
> reliable evidence to support the claim that aspartame causes any of these
> disorders." Responding to the claims that breakdown byproducts of
> aspartame are dangerous, he added: "While it is true that high heat can break
> down aspartame, there is no evidence that the breakdown products are
> toxic."
>
> The "aspartame scare" hit the mainsream media when the Associated Press
> moved its Jan. 29 article debunking the rumor. It states that "MS and lupus
> have been around a lot longer than aspartame has, and repeated scientific
> studies have found no connection between the sweetener and such
> symptoms." The AP article cites the FDA and the ACSH, an alphabet soup
> that won't be to everyone's liking.
>
> So, for those who would rather not take anyone's word on this � Betty
> Martini's, the FDA's, or the media's � I highly recommend taking the time to
> survey the last 20 years' worth of medical research on aspartame (courtesy
> of the MEDLINE database). I reviewed a good many of the journal
> abstracts on file there and, taking their conclusions as a whole, it certainly
> appears to this layman that the "aspartame = death" theorists have wandered
> far afield from the known facts.
>
> Lastly, aspartame is acknowledged (though not without controversy) to
> produce minor side effects in some people � most notably headaches (see
> Aspartame Ingestion and Headaches, Neurology, 1994). Also, the FDA
> warns that persons with certain medical conditions, including pregnant
> women with hyperphenylalanine, should avoid aspartame:
>
> Carefully controlled clinical studies show that aspartame is not
> an allergen. However, certain people with the genetic disease
> phenylketonuria (PKU), those with advanced liver disease, and
> pregnant women with hyperphenylalanine (high levels of
> phenylalanine in blood) have a problem with aspartame because
> they do not effectively metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine,
> one of aspartame's components. High levels of this amino acid
> in body fluids can cause brain damage. Therefore, FDA has
> ruled that all products containing aspartame must include a
> warning to phenylketonurics that the sweetener contains
> phenylalanine.
>
>
**********************************************************
Carolyn M. Pepper, Ph.D. Office: (607)777-2426
Department of Psychology fax: (607)777-4890
Binghamton University
Binghamton, NY 13902-6000
http://psychology.binghamton.edu/faculty/pepper.htm
**********************************************************
