Aspartame Awareness Weekend, Sept 7th & 8th -
Devastations of Aspartame Disease


As the weekend approaches many have written for information to forward. We do have warning flyers on http://www.dorway.com and positions papers by physicians, etc. Today we have a new medical text on the global plague, so here are some of the devastations taken from that text as well as other information: Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic,
http://www.sunsentpress.com or 1 800 814 - 9800 H. J.
Roberts, M.D. Other physicians will also be quoted.

Devastations of Aspartame Disease:

  1. Drug Interaction. Aspartame is a neurotoxic drug masquerading as an additive and interacts with many of the drugs used to treat the problems it causes. Some of those drugs are: Coumadin, Dilantin, antidepressants and other psychotropic agents, Inderal, Aldomet (methyldopa), Synthroid, insulin, cardiac medication, hormone replacement therapy such as Premarin,thyroid replacement, and even analgesics.

  2. Hazard to Aviation. Pilots and air traffic controllers have experienced confusion, behavioral changes and even convulsions while consuming aspartame. Dr. Roberts says that many have volunteered their relevance to the increasing number of collisions and near-collisions in the sky and at major airports. Many have been grounded because of sustaining aspartame triggered grand mal seizures in the cockpits of commercial airliners.
    Several American Airline pilots who were heavy users of aspartame have died, one in flight. One had a stroke.

    Mission Possible has an Aviation Division supplying pilots with needed warning information. Russell Blaylock, M.D., author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, http://www.amazon.com says in his position paper on pilots: "I have reviewed some of the reports from airline and private pilots concerning adverse effects of aspartame on various physiological systems. It is interesting to not that several of these complaints are related to the nervous system which puts this in a category of great concern to the pilot as well as the general public. Some of the more common complaints include disorientation, difficulty thinking and concentrating, visual blurring or even monocular blindness, seizures and heart failure. It is well known that the ingredients in aspartame as well as its breakdown products, have deleterious effects on the nervous system and retina. For example, phenylalanine is a precursor of the catecholamine neurotransmitters in the brain and elevated levels in the brain have been associated with seizures.
    It should also be pointed out that these catecholamines are metabolized to form other excitotoxins and peroxide products that can lead to elevated free radical formation and lipid peroxidation within the neurons. Likewise, aspartic acid (an excitotoxin) acts as an excitatory neurotransmitter and can lower the seizure threshold making a seizure more likely. The additive effect of aspartic acid and phenylalanine would significantly increase the likelihood of a seizure, especially under hypoglycemic conditions.

  3. Sudden Death: Dr. Roberts says the underlying mechanisms may include changes in heart rhythm, allergic (anaphylactic-like) shock, and severe swelling of the mouth and upper respiratory passage. He says that aspartame disease should be considered when an adult in apparent good health who had consumed considerable aspartame products is found dead without demonstrable cause. He gives the example of a 50 year old woman who unexpectedly died at home. The only pertinent history obtained from her daughter was having "a diet cola in her hand every waking minute of the day and night."

    Several physicians have written about aspartame and sudden death. Dr. Blaylock says one of the primary sites of action of excitatory substances is the hypothalamus and that sudden cardiac death can be induced by stimulating the hypothalamus. "It is entirely possible that excitotoxic stimulation of these hypothalamic centers could also lead to cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death. Hypothalamic stimulation has also been shown to produce an ECG pattern exactly like that of a myocardial infarction."

