Aspartame was banned by the FDA twice

[poker]

Did you know that Aspartame was banned by the FDA twice?
How is this product legal now?

Donald Rumsfeld the company CEO pulled some political strings:

http://worldtruth.tv/the-shocking-story-of-how-aspartame-became-legal/

It all starts in the mid 1960′s with a company called G.D. Searle. One of their chemists accidentally creates aspartame while trying to create a cure for stomach ulcers. Searle decides to put aspartame through a testing process which eventually leads to its approval by the FDA. Not long after, serious health affects begin to arise and G.D. Searle comes under fire for their testing practices. It is revealed that the testing process of Aspartame was among the worst the investigators had ever seen and that in fact the product was unsafe for use. Aspartame triggers the first criminal investigation of a manufacturer put into place by the FDA in 1977. By 1980 the FDA bans aspartame from use after having 3 independent scientists study the sweetener. It was determined that one main health effects was that it had a high chance of inducing brain tumors. At this point it was clear that aspartame was not fit to be used in foods and banned is where it stayed, but not for long.


Early in 1981 Searle Chairman Donald Rumsfeld (who is a former Secretary of Defense.. surprise surprise) vowed to “call in his markers,” to get it approved. January 21, 1981, the day after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration, Searle took the steps to re-apply aspartame’s approval for use by the FDA. Ronald Reagans’ new FDA commissioner Arthur Hayes Hull, Jr., appointed a 5-person Scientific Commission to review the board of inquiry’s decision. It did not take long for the panel to decide 3-2 in favor of maintaining the ban of aspartame. Hull then decided to appoint a 6th member to the board, which created a tie in the voting, 3-3. Hull then decided to personally break the tie and approve aspartame for use. Hull later left the FDA under allegations of impropriety, served briefly as Provost at New York Medical College, and then took a position with Burston-Marsteller. Burstone-Marstella is the chief public relations firm for both Monsanto and GD Searle. Since that time he has never spoken publicly about aspartame.

 

[poker]

Saw this on Facebook.... thought I'd pass it along.

Cheers!

 

[Phil C. McNasty]

InBe4Snopes

 

[yolosohobby]

i've been looking into stevia. Some products that use it aren't that bad.

 

[poker]

All false, but enjoy your conspiracy theories.

I have no idea.... it was on facebook.

However.... just to be clear, you're saying Rumsfeld was not CEO os Searl in 1981. Or the product was not previously banned? Twice? I know Reagan was President. (he beat Jimmy Carter!) This article names the director of the FDA. Are you saying he didn't vote to approve it?

 

[poker]

Never banned by FDA. Details all wrong. Headline of your thread is total nonsense. Enjoy.

Hmmmmm. Wiki pedia.... they don't use the word banned. They say "revoked approval".... my mistake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy

USFDA approval

Aspartame was originally approved for use in dry foods in 1974 by then FDA Commissioner Alexander Schmidt after review by the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Searle had submitted 168 studies[2]:20 on aspartame, including seven animal studies that were considered crucial by the FDA.[2]:21 Soon afterwards, John Olney, a professor of psychiatry and prominent critic of MSG, along with James Turner, a public-interest lawyer and author of an anti-food-additive book, filed a petition for a public hearing, citing safety concerns.[2]:38[15]:63–4 Other criticisms (presented in the 1996 60 Minutes special) of the Searle studies included assertions of unreported medical treatments that may have affected the study outcomes and discrepancies in the reported data.[1] Schmidt agreed, pending an investigation into alleged improprieties in safety studies for aspartame and several drugs. In December 1975, the FDA placed a stay on the aspartame approval, preventing Searle from marketing aspartame.[2]:28 The Searle studies were criticized by the FDA commissioner as "... at best ... sloppy and suffering from "... a pattern of conduct which compromises the scientific integrity of the studies."[1]
U.S. Attorney Samuel Skinner was requested to "open a grand jury investigation into whether two of Searle's aspartame studies had been falsified or were incomplete".[16] Skinner withdrew from the case when he was considering a job offer from the law firm Sidley & Austin, Searle's Chicago-based law firm, a job he later took.[1] The investigation was delayed and eventually the statute of limitations on the charges against Searle expired[1] and a grand jury was never convened.[16]
In 1977 and 1978, an FDA task force and a panel of academic pathologists reviewed 15 aspartame studies by Searle, and concluded that, although there were major lapses in quality control, the resulting inconsistencies would not have affected the studies' conclusions.[2]:4 In 1980, a Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) heard testimony from Olney and disagreed with his claims that aspartame could cause brain damage, including in the developing fetus.[2]:40–41 The board decided that further study was needed on a postulated connection between aspartame and brain tumors, and revoked approval of aspartame.[2]:47

