http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1234
Not so sweet (aspartame): Jerry Ortiz y Pino, NM State Senator,
D-Albuquerque: Fox: Murray 2005.10.14

From: "Stephen Fox" <stephen@santafefineart.com>
To: "Rich Murray" <rmforall@comcast.net>
Subject: N/A
Date: Friday, October 14, 2005 9:33 AM

http://www.alibi.com/editorial/section_display.php?di=2005-10-13&scn=news#13049

Not So Sweet:
The state's Environmental Improvement Board will hold hearings
on the dangers posed by a household sweetener

By Jerry Ortiz y Pino jerry@alibi.com
[ New Mexico State Senator, D-Albuquerque ]

Stephen Fox can be a real pest.
The Santa Fe gallery owner is a familiar presence in legislative hallways,
at public
hearings of regulatory bodies and in letters to the editor sections in
newspapers
around the state. It is a safe bet that if New Mexico's top dozen corporate
lobbyists sat down and ranked their 10 least favorite citizens in the state,
Fox would make all 12 lists.

We owe him big time.

He is that most valuable of citizens; the tireless, never-discouraged blower
of whistles and asker of inconvenient questions. When the watchdogs at the
henhouse gate start yawning and begin to lay their sleepy little heads down
for a quick nap, the whistleblower makes sure they don't drowse off. We need
a lot more Stephen Foxes because the fatigue level among our henhouse watch
staff is always too high.

When the governmental regulatory agencies start approving drugs, additives
and medicines that aren't demonstrated as safe, the asker of inconvenient
questions raises an alarm we all benefit from. Vioxx, asbestos and several
dozen other now-discredited "miracles of modern science" might have been
kept at bay if answers to the inquiries of pests like Stephen Fox had been
required before they got into our national bloodstream.

Now Fox is zeroing in on aspartame (e.g. Equal, NutraSweet), and to his
everlasting credit he will not rest until the stuff is removed from stores
around the country. When you realize that this artificial sweetener is now
used in over 6,000 processed foods and drinks currently on the market, you
begin to understand the serious challenge he faces.

You also realize the economic power of the multinational corporations that
are arrayed against him. But the team of scientific skeptics from around the
globe whose work on the risks entailed in ingesting aspartame is also
impressive. Fox used their research and the testimony of pediatricians and
scientists to persuade New Mexico's Environmental Improvement Board (EIB)
to hold hearings next summer on the dangers posed by aspartame.

Just getting those hearings scheduled is a victory of major proportions.

The EIB is charged with protecting the purity of our food, air and water
supplies, but this is the first time in its history that it has actually
been challenged to take a look at a food additive.
That they are starting with one with several decades of FDA-approved use on
record is a mighty big bite.

Lawyers and lobbyists for the big soft-drink companies
and the chemical  giant Ajinomoto (a Japanese conglomerate
that is the largest manufacturer of the substance in the world)
argued to the EIB that it shouldn't spend time on the issue,
because the FDA has spoken and that should be enough.

This last statement might have been the final straw; the nail in the coffin.
No New Mexican appointed official worth their salt would agree that you can
trust the feds. So the EIB, to most observers' surprise, will hold hearings.
And it should be a fascinating process.

No corporate hired gun in the country wants hearings like this about their
product. While the chances of the EIB actually doing something to stop this
stuff from reaching New Mexicans' digestive systems are remote, the three-
ring circus atmosphere that will surround the testimony, the stark stories
from research labs about the presence of formaldehyde in aspartame and the
neurodegenerative afflictions, cancers and other tumors that have been
linked to this substance are a corporate press agent's worst nightmare.

So you can expect that there will be court action to prevent our state
hearings into the safety and long-term effects of this chemical. The
argument (and it shouldn't surprise anyone that it is being parroted by the
Albuquerque Journal, that sleepiest of sentinels for public health concerns
when corporate bottom lines might be affected) is that if the FDA has
approved aspartame, that ought to be good enough.

Except the FDA approval itself may have been over the objections of its own
scientists. Except the FDA's recent track record of protecting us from bad
chemistry is far from sterling. Except the corporate donations to political
campaigns of policy makers seems to carry more weight with FDA decisions
than the real-world experiences of victims of dangerous substances.

I don't know enough about the chemistry involved in aspartame to say one way
or another, but I think holding hearings is a good idea. Shining the light
on the findings of recent investigations into the consequences of our
widespread use of these sorts of artificial substances ought to be
automatic.

When we have all the information out on the table we'll be able to make
informed decisions. Even if the government chooses not to outlaw aspartame,
if the evidence shows it entails a risk, individuals can choose to avoid it.

What we mustn't let happen, though,
is for Americans to eat, drink and absorb chemicals that damage our
health -- and all the while be falsely reassured by the government and the
profiteers that we have nothing to fear.
There's a whole lot of cancer treatment going on in this country.
A little emphasis on cancer prevention makes sense.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.  jerry@alibi.com
*************************************************************

http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/legdetails.asp?Name=309&Submit=Search  [
photo ]

Senator: Gerald Ortiz y Pino
District: 12
County(s): Bernalillo
Party: Democrat
Occupation: Social Worker
Address: 400 12th Street NW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4380
Office Phone: 265-3717
Home Phone: 243-1509
E-mail: jortizyp@aol.com

Bills Sponsored by Session

Committee Membership

Advisory  COURTS, CORRECTIONS & JUSTICE COMMITTEE (Interim)

Member  ELECTION REFORM TASK FORCE (Interim)

Advisory  INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
(Interim)

Member  INTERIM LEGISLATIVE ETHICS COMMITTEE (Interim)

Member  LAND GRANT COMMITTEE (Interim)

Advisory  LEGISLATIVE HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
(Interim)

Member  PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Member  RULES

Member  WELFARE REFORM OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE (Interim)
*************************************************************

http://www.alibi.com/staffblock/display.php?desired_page=staffblock

Weekly Alibi
2118 Central Avenue SE, Suite 151  Albuquerque, NM 87106-4004
BUSINESS HOURS: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon-Fri
PHONE: (505) 346-0660  FAX: (505) 256-9651   letters@alibi.com

EDITOR/ARTS & LIT. EDITOR
Steven Robert Allen (ext. 251)  steve@alibi.com

FILM EDITOR
Devin D. O'Leary (ext. 230)  devin@alibi.com

MUSIC/FOOD EDITOR
Laura Marrich (ext. 260)  lauram@alibi.com

STAFF WRITER/NEWS CONTACT
Christie Chisholm (ext. 247)  christie@alibi.com

MEMBER
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies,
National Newspaper Association,
Nob Hill Merchants Association,
New Mexico Press Association and
Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce
*************************************************************

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1230
recent research re aspartame (methanol, formaldehyde)
toxicity: Murray 2005.10.14

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, 1,234 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.
*************************************************************