Dusting Off Senate Transcripts On Aspartame

Everyone Needs To Read These Buried Documents

Aspartame’s health dangers have been kept from you.

I think we can all agree that we have had too much information hidden from us over the past few decades - chemtrails, climate change, GMOs, the “vaccine”, 9-11, and the side-effects of childhood vaccines. Well, aspartame’s harmful health effects are just another example, which is why I am unveiling original documents in my files from over 50 years of researching the shoddy FDA approval of ALL of the diet sweeteners.

The FDA and Big Pharma know that aspartame, sucralose, and ace-K are harmful to your health. They all knew that saccharin never caused cancer. These government documents are no longer collecting dust, hidden from public view. Here’s an excerpt from my new book, The Sweet Taste Of Trouble: Unveiling The Hidden Truth Behind The Sweetener Industry @2025.

These are three of many Senate hearings presented with the research and statements showing aspartame causes fetal deformities and cancer.

Senate Hearings and Task Force Reports

The entire document is 530 pages long and can be found in the 1976 Congressional archives.

1976: Cover page and table of contents of the Senate Committee hearing: Final Report: FDA’s Bureau of Drugs Searle Task Force: March 24, 1976

This document includes the inadequacies in the general conduct of toxicity tests conducted both by Searle and sub-contractor Hazleton Laboratories.

Observations

“At the heart of FDA’s regulatory process is its ability to rely upon the integrity of the basic safety data submitted by sponsors of the regulated products. Our investigation clearly demonstrates that, in the case of the G.D. Searle Company, we have no basis for such reliance now…Through our efforts, we have uncovered serious deficiencies in Searle’s operations and practices which undermine the basis for reliance on Searle’s integrity in conducting high quality animal research to accurately determine or characterise the toxic potential of its products.” (page 1)

Under Recommendation #1 the report states: “…the Bureau of Foods should make a determination on the disposition of the Aspartame studies currently under official FDA seal at Searle and Hazleton Laboratories.” (page 8)

1978: Establishment Investigation Report (EIR): FDA’s initial Searle Task Force: February 18, 1978

This report includes several studies conducted with aspartame under contract to Searle by Hazleton Laboratories Inc. based in Virginia.

Observations

Study E77/78 30 serious errors noted in the conduct and reporting of the study.

Study E32 21 serious errors noted.

Study E28 14 serious errors noted.

Study E27/35 16 serious errors noted including (p10): Observation for drug effect records are inconsistent.

Records for Hamster No. N9LM indicate this animal was not alive on October 23, 1970, was alive on November 20, 1970, was not alive on December 18, 1970, and on January 15, 1971, was alive through February 12, 1971, and was found dead on February 25, 1971.

It is difficult to see how any reliance can be placed on studies that have been so poorly conducted and reported.

1987: Senate Hearing 100-567

Reputable independent researchers discovered that aspartame causes birth defects and brain damage.

“NUTRASWEET” - HEALTH AND SAFETY CONCERNS

HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES UNITED STATES SENATE - One Hundredth Congress, First Session on Examining the Health and Safety Concerns of NutraSweet (Aspartame) - November 3, 1987

This hearing was chaired by Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D, Ohio) listening to testimony from independent aspartame researchers Dr. Frank J. Elsas, MD, Dr. Richard Wurtman (MIT), and Dr. William M. Pardridge, Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology) at UCLA School of Medicine and a leading expert on the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Dr. Pardridge was one of the most vocal and scientifically rigorous critics of aspartame’s safety in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly regarding its ability to alter brain chemistry.

Dr. Elsas was a pediatrician, geneticist, and professor at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Elsas expressed serious concerns about aspartame’s potential risks, especially for:

• Pregnant women and the developing fetus (possible methanol/formaldehyde exposure and effects on brain development);

• Children with heterozygous phenylketonuria (PKU carriers);

• General pediatric populations.

He specifically warned that aspartame breakdown products (methanol → formaldehyde → formate) could cross the placenta and might affect fetal brain development, citing animal studies showing learning deficits in offspring. He also highlighted the lack of long-term safety data in children at the time. His testimony was part of the record when Senator Howard Metzenbaum was pushing for more research and labeling. Dr. Elsas later co-authored papers on aspartame and reiterated these concerns in interviews.

