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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1238
Let's put aspartame toxicity facts on the table in public debate in The New
Mexican: Paul R. Block, CEO, Merisant Co.: Uleha: Murray 2005.10.26

October 26, 2005  Dear Editor, The Santa Fe New Mexican:

The response yesterday re aspartame toxicity by Paul R. Block, CEO,
Merisant Co., Chicago is from the dusty can of standard PR spin
disinformation, technically true, but entirely bypassing the urgent feedback
from
informed experts and concerned citizens, as well as numerous recent highly
disturbing findings by many diverse mainstream researchers, almost needless
to
say, not funded by the industry -- the issue is the 11% methanol part of
aspartame converts in humans right into formaldehyde and formic acid:

M. Bouchard et al, 2001: "Exposure to methanol also results from the
consumption of certain foodstuffs (fruits, fruit juices, certain vegetables,
aspartame sweetener, roasted coffee, honey) and alcoholic beverages (Health
Effects Institute, 1987; Jacobsen et al., 1988)."

"Systemic methanol is extensively metabolized by liver alcohol dehydrogenase
and catalase-peroxidase enzymes to formaldehyde, which is in turn rapidly
oxidized to formic acid by formaldehyde dehydrogenase enzymes (Goodman
and Tephly, 1968; Heck et al., 1983; Røe, 1982; Tephly and McMartin, 1984)."

"These findings are corroborated by the data of Heck et al. (1983) showing
that 40% of a 14C-formaldehyde inhalation dose remained in the body 70 h
postexposure."

The USA National Institutes of Health National Toxicology Program aided the
eminent Ramazzini Foundation, Bologna, Italy, in their 2005 two-year study,
proving four kinds of cancer in rats from lifetime low levels of aspartame,
agreeing with their 2002 results for methanol and formaldehyde.

I suggest The New Mexican  publish a few pages of back and forth debate by
informed experts on both sides of this critical safety issue.

Let's put aspartame toxicity facts on the table, folks.

In mutual service,  Rich Murray     Santa Fe  rmforall@comcast.net
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-------------- Forwarded Message: --------------
From: "Pat West-Barker" <pwest@sfnewmexican.com>
To: <karen.ulehla@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Response to Chicago, Illinois letter in today's SF New Mexican
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 23:28:12 +0000

Ms. Ulehla:

Thank you for your letter to the editor. Unfortunately, The New Mexican can
only print letters to the editor from people living in the Santa Fe area and
points north. (We made an exception for the Merisant Company because
stories and letters to the editor in our pages referred to their product.)

However, we welcome all letters on our Web site. Just paste your text into
the "Comment" Form" at this address:
www.freenewmexican.com/lettersoutside .

You will need to fill out our online registration form. Our Web editors
review all submissions to make sure they meet our general standards (no
obscenity or libel, details available online), and your name will appear
above the letter when it is approved. Approval time varies from a few
minutes
to a few hours, depending on the time of day and day of week. If you do not
want your address or phone number published on the Web, do not include them
in your letter.

On 10/24/05 10:28 PM, karen.ulehla@comcast.net  wrote:

Considering the vested interest of Merisant Company [Chicago, Illinois], the
comments of the CEO published in today,s Santa Fe New Mexican are
predictable. With nearly 20 brands and 25 offices worldwide, Merisant
Worldwide aspartame-based products are sold in more than 100 countries.

The New Mexico EIB has wisely decided to hold hearings on aspartame. The
existence of the EIB's authority was clearly supported by legal experts. As
a
medical librarian trained in toxicological research at the National Library
of Medicine, it is my opinion that the determination of the toxicity of
aspartame has been established by recent research that meets national and
international standards.

"Based upon the standards set forth by the
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health
Organization and the USEPA, that recognize the results of long-term
bioassays conducted on rodents (rats and mice) as being highly predictive of
carcinogenic risk for humans", and the current research that demonstrates
aspartame's toxicity and carcinogenic risk to humans, it appears that the
legal authority of the EIB may require a rule change.

The recent European Journal of Oncology article, "Aspartame induces
lymphomas and leukemias in rats" conclusively demonstrates that aspartame
is a carcinogenic agent and the study further validates the toxicity of
aspartame
established by Trocho, C et al., in 1998 Life Sciences, "Formaldehyde
Derived From Dietary Aspartame Binds to Tissue Components in vivo", by
proving that aspartame's extremely high levels of formaldehyde adducts
(carcinogenic substances responsible for chronic deleterious effects)
accumulate within the cell, reacting with cellular proteins (mostly enzymes)
and
DNA (both mitochondrial and nuclear).   The 2005 peer-reviewed European
study will also be published in an upcoming issue of the Annals of the New
York Academy of Sciences.

Embryos, fetuses, infants and children are the most vulnerable to chemical
toxins in our environment.  In view of this current research, nursing and
pregnant mothers who use aspartame-laden diet drinks and products as low
calorie food choices on a daily basis may want to reconsider their intake of
aspartame.

With rising rates of childhood leukemia, brain cancer and non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma, known carcinogenic agents should be removed from the diets of
children if possible.

Who is going to protect the most vulnerable among us, the FDA or the
aspartame industry? The New Mexico EIB hearing in July 2006 will provide
ample time for both sides to present the facts.

Sincerely,   Karen Ulehla, MSLS
(520) 232-1059        5442 N. Crescent Ridge Dr.  Tucson, AZ 85718

Patricia West-Barker
The Santa Fe New Mexican  202 East Marcy Street
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501   (505) 995-3804
------- End of Forwarded Message -------
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Aspartame safe,  letter in Santa Fe New Mexican, October 24, 2005

As the recent article in your paper makes clear,("Board pushes forward with
sweetener," Oct. 5) there are some obivous legal questions surrounding
petitioner Stephen Fox's bid to ban aspartame, chief among those there are
whether the state's Environmental Improvement Board even has the authority
to consider this proposal, given that aspartame has had the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration's stamp of approval for 24 years.

These are important constitutional issues of jurisdiction that lawyers will
sort out.

More importantly, there is simply no question that apsartame is safe.
Indeed, aspartame's safety has been borne out in more than 200 toxicological
and clinical studies of the product over the past 30 years.

When it approved aspartame in 1981, the FDA said, "Few compounds have
withstood such detailed testing and repeated close scrutiny, and the process
through which aspartame has gone should provide the public with addition
confidence of its safety."

What's more, the FDA has reaffirmed the safety of aspartme 26 times since
the initial product approval was granted.

Paul R. Block  Chief Executive Officer  Merisant Company   Chicago, Illinois
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Wednesday, October 26 2005

Any unsuspected source of methanol, which the body always quickly and
largely turns into formaldehyde and then formic acid, must be monitored,
especially for high responsibility occupations, often with night shifts,
such as pilots and nuclear reactor operators.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1237
ubiquitous potent uncontrolled co-factors in nutrition research are
formaldehyde from wood and tobacco smoke and many sources, including
from methanol in dark wines and liquors, in pectins in fruits and
vegetables,
and in aspartame: Murray 2005.10.26

As a medical layman, I suggest that evidence mandates immediate exploration
of the role of these ubiquitious, potent formaldehyde sources as co-factors
in
epidemiology, research, diagnosis, and treatment in a wide variety of
disorders.

Folic acid, from fruits and vegetables, plays a role by powerfully
protecting against methanol (formaldehyde) toxicity.

Many common drugs, such as aspirin, interfere with folic acid,
as do some mutations in relevant enzymes.

The majority of aspartame reactors are female.

In mutual service,  Rich Murray
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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 146 members, 1,238 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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