    Dr. James Bowen explains that the heart muscle is very sensitive to alcohol poisonings. Such alcoholic cardiomyopathies frequently terminate in sudden death. He says: "The aspartame molecule is an alcohol poison about 20,000 times as toxic a poison as ethanol (regular old sipping, or beverage alcohol) on a per weight basis! Moreover, the myocardium never gets to rest except between heart beats, so things like the methanol from aspartame which become more or progressively toxic upon metabolism in muscles are especially damaging to it. The myocardium is especially rich in mitochondriae to subserve this metabolic need. The mitochondriae and their DNA (MtDNA), are especially subject to these damages, and MtDNA lacks the repair mechanisms of nuclear DNA, so damage to it is highly cumulative and is even passed on to the fetus by the mother! The Cardiac Conduction System is a specialized kind of tissue that is a hybrid of neuronal and muscle tissues, which is even richer in mitochondriae, and it never gets to rest. It is the clock that generates and effectively coordinates heartbeats and heart rhythms and contractions. Many various malfunctions of it precipitate sudden death.
    Its extreme mitochondrial concentration, and its dependence upon mitochondrial metabolism for its unresting labors make it a site intensely generative of the poisonous aspartame cogeners and extremely subject to their resultant chemical, immune, mitochondrial and chemical hypersensitization damages."
    And, of course, aspartame interacts with cardiac medication.

  4. Suspected multiple sclerosis. Aspartame destroys the central nervous system. Searle did studies in South America which showed this and did not publish the studies. The affidavit of the translator, N. Vera, is on http://www.dorway.com Mission Possible is swamped with victims who have MS symptoms or have been misdiagnosed with MS. Dr. Roberts says: "The selective localization of lesions in multiple sclerosis requires comment. I have attributed them in large measure to energy (glucose) deprivation and fluid retention within the central nervous system. Aspartame disease involves both, as well as direct neurotoxicity. Indeed, aspartame induced dysfunction of nerve cells and their axons may have greater importance than myelin changes.

    "Significant biochemical differences are known to exist in various central
    tracts, even though they may appear identical histologically. The concentration of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity, for example, is three to four times greater in the heavily myelinated central tracts than the lightly myelinated ones, whereas the reverse applies for glutamic aspartic transminase (McDougal 1961, 1964).

    "This orientation is germane because fluid retention is enhanced by the hyperinsulinized state and impaired water metabolism. The ingress of water into myelin can disrupt its intermolecular cohesion and function integrity.
    (Vanderheuvel 1964).

    "An autoimmune response may be triggered by aspartame. The possible mechanisms include formaldehyde-induced protein changes and increased leukotrienes, 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, and other arachidonic acid metabolites after the exposure of macrophages to aspartame (Hardcastle 1997)."

  5. Eye Deterioration and Blindness. Aspartame and its components/metabolites can damage the optic nerves, retina and other areas of the eyes. Dr. Roberts says that many of the severe visual changes are consistent with methanol toxicity. "Studies of methanol effects in monkeys emphasized edema of the optic disc (Hayreh 1977), and degeneration of the retinal ganglion cells (Baumbach 1977). there is considerable evidence that methanol is converted from formaldehyde to formate in the eye, even from chronic low level exposure (Eclos 1996).

    "In addition to blindness from optic atrophy, patients with methanol intoxication have developed cerebral edema, parkinsonism, dementia, and other neurologic abnormalities. (McLean 1980).

    "The late Dr. Morgan B. Raiford, a prominent Atlanta ophthalmologist, became interested in impaired vision due to methyl alcohol toxicity. He described his findings in a young aspartame reactor who had suffered marked visual damage attributed to aspartame products.

    "There are profound ocular effects of formaldehyde and formate derived from the free methanol in aspartame.. Alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase are the enzymes involved in methanol metabolism. The retina, cornea and liver have high alcohol dehydrogenase activity. The highly reactive formaldehyde molecule, which becomes bound to proteins and nucleic acids, forms adducts that are difficult to eliminate through the usual metabolic pathways. Formate, an inhibitor of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), probably induces retinal damage through energy depletion."

    Aspartame eye deterioration and blindness are included in the class action.

  6. Lupus. Aspartame can trigger lupus and it can also mimic lupus. Dr. Roberts explains that another amino acid N-canavanine has been identified with both the development of a lupus-like disease in monkeys and the aggravation of pre-existing systemic lupus erythematosus in humans.

    He says: "The lupoid and other inflammatory dermatoses induced byaspartame products may result from the generation of leukotrienes. These biologically active compounds are derived from arachidonic acid, and released from a variety of humans cells (macrophages; monocytes; polymorphonuclear leukocytes; mast cells). There is a three fold rise of leukotrienes B4 and C4 and of 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, along with other arachidonic acid metabolites, when macrophages are exposed to aspartame (Hardcastle 1997.

