- The artificial sweetener, Aspartame, is a carcinogenic
neurotoxin since one of its metabolites is formaldehyde. The recent Ramazzini
Foundation of Oncology's study proves it to cause 6 kinds of cancer, and
was posted on the National Institute of Health website in November 2005.
Physicians and plaintiff's lawyers have been excoriating aspartame's carcinogenicity
since the 70's. The FDA refuses to correct its approval, so aspartame is
found in coffee sweeteners, "diet" beverages, "low-fat"
yogurt, "sugarless" gum--- a total of 6000 other products consumed
by 70% of Americans and 40% of our children.
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- On January 3, the New Mexico Environmental Improvement
Board postponed the 5 day hearing July 06 till January 07, because they
were still waiting for the Attorney General's Opinion they had requested
November 7, as is also the NM Pharmacy Board, which requested it November
14. [Aspartame is in over 500 children's medications; I have asked the
Pharmacy Board for a ban in order to protect New Mexico's children] EIB's
Asst. AG told the EIB his opinion in a secret "Executive Session,"
and no one else knows what his opinion was or whether it was in lieu of
the Attorney General's written Opinion.
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- The Pharmacy Board's Asst. AG Counsel told them on Nov.
14 that despite industry's cry of preemption, she thought they did have
the power, but deferred to Attorney General Madrid to reply in a formal
Opinion.
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- Other Attorneys General, particularly Bill Lockyer of
California, Eliot Spitzer of New York, and Mike Hatch of Minnesota, comprehend
the level of consumer protection necessary to protect health. Lockyer is
suing 9 mega fast food corporations to require labeling every bag of French
fries stating: "This product contains a chemical which is known to
the state of California to cause cancer." Heating potato starch to
400 degrees turns it to carcinogenic acrylamide.
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- I told New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on June
1 about our aspartame/FDA efforts; he immediately replied: "the FDA
is a joke!"
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- In March 2005, Minnesota AG Mike Hatch entered an amicus
curie brief in the case against Pfizer by a widow of a man who committed
suicide because the Zoloft was making him suicidal, in support of the widow.
The brief stated in that no company can hide behind the FDA approval of
their product when the product does harm under Minnesota's tort and product
liability laws. Judge Rosenbaum later agreed, rejecting Pfizer's request
for a Summary Dismissal.
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- Richardson stated in December that he is in favor of
states taking back some of the power given to the FDA, because "the
FDA doesn't do anything," and applied the same strong consumer protection
principles by putting a bill to ban Thimerosal/Mercury from vaccines on
the Agenda for this coming session. Seven other states have done this already.
No New Mexican of any age should be injected with these large amounts of
mercury: it is one of the most deadly neurotoxins of all and many flu shots
have it.
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- I ask the Governor to also place a bill on his 2006 Agenda
banning aspartame from sale in New Mexico. This is long over due; it would
be a precedent for New Mexico to pass such a bill in 2006 and not have
to wait for the 2007 long session. When it comes to toxicology and the
need to remove this deadly neurotoxin from foods and medicines, six months
or nine months or 18 months is an eternity.
-
- After EIB temporarily caved in to the demands of the
world's largest Aspartame and MSG manufacturer, the Ajinomoto Corporation
of Japan, I called US Senator Bingaman, asking him to read out sections
of the Italian study on the floor of the Senate, asking the FDA Commissioner
to immediately rescind the approval for aspartame. This happened in 1969
when President Nixon asked the FDA commissioner to rescind cyclamates approval,
after it became clear that it was causing cancer. Aspartame and cyclamates
both violate the 1958 Delaney Amendment, which prohibits any chemical causing
cancer to be knowingly added to food products. The Italian study proves
the cancer causality.
-
- If and when Governor Richardson puts this bill on the
agenda, the FDA will immediately move toward rescinding aspartame's approval.
Industries should switch to Stevia or Xylitol, both non-toxic natural sweeteners,
and they wouldn't have to lose a dime of their sacred profits!
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- President Bush won't do anything about aspartame; the
FDA ignores letters and citizen's petitions; the state EIB has basically
failed in a regulatory sense by postponing hearings till 2007, so the Legislature
and the Governor's agenda are truly the last hope for protecting New Mexican's
health, and such a bill could go into effect in July 2007.
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- We have a NM Senate sponsor: the Honorable Gerald Ortiz
y Pino.
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- Please write to Governor Richardson and encourage him
to put a bill to ban aspartame on his Agenda for 2006.
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- Stephen Fox
- 217 W. Water
- Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
- 505 983-2002
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