In 1981, FDA Commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes sought advice on the issue from a panel of FDA scientists and a lawyer. The panel identified errors underlying the PBOI conclusion that aspartame might cause brain tumors, and presented arguments both for and against approval.[2]:53 Hayes approved the use of aspartame in dry foods. Hayes further justified his approval with a Japanese brain tumor study,[17] the results of which, the PBOI chairman later said, would have resulted in an "unqualified approval" from the PBOI panel.[18] Several objections followed, but all were denied.[2]:13 In November 1983, a little more than a year after approving aspartame Hayes left the FDA and joined public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller, Searle's public relations agency at the time, as a senior medical adviser.[5]

 

[poker]

Still very misleading. Either you believe everything you read on Facebook, or you just want to.

It was originally approved in 1974.... its wasn't until Reagan's Admin came to power that it was approved. Again. (3rd times a charm). Look how many Gov't officials ended up working for Searle.... and Vice Versa.

my fav quote on this site: U.S. Attorney Samuel Skinner was requested to "open a grand jury investigation into whether two of Searle's aspartame studies had been falsified or were incomplete".[16] Skinner withdrew from the case when he was considering a job offer from the law firm Sidley & Austin, Searle's Chicago-based law firm, a job he later took. The investigation was delayed and eventually the statute of limitations on the charges against Searle expired[1] and a grand jury was never convened.[16]

 

[SchlongConery]

Saw this on Facebook.... thought I'd pass it along.

Cheers!

Wellllllll if it was on Facebook....:thumb:

Here is an excellent website that deconstructs many of these kinds of stories.

This is his analysis on the asparatame conspiracy, including the Rumsfeld factor

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4127


Here is Snopes take on the aspartame claim that it is toxic

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

 

[Mervyn]

As a General rule of thumb, don't trust anything you see on Facebook, at best it will be out of context, and usually it's just completely false.

 

[AdrenalinJunkie]

Personally I try to avoid it. Evidently it metabolizes to methanol, which is not brain friendly. Plus, a lot of people find diet pop and beer a bad combo, leading to migraines. Drop one or the other and the headaches disappear. Personally, I know which poison I prefer.

 

[Phil C. McNasty]

InBe4Snopes

Here is Snopes take on the aspartame claim that it is toxic

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

I win.

I'm so smart

 

[SchlongConery]

Personally I try to avoid it. Evidently it metabolizes to methanol, which is not brain friendly. Plus, a lot of people find diet pop and beer a bad combo, leading to migraines. Drop one or the other and the headaches disappear. Personally, I know which poison I prefer.

From the skeptoid.com article

"The idea that aspartame causes "methanol toxicity" is based on the fact that when digested, aspartame does release a tiny amount of methanol. It's less than the amount you get from eating a piece of most any fruit. Tomato juice, for example, gives you four times the methanol of a can of diet soda. It's a common, naturally occuring environmental compound that is found in many foods. Nancy Markle, one of the most vocal aspartame conspiracy theorists, charges that the autoimmune disease lupus is actually misdiagnosed methanol toxicity caused by drinking 3-4 cans of diet soft drinks per day. If she's right, everyone who drinks a glass of tomato juice each day (or the equivalent in other fruits) is gravely ill with lupus. Time Magazine once devoted an entire article to debunking Nancy Markle's baseless claims about aspartame.
"

 

[red]

InBe4Snopes

you realize that the snopes website is owned by donald rumsfeld

 

[Ceiling Cat]

According to Dr. Joe Swarcz, aspartame is one of the most tested food substances in history because it is a relatively recent discovery. Things like Aspirin would not pass FDA requirements today.