    "An additional hypothesis for the initiation of an autoimmune response by aspartame metabolites involves the "ambling" of proteins by formaldehyde thereby making them strange and antigenic to the person's immune system."

    Dr. James Bowen explains it this way: "The ability of methyl alcohol/formaldehyde to create antigenicity, especially as combined in aspartame molecules is so great as to cause severe autoimmune reactions to the tissues deformed by formaldehyde polemerization, adduct formation. the immune system turns against the victim's tissues: Lupus."

    Usually if an aspartame victim has been on the toxin for quite awhile or using a good bit of it he will say: "My physician says I should be checked for MS and lupus." Both are now epidemic because of this deadly neurotoxin.

  7. Epidemic of Diabetes. Dr. Roberts who is a diabetic specialist says that aspartame may adversely influence control of diabetes, precipitate clinical diabetes and aggravate or simulate complications referable to the eyes, kidneys and peripheral nerves. It also interacts with insulin! He even says: "Several diabetic patients unequivocally attributed more frequent and severe insulin reactions to the use of aspartame. A contributory factor in some may have been marked confusion and memory loss, causing them to repeat doses of insulin or to forget their interval feedings." Under lega l ramifications he says that aspartame related hypoglycemia may have caused or contributed to the "dead-in-bed syndrome" in diabetics with hypoglycemia unawareness.

    Dr. Roberts writes on the mechanisms of aspartame's diabetogenic potential and discusses the adverse metabolic, hormonal, toxic and other undesirable effects of aspartame and its components in his book. He says: "Many could contribute to the aggravation of diabetes and its complications. They encompass the wasting of insulin, impaired insulin-stimulated glucose transport, increased growth hormone and glucagon release after phenylalanine administration, other effects of its amino acids and additional pharmacologic activities. Another mechanism whereby aspartame-induced stimulation of insulin could aggravate diabetes involves the generation of insulin receptor antibodies capable of blocking the access of insulin to liver receptors (Dozio 2001).

  8. Seizures. Aspartame is a seizure triggering drug. SC-18862, a 52 week oral toxicity infant monkey study, was pivotal in the approval of aspartame.
    Seven infant monkeys were fed aspartame, five had grand mal seizures and one died. It was stated that the convulsions in the monkeys were attributed to high serum phenylalanine levels. This study thusly shows that aspartame does get in the blood even though the NutraSweet Company denies it, in an attempt to defend their chemical poison.

    After researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology surveyed 80 people who suffered brain seizures after eating or drinking products with aspartame, the Community Nutrition Institute said: "These 80 cases meets the FDA's own definition of an imminent hazard to the public health, which requires the FDA to expeditiously remove a product from the market." In l986 the Community Nutrition Institute petitioned the FDA to ban aspartame because of these seizures and the fact that consumers were going blind. The FDA refused.

    Dr. Richard Wurtman of MIT wanted to do seizure studies on aspartame but a Searle VP threatened him that if he did his research funds would be rejected. This is documented in the 8 month investigation by United Press International on http://www.dorway.com Dr. Wurtman no longer gives interviews on aspartame but his many papers on the phenylalanine in aspartame which lowers the seizure threshold are documented in the book Dietary Phenylalanine and Brain Function edited by Richard J. Wurtman and Eva Ritter-Walker.

    From Cynthia Crossen's book, THE TAINTED TRUTH; THE MANIPULATION OF FACT IN AMERICA: "The road to hell was paved with the flood of corporate research dollars which in 1991 had burgeoned to over $2.1 billion. Researchers a are working for people who don't like negative findings and who aren't likely to fund further research by those who produce them. ... In today's corporate- dominated information market truth has become to belong to those who commission it."

