NEWS: Aspartame: Sweet Taste of Cancer?

CULTURE: Aspartame: Sweet Taste of Cancer?

Aspartame, the artificial sweetener that turns up in countless diet food products, may not be healthy for you, especially if you consider cancer unhealthy.

Now hold on here, aspartame is a product approved and staunchly defended by the FDA. Surely the FDA would never approve a product that was unsafe? In fact, the FDA initially banned the use of aspartame up until the 1980s because of uncertainties about its health risks, including evidence that it may cause brain tumors. It wasn’t until 1981 that the FDA finally approved the substance. Who was the man responsible for finally pushing through FDA approval of aspartame? None other than Donald Rumsfeld.

Donald Rumsfeld was at that time chairman of GD Searle, the company that manufactured aspartame. Rummy became a member of Ronald Reagan’s White House transition team and hand-picked crony Arthur Hayes Hull Jr. to be the new head of the FDA. By July of 1981 aspartame was legal in dry foods and by October 1982 it was made legal for carbonated beverages (over the objections of the National Soft Drink Association).

While the recent flap over the New Zealand woman who overdosed on aspartame-flavored gum made a media splash, the clinical evidence of the dangers of aspartame is extensive and goes back decades. Ostensibly the FDA is there to protect consumers from dangerous food and drugs, but in light of other recent FDA screw-ups (painkiller Vioxx was on the market for years before being pulled off the shelves last year because it causes heart attacks and strokes) it may be that the FDA can’t be trusted to look out for the nation’s health.

If they pulled the "additive" suddenly, accepting that it's a carcinogen, can you fathom the STAGGERING number of lawsuits millions would plop onto the beverage industry? Coke and Pepsi have got to be quaking in their shoes...

I don't smoke or drink, but goddamn it YOU ARE NOT TAKING AWAY MY DIET SODA.

My mom's told this this 20 years ago - and we're just getting around to this now? Aspertame gives me headaches, so I never consume it anyway.....

Well, this isn't exactly a shock is it? I've been hearing speculation about that for years.

this just in: man lands on the moon!

The taste of aspertame ruins any beverage.

I go here to get my news now.

What would these lawsuits be based on? Would everyone who has cancer who has at some point consumed aspartame have the right to sue? Or are there specific cancer cases, where aspartame is linked as the cause? Not a dig, i'm just curious how that would work. I'm not lawyer, obviously.

wasn't saccharin ditched once because it caused cancer? well, i've been using splenda (or honey) in my coffee for a few years now.

by the way, saccharine is back to sodas replacing aspartame. i don't drink soda, but that probably tells something.

Fuck the aspartame, I'm FUCKING IRATE at the fact another republican asshole got rich at the DIRECT cost of human lives. These are the same people that say abortion kills. Go figure.

Well it gives me blurry and/or double vision, headaches, and tastes worse than ass, and still people give me shit about "not drinking diet"

I hope they all die of excruciating cancers... it'll serve 'em right!

Seriously though, they have no clue what really causes cancer. It's all a shot in the dark.

wouldn't it be amazing if people could learn to use a little moderation in their lives. think of it, you could use actual sugar. gasp. yes I know, real sugar.

not to mention this http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050613/drink-more-diet-soda-gain-more-weight

So glad I stay away from Diet Soda... and No the FDA can't manage dirt on a dirt farm... bunch of idiots who are in the back pocket of big businesses.

Read the ingredients of almost anything that's edible. And half the shit that's in there probably doesn't need to be. It's in there to save money by making it last just a little longer or add a nice colour or something like that.

I'm not saying there's no reason for something like aspartame... I mean, there's a market for it and all. I think it's kind of scary that so many of us are so casual about it, though.

totally! and it makes soda react in an icky way in your mouth. Shit gives me tummy and headaches.

Get over the "diet soda fad" people and drink some WATER if you want to stay thin.

Yeah, my understanding of aspertame is that it metabolizes into formaldehyