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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1231
New Mexico's aspartame hearings, Albuquerque Journal
editorial, Steve Mills, Editor: comments by Steve Trinward
www.freemarketnews.com : Murray 2005.10.08

[    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1229
(New Mexico) State plans sweetener (aspartame) hearings;
critics -- aspartame linked to cancers, Jackie Jadrnak,
Albuquerque Journal, Santa Fe North: Murray 2005.10.05

Albuquerque Journal editorial, Saturday, 2005.10.08
Environmental Board strikes a sour note
Steve Mills, Journal Editor  SMills@AbqJournal.com

The state Environmental Improvement Board's decision to hold hearings on the
sugar substitute aspartame -- with Gov. Bill Richardson's support -- is a
waste
of taxpayer money and an exercise in futility.

The sweetener was deemed safe by the U.S.Food and Drug Administration in
1981, as well as the American Medical Association, American Cancer Society,
American Diabetes Association, National Cancer Institute, and more than 100
regulatory agencies worldwide.  It is unlikely to be proven otherwise by a
state panel ill equipped to consider reversing years of scientific studies.

While the state can put restrictions on a federally approved product --
decongestants being kept behind store registers because of methamphetamine
production comes to mind -- enforcement of a sweetener restriction would
require a mighty big counter. About 6,000 food and beverage items contain
aspartame, marketed under the trade names NutraSweet and Equal.

The board is charged with oversight of the state's food and water supplies,
liquid waste disposal, air quality and radiation control; it's ludicrous to
believe the leigslature intended for the panel to engage in this kind of
exercise. New Mexico has plenty of environmental issues this board could
appropriately address.  Artificial sweeteners isn't one of them.

The EIB made a bad decision that should be quickly reversed.

http://www.abqjournal.com/

Jackie Jadrnak, Journal Health Writer   jjadrnak@abqjournal.com
John Fleack, Journal Science Writer  jfleck@abqjournal.com     ]

http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=1259

New Mexico's aspartame hearings     by Steve Trinward

Saturday, October 08, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.com

The battle against aspartame may just be beginning. According to a story in
the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is concerned
that the dangers of aspartame are being underplayed by federal regulatory
agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He is in support
of the Environmental Improvement Board decision to hold hearings on the
safety of this sugar substitute, commonly marketed as Equal or NutraSweet,
and found in some 6,000 products, including many so-called "diet" soft
drinks.

While the proposed hearings come from a sitting governor and are almost a
year away, that does not guarantee them by any means. Attorneys for Calorie
Control Council, the powerful aspartame industry front group, are already
seeking an appeal to block them. Gov. Richardson is apparently involved in a
delicate balancing act, weighing his stated concerns about potential dangers
with a desire not to overstep his boundaries. The FDA approved aspartame in
l981.

Critics of the sweetener claim it contributes to a variety of health
problems, even cancer in some cases.

Betty Martini, an activist in the aspartame fight, has noted,
"Since they push this toxin as safe, they should embrace this hearing.
What are they afraid of?"

-- ST         Steve Trinward,
FMNN Medical Policies Correspondent
Editor-in-Chief, Progressive News Digest

staff reports - Free-Market News Network

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* FMNN Medical Policies Correspondent
* Editor-in-Chief, Progressive News Digest

NEWS CORRESPONDENTS > Steve Trinward

Steve Trinward

Steve Trinward, a lifelong libertarian, has more than a passing interest in
the way medicine and politics are interacting in the Western world -- to the
detriment of healthcare and the enrichment of those who are attempting to
generate further government intrusions into the field.

As a Nashville, Tennessee resident, he's seen firsthand how "TennCare" has
undermined his state's healthcare system, unbalanced the state budget,
generated tremendous corruption and inefficiency and generally increased
political and civil discord.

"I've watched a healthcare program, allegedly intended to at most provide a
'safety net' for the truly indigent and uninsurable, turn into the same sort
of bloated, corrupt socialist nightmare that all such horrors eventually
do," he says. "From a writer's point of view, it's been fascinating. As a
resident of the state, I wish it had never happened, though it's certainly
provided me with material."

A writer/editor by trade, Steve is always on the lookout for material, but
he is surprised to find so much so close to home. He will be tracking
TennCare's increasingly troubled progress for FMNN, while also dealing with
larger medical/political issues as they evolve in Tennessee and on the
national -- and even international -- scene.

Even without his FMNN contributions, Steve would be busy. He's a
Contributing Editor to Rational Review,
an Editor of Rational Review News Digest
and Editor-in-Chief of the weekly wrapup, Progressive News Digest.

He has also been published on the Web at LibertyForAll.net,
SierraTimes.com and the now-defunct Liberzine.com,
as well as in various local, national and international print publications.

In his spare time he writes songs, hosts a monthly songwriter circle in his
living-room, and covers 9-ball billiards tournaments for insidepool.com.

Born and raised in New England (a lifelong Boston Red Sox and New England
Patriots fan) he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1993, where he found his
true "rebel roots" in the South.

http://www.sierratimes.com/trinward.htm

Steve Trinward is "Soul Proprietor" of trinWORDS.com (wordsmithing and
editing services), an Editor for Rational Review News Digest, and a
Contributing Editor for Rational Review. Other times, he writes songs, does
libertarian politics, works at a day-job scoring scholastic exams, and is
active in Religious Science of Nashville. He is also the Region Seven
(Southwest) Representative to the Libertarian National Committee.

http://www.rationalreview.com/

http://www.jeffstewart.com/profiles/steve_trinward.htm

Steve Trinward
Age: 56
Gender: male
Astrological Sign: Cancer
Zodiac Year: Ox
Industry: Publishing
Occupation: writer/editor
Location: Nashville : Tennessee

http://home.comcast.net/~strinward/    songs     strinward@comcast.net
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1230
recent research re aspartame (methanol, formaldehyde)
toxicity: Murray 2005.10.08

Rich Murray, MA  Room For All  rmforall@comcast.net
505-501-2298 1943 Otowi Road    Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages
group with 149 members, 1,231 posts in a public, searchable
archive  http://RoomForAll.blogspot.com
http://AspartameNM.blogspot.com

Dark wines and liquors, as well as aspartame, provide
similar levels of methanol, above 100 mg daily, for
long-term heavy users, 2 L daily, about 6 cans.

Methanol is inevitably largely turned into formaldehyde,
and thence largely into formic acid.
It is the major cause of the dreaded symptoms of "next
morning" hangover.

Fully 11% of aspartame is methanol --  1,120 mg aspartame
in 2 L diet soda, almost six 12-oz cans,  gives 123 mg
methanol (wood alcohol).   If 30% of the methanol is turned
into formaldehyde, the amount of formaldehyde, 37 mg,
is 18.5  times the USA EPA limit for daily formaldehyde in
drinking water,
2.0 mg in 2 L average daily drinking water,
185 times the New Jersey limit,
615 times the California and Maine limits,
1850 times the Maryland limit.

The 1999 July EPA 468-page formaldehyde profile admits that
four states substantially exceed the federal EPA limit:

Environmental Protection Agency 2.00 mg in 2 L daily
drinking water

California and Maine------------ 0.06 mg
Maryland----------------------  0.02 mg
New Jersey--------------------  0.20 mg

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1108
faults in 1999 July EPA 468-page formaldehyde profile:
Elzbieta Skrzydlewska PhD, Assc. Prof., Medical U. of
Bialystok, Poland, abstracts -- ethanol, methanol,
formaldehyde, formic acid, acetaldehyde, lipid peroxidation,
green tea, aging: Murray 2004.08.08 2005.07.11

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/835
ATSDR: EPA limit 1 ppm formaldehyde in drinking water July
1999: Murray 2002.05.30 rmforall

Aspartame is made of phenylalanine (50% by weight) and
aspartic acid (39%), both ordinary amino acids, bound
loosely together by methanol (wood alcohol, 11%).
The readily released methanol from aspartame is within hours
turned by the liver into formaldehyde and then formic acid,
both potent, cumulative toxins.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1106
hangover research relevant to toxicity of 11% methanol in
aspartame (formaldehyde, formic acid): Calder I (full text):
Jones AW: Murray 2004.08.05 2005.09.28

Since no adaquate data has ever been published on the exact
disposition of toxic metabolites in specific tissues in
humans of the 11% methanol component of aspartame, the many
studies on morning-after hangover from the methanol impurity
in alcohol drinks are the main available resource to date.

Jones AW (1987) found next-morning hangover from red wine
with 100 to 150 mg methanol (9.5% w/v ethanol, 100 mg/L
methanol, 0.01%, one part in ten thousand).
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