    Monsanto funded the Rowen study in 1995 to try and show aspartame doesn't cause seizures. Sixteen of the 18 subjects were taking anti-seizure medication during the study. And the only gave one single dose of aspartame in capsule form. Sort of tantamount to smelling the bottle. Also capsule administration of aspartame slows the absorption of methanol and may reduce its toxicity somewhat similar to the way ingestion of food with methanol may slightly reduce its toxicity (Posner 1975). Capsule administration of aspartame also eliminates the quick absorption of the excitotoxin, aspartic acid (Stegink l987). When aspartic acid is absorbed quickly it can be excitotoxic (Blaylock 1994, Olney l980) especially in conjunction with formaldehyde derived from methanol.

    Dr. Roberts says that aspartame and its metabolites may cause or aggravate convulsions through various mechanisms. The importance of altered neurotransmitter concentrations within the brain (especially serotonin and norepinephrine), the effects of methyl alcohol and exaggerated hypoglycemia (low blood sugar attacks) are discussed in his book. He says, for example, that aspartame and its breakdown products can suppress the synthesis of several neurotransmitters that tend to prevent seizures.

    "Other mechanisms could contribute to aspartame-induced seizures. They include formaldehyde toxicity (from methanol), altered monoamine receptors in the cerebral cortex, and loss of the protective effect of L-DOPA.

    "Alterations in brain water, sodium and potassium also may play a role. They were noted in both humans and animals after methanol intake, along with vascular stasis. These assume considerable pertinence in view of the multiple cellular interactions involving calcium, sodium, potassium and chloride that are known to trigger focal epilepsy (Dichter l987).

    "Additionally, altered extracellular fluid concentrations of various amino acids, notably glutamate and aspartate, play an important role in the pathogensis of hypoxemic and epileptic brain injury."

    Dr. Roberts also mentions that Florence Griffith-Joyner, the Olympic gold medalist, suffered an unexpected and fatal epileptic seizure at the age of 38. Witnesses had previously seen her drinking a diet cola while jogging with President Clinton.

    There are four types of seizures listed on the FDA report of 92 documented symptoms triggered by aspartame. This issue is well documented that seizures are included in the class action.

  9. Male Sexual Dysfunction. Aspartame damages the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus produces gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GRG). The GRH goes down the stalk between the hypothalamus and pituitary and causes the pituitary then to produce gonadotropins. The ganglia goes to the testicles and causes them to produce testosterone. When you're causing hypothalmic destruction with neuroexcitotoxins like NutraSweet you're suppressing the formation of male hormone without which there is no sexual drive or pleasure for either. In original studies aspartame triggered atrophied testes and testicular tumors. It is by this route. The rest of this report by Dr. James Bowen is on web.

  10. Epidemic of Obesity. From the Congressional Record, Senate S5511,
    Protest of National Soft Drink Association, May 7th, l985: "Aspartame has been demonstrated to inhibit the carbohydrate induced synthesis of the neurotransmitter serotonin (Wurtman affidavit). Serotonin blunts the sensation of craving carbohydrates and thus is part of the body's feedback system that helps limit consumption of carbohydrates to appropriate levels.
    Its inhibition by aspartame could lead to the anomalous result of a diet product causing increased consumption of carbohydrates."

    Translation: If you want to get fat NutraSweet is where it's at! Dr. Sandra Cabot, Mission Possible Australia says: .."There are logical reasons to explain the fattening and bloating effects of aspartame. When you ingest the toxic chemical aspartame it is absorbed from the intestines and passes immediately to the liver where it is taken inside the liver via the liver filter. The liver then breaks down or metabolizes aspartame to its toxic components - phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol. This process requires a lot of energy from the liver which means there will be less energy remaining in the liver cells. This means the liver cells will have less energy for fat burning and metabolism, which will result in fat storing. Excess fat may build up inside the liver cells causing "fatty liver" and when this starts to occur it is extremely difficult to lose weight. In my vast experience any time that you overload the liver you will increase the tendency to gain weight easily. "

    Dr. Cabot also says that aspartame causes weight gain by other echanisms - "Causes unstable blood sugar levels, which increases the appetite and causes cravings for sweets/sugar. This it is particularly toxic for those with diabetes or epilepsy. Causes fluid retention giving the body a puffy and bloated appearance. This makes people look fatter than they are and increases cellulite." Her excellent book on cleansing the liver is on web.