 

[toughb]

Diabetics have to use sugar substitutes. No choice.

 

[Carvher]

But honestly, what kind of moron would eat aspartame or any other ARTIFICIAL sweetener in the first place. You would have to be a complete fucking idiot to think that it is better for you than sugar.
Sugar is a natural substance that your body knows how to metabolize - Aspartame isn't!
Why would anybody want to put shit like that in their body?

 

[toughb]

But honestly, what kind of moron would eat aspartame or any other ARTIFICIAL sweetener in the first place. You would have to be a complete fucking idiot to think that it is better for you than sugar.
Sugar is a natural substance that your body knows how to metabolize - Aspartame isn't!
Why would anybody want to put shit like that in their body?

Post #19.

Diabetes is one of the fastest growing deseases. Diabetics bodies cannot handle sugar.

 

[blueman]

But honestly, what kind of moron would eat aspartame or any other ARTIFICIAL sweetener in the first place. You would have to be a complete fucking idiot to think that it is better for you than sugar.
Sugar is a natural substance that your body knows how to metabolize - Aspartame isn't!
Why would anybody want to put shit like that in their body?

Well ... Agreed ... eating any artificial sweetener is asking for trouble but eating sugar is also bad for you. If you watch the attached 60 Minutes review of sugar you will hopefully never eat it again.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7403942n

 

[Robinto]

According to Dr. Joe Swarcz, aspartame is one of the most tested food substances in history because it is a relatively recent discovery. Things like Aspirin would not pass FDA requirements today.

Dude, I don't know if you're being deliberately deceitful, or simply write poorly, but I'm unaware of Dr. Schwarcz, (Director of the McGill University Office for Chemistry and Society) saying anything bad at all about Aspirin, let alone it not being able to pass contemporary FDA requirements.

Dr. Schwarcz did say that Aspartame is SAFE, however, and devotes an entire chapter to aspartame in his book, "That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles," in which he debunks Aspartame myths, one by one.

He did say, "Aspartame has probably been studied more than any other food additive. The vast body of research conducted over the past 20 years has shown it to be harmless to health." And, "There are over 200 studies that attest to the safety of this product."

Please don't pretend to quote a guy - a real scientist - and then run a second line of your own conspiracy theory bullshit, right behind it, in the same sentence, or people may assume he said that too.

Especially complete and utter bullshit like, "Aspirin would not pass FDA requirements today".

 

[Ceiling Cat]

Dude, I don't know if you're being deliberately deceitful, or simply write poorly, but I'm unaware of Dr. Schwarcz, (Director of the McGill University Office for Chemistry and Society) saying anything bad at all about Aspirin, let alone it not being able to pass contemporary FDA requirements.

Medicine was quite different when Aspirin was introduced, you could have sold snake oil in a bottle and get away with it.

Dr. Schwarcz did say that Aspartame is SAFE, however, and devotes an entire chapter to aspartame in his book, "That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles," in which he debunks Aspartame myths, one by one.

He did say, "Aspartame has probably been studied more than any other food additive. The vast body of research conducted over the past 20 years has shown it to be harmless to health." And, "There are over 200 studies that attest to the safety of this product."

Please don't pretend to quote a guy - a real scientist -

Are you quite sure that he has not said that Aspirin is a drug that would not pass FDA approval today? You would have to have every piece of writing that he has done and every transcript of his broadcast to be able to say that.

and then run a second line of your own conspiracy theory bullshit, right behind it, in the same sentence, or people may assume he said that too.

Especially complete and utter bullshit like, "Aspirin would not pass FDA requirements today".

How sure are you that an old drug like Aspirin that was brought out in 1897 would pass FDA trials today? It took many years before they discovered the dangers of Reye's syndrome associated with Aspirin.

Hardly anyone takes aspirin today because other other the counter medications have become available and are much safer than Aspirin.

I am glad that you do confirm that you have read that Dr. Schwarcz does consider Aspartame to be a safe food additive.