Their research shows that even “normal” doses of aspartame can cause significant shifts in brain amino-acid ratios in animals and humans. Searle/NutraSweet heavily attacked their work, but they stood their ground and kept publishing their peer-reviewed critiques into the 1990s.

Senator Howard Metzenbaum. Dr. Elsas, since Senator Orin Hatch saw it fit to go into the funding question, I will ask you, are your studies funded by industry?

Dr. Elsas. No, sir. I had a research grant three years ago, for three years from the March of Dimes, to study the effects of phenylalanine on human brain function. When the political issue got to aspartame, the society decided not to refund that. So all of the funding that is going on now - and the reason it is so slow - has been through my own division’s efforts, personal funds, and university-based funds.

US Senators and the FDA have known about the health dangers of the diet sweeteners for decades.

Senator Metzenbaum. What do you think of our present system for funding scientific research?

Dr. Elsas. I think the NIH is superb, I think there is a lot of concern about how industry and the FDA interact, and where industry is made responsible for developing the data to support its own contentions. There is not a broad enough scientific base, such as an RFA, that we can use at NIH or research funds available to request input from the whole scientific community, stating that funds are in an unbiased approach - what are the questions which we need to ask?

That is the problem here today. The questions about phenylalanine effects on human brain function have not been asked. So we have spent millions of dollars through our current system on mostly irrelevant experiments without approaching those particular questions.

Senator Metzenbaum. What about the advertising campaign that NutraSweet puts on, and are you concerned about that?

Dr. Elsas. Yes, sir.

Senator Metzenbaum. In what way?

Dr. Elsas. I am mostly concerned that it gives the false impression that NutraSweet is good for you, that it is nature’s best, and that it might even be good for children to take. A lot of the ads recently have shown children with the little ying and yang NutraSweet swirl on it, making it sound like you should go with your mommy to the grocery store and look for that, and be sure that you buy that because it is real sweet and good.

Senator Metzenbaum. Can you tell the Committee about your own experiences with the International Life Sciences Institute?

Dr. Elsas. Yes, sir. It was not good.

Senator Metzenbaum. Who is that group, can you tell us?

Dr. Elsas. Well, Dr. Dews is right here; he can probably give you more personal information about it because I have never gotten any feedback from them. But I was asked after issuing concerns both privately and then publicly on “Nightline” to give them a specific protocol for how I would approach these concerns. I did this. I wrote it up completely in a research grant format; submitted it through ILSI for their review, and basically got a few phone calls from Dr. Dews over a prolonged period of time, stating that they had problems, but without ever a written peer review of criticism.

So I basically never got funded; that is the bottom line. And the ideas are now reappearing three years later in other places funded by industry.

Senator Metzenbaum. ILSI is pretty much the coordinating group for funding in the food and beverage industry, including pops, carbonated drinks, NutraSweet itself; is that correct?

Dr. Elsas. As far as I know, that is correct, sir. I am not an expert on ILSI; I have repressed that experience.

Senator Metzenbaum. It is my understanding that Dr. Pardridge has to catch a plane, so I am going to pass on to him. But I appreciate your testimony, Dr. Elsas, and I am only sorry Senator Hatch was not here to hear you comment on the fact that - at least, the inference; it is not a fact that if the information or the research is not going to be supportive of their position, that sometimes one does not get supported by organizations such as ILSI, NutraSweet and others.

Do you think that general conclusion of mine might be inappropriate, or appropriate?

Dr. Elsas. Sir, I think that it is very cogent and appropriate.

Senator Metzenbaum. Thank you very much. Would you agree with that, Dr. Wurtman?

Dr. Wurtman. Yes, sir.

Senator Metzenbaum. Thank you. We are happy to hear from you, sir.

Dr. Pardridge. Thank you, Senator, and thank you for having me. I am a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, a practicing endocrinologist, and I have been doing neuroscience research on the blood-brain barrier transport of phenylalanine and other substances since 1970.

One known problem with diet sweeteners is using more than the recommended dose.