    Also, as to the liver, aspartame triggers steato hepatitis. See report by Dr. James Bowen on web.

  11. Birth Defects, miscarriages and mental retardation. Dr. Bowen states that at every point in the fertility process aspartame destroys, beginning with the gleam in mom and pop's eyes; it ruins female sexual response and induces male sexual dysfunction. Beyond this, aspartame disrupts fetal development by aborting it or inducing defects. And if a live child is born aspartame may have heinously damaged the DNA of the baby, cursing future generations.

    Be sure to read this entire report: Aspartame Murders Infants. Also Dr.Roberts position paper on aspartame and pregnancy and small children, and Dr. Louis Elsas (pediatric professor, Emory University, genetics) testimony before congress on web.

    Aspartame has caused an epidemic of autism and ADD. One has to but read the famed Dr. John Olney's testimony to the Board of Inquiry of the FDA telling them what will happen to the brains of our children if they approve aspartame, to understand the prophecy has been fulfilled. You will find this report on http://www.greatfallspro.com but it requires equipment to download it, mentioned on this web site. Dr. Olney founded the field of neuroscience called excitotoxicity. Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D. wrote the book on it, Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills. It was Dr. Olney who did the studies in l970 on aspartic acid which is 40% of aspartame and found that it causes lesions in the brains of mice. It is an excitotoxin, a product that literally stimulates the neurons of the brain to death causing brain damage of varying degress, as written across the back of Dr. Blaylock's book.

  12. Brain Tumors. Aspartame breaks down to diketopiperazine, a brain tumor agent, and it triggered astrocytomas, pituitary adenomas, etc. in original studies. It was on this basis that the Board of Inquiry of the FDA said not to approve aspartame, and the fact that it had never been proven safe. The FDA had not only not wanted to approve this neurotoxin but wanted the original manufacturer, Searle, indicted for fraud. However, two U.S. Prosecutors, Sam Skinner and William Conlon, hired on with the defense team and the statute of limitations expired. Searle hired Don Rumsfeld, now Secretary of Defense, who said he would call in his markers and get aspartame approved, as discussed in the UPI investigation. The day after President Reagan took office he appointed Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes to get aspartame approved. Dr. Hayes over-ruled the Board of Inquiry and then went to work for the PR agency of the manufacturer and has refused to talk to the press ever since. Dr. John Olney made world news in l996 over the aspartame/brain tumor association. Brain tumor cases are included in the class action.

  13. Gulf War Syndrome. After the National Soft Drink Association wrote a 30 page protest which was included as 6 pages in the congressional record, admitting that aspartame decomposes at 86 degrees, the pop companies with full knowledge sent diet pop to the Persian Gulf. The NSDA had even quoted the law that made it a crime to use any product in carbonated beverages that decomposed or adulterated the drink. The troops were also given Anthrax vaccine and aspartame is a chemical hypersensitization agent and interacts with vaccines. Symptoms of Desert Storm Syndrome are identical to Aspartame Disease. Aspartame Disease mimics MS and causes Lou Gehrigs symptoms. Dr. James Bowen himself is a victim and has Lou Gehrigs having consumed a lot of Diet KoolAide when he practiced in the desert. A study has now been done on Gulf War illness with the result of Lou Gehrigs. Forty thousand innocent men and women have perished. And yet the pop companies sent this chemical poison to the Gulf with full knowledge!

  14. Chemical Hypersensitization. Aspartame is a literal chemical poison and as such triggers polychemical sensitivity syndrome which is really the same as multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome. Dr. James Bowen has several reports about this on web. Consider the seriousness of this as it relates to interaction with vaccines. Consider, for instance, that vaccines can trigger autism and aspartame can trigger autism, and aspartame interacts with vaccines. What chance do babies and children have today. Today there is a bill in Congress which if passed will grant full immunity to the vaccine companies so that if a vaccine kills their child the company can't be sued.