I believe in the discussion this morning, there are three key scientific food policy questions that have really not been properly illuminated.

The first question is the dosage problem. We are led to believe by the FDA this morning that the typical consumer will have 2 to 4 milligrams per kilogram of aspartame per day; that the 99th percentile intake is 34 milligrams per kilograms per day; and that the advisable daily intake or ADI is 50 milligrams per kilogram per day.

Now, the layperson sitting in the audience is really in no position to analyze these esoteric numbers. But if we put it in a different context and recognize that 50 milligrams per kilogram per day is equal to 5 servings of NutraSweet per 50-pound body weight, we are at great risk for overconsumption of NutraSweet.

All one has to do in this room is look up at that chart and ask yourself if a 50-pound or 60-pound 7 year-old is going to consume 5 or 6 servings of that per day. If they are, then they have consumed 50 milligrams per kilogram per day of the advisable daily intake.

Now, an 11-year study in the literature has already shown this and that the average 7-to-12-year old, when made freely available to products like that, consumes 5 servings per 50-pound body weight per day, and up to 77 milligrams per day.

Senator Metzenbaum. That is the average?

Dr. Pardridge. The average in children is the ADI of 5 servings per 50-pound body weight. Ask yourself: Would an average child have 5 servings? I think the answer is yes.

Another study by Porikos in obese subjects showed that the average intake was 20 milligrams per kilogram per day, or 2 servings per 50-pound body weight, and that obese adults consume up to 36 milligrams per kilogram per day, even in the face of that high body weight.

Now, if you accept the premise of the first question, that some individuals and in fact many children consume near the advisable daily intake of 50 milligrams per kilogram per day, then you must ask yourself what level of increase in blood phenylalanine will be concomitant with that ingestion of NutraSweet. And the answer is that your blood phenylalanine will rise three-to-four-fold. That is not 10 percent or 20 percent. That is 300 to 400 percent. And this study has been done by Drs. Stenink and Filer, which was funded by the industry.

If you now accept that many individuals, particularly children, consume 50 milligrams per kilogram per day, or 5 servings per 50-pound body weight per day, and that they enjoy or a four-fold increase in their blood phenylalanine, the third question that must now be addressed is, “are there any untoward effects on the human brain that are associated with a four-fold increase in phenylalanine, bearing in mind that this molecule is a known neurotoxin?”

And three studies come to mind. One study shows that when blood phenylalanine in pregnant mothers is increased five-fold, there is a 10- point drop in the I.Q. of the baby born of that mother.

Senator Metzenbaum. Of I.Q.? All right.

Dr. Pardridge. A second study shows that if you measure choice reaction time, a test of higher cognitive function in humans, that when their bloom phenylalanine is increased six-fold, there is a 10 percent shift in your ability to make a key decision before a video screen.

And a more recent study by Dr. Elsas has shown that there are quantitative changes in the human electroencephalogram when the blood phenylalanine is raised three-fold - something that clearly will happen in children who consume near 5 servings per 50-pound body weight.

So if I may summarize, phenylalanine is a known neurotoxin, and the food industry added nearly 8,000 tons of aspartame to the food supply in 1986, which amounts to approximately 8 million pounds of phenylalanine added to our food supply in a single year.

The consumption of aspartame has increased exponentially since its introduction in 1981. The 1986 consumption of aspartame in the United States was equal to nearly 22 percent of the 1986 consumption of refined sugar when one allows for a 200-fold increase in sweetener potency of aspartame relative to sugar.

With the enormous selective infusion of phenylalanine into the food supply, the key questions before the United States Congress and other scientific and medical organizations are whether selective increases in the blood phenylalanine level on the order of 200 micro-molar or four-fold above normal, are to be expected with liberal intake of aspartame, and whether blood phenylalanine increases of this magnitude have untoward effects on the human brain.

Thank you.

If you ever doubted aspartame and the other artificial sweeteners have been proven to harm your health, I have more evidence to share.

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If you want to learn more about healthy living and disease prevention, contact me at janethull.com. Remember that you are never alone when you are looking for good health!

I look forward to supporting you on your journey to alternative health and wellness.

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