    But the "mandating" of vaccines is an abomination. Dr. James Bowen wrote: "There are many overriding reasons not to violate our inherent rights and not allow assaults upon our bodies without our permission. Such violation of our bodies by a mass immunization program is a form of rape. Should some bureaucracy choose to believe that a mass immunization is in order, they have no right to do so, except by our individual consent. This is the only safe approach to immunization because in most cases, the individual remains the most competent gatekeeper and decision maker concerning which preventative and therapeutic modalities should enter his body."

    Aspartame also has a synergistic effect with MSG, fluoride and RBGH. Four support groups for aspartame victims exist on line and they are also reacting to GM products.

  15. Behavioral and Psychiatric Problems: Dr. Ralph Walton, Psychiatrist, Chairman of the Center for Behavioral Medicine said: "We have known for years that when aspartame is ingested with a carbohydrate rich meal the usual physiologic increase in tryptophan is blocked, while brain phenylalanine and tyrosine concentrations are increased. These changes in amino acid neurotransmitter precursors could, I believe, alter indolamine/ catecholamine balance, and thus have a profound effect on mood and cognition - depressed mood, anxiety, dizziness, panic attacks, nausea, irritability, impairment of memory and concentration."

    Time Magazine recently wrote that bipolar (manic depression) use to be in adults but now is on the rise in children. Forty per cent of our children are now consuming aspartame which triggers manic depression, suicide tendencies and the rest of the problems mentioned above by Dr. Walton.
    Parents Magazine in Sept 1999 wrote an article titled: "What's Happening To Our Children?" and said most all families are affected. They also said that by the time a child reaches the 4th level of high school, one out of four has contemplated suicide.

    The FDA has full knowledge of all these problems listed above and in the medical text by Dr. H. J. Roberts. And with this full knowledge has now approved Neotame, a more potent aspartame. The public must be alerted to prevent this from ever hitting the food market. The FDA has steadfastly even refused to put a warning on aspartame for pregnant women! This is emphatically obscene.

    If you think these are all the devastations of aspartame disease, I would suggest you get the medical text, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, http://www.sunsentpress.com
    This report would be too lengthy to list all the devastations listed in this text and include other things such as headache, atypical peripheral neuropathy, intellectual deterioration, atypical and unexplained pain, joint pain (hardens the synovial fluids), myasthenia gravis, pseudotumor cerebri, unexplained blackouts, personality changes, addiction (methanol classified as a narcotic), urticaria or hives, eat problems, hypo and hyperthyroidism (read the book Sweet Poison by Janet Starr Hull), gastrointestinal reaction, infertility, all types of tumors, liver dysfunction, increased susceptibility to infection, blood and lymph node disorders, altered folic acid metabolism, confusion and memory loss, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases, sleep apnea, etc.

    For those on aspartame support groups who are too ill to give out flyers or have walks, etc. over Aspartame Awareness Weekend, please forward this paper to your physician, family, friends, email lists, medical personnel and other physicians. Remember for each physician who understands aspartame he can save the lives of thousands of patients. Let neurologists, oncologists and opthalmologists know about the class action so they can not only forward the cases but get their patients off aspartame. Send this and your case history to the media because for every article written thousands of people find out.

    Mission Possible is a hands around the world campaign and volunteer force warning the world off aspartame on a humanitarian basis. Remember that aspartame damages DNA and can destroy the human race.

    The reports mentioned above are on the web site http://www.dorway.com which links to many other sites including the Aspartame Toxicity Center, http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame , and aspartame support groups such as http://www.presidiotex.com/aspartame and asparspan in Spanish. There is a full book list and many government documents on web. Every aspartame victim should complete the Medwatch form to the FDA and send me a copy. Aspartame Detoxification Centers are also listed on http://www.dorway.com/nomarkle.html and warning flyers, http://www.dorway.com/handouts.html


Betty Martini, Founder, Mission Possible International, 9270 River Club Parkway, Duluth, Georgia 30097 770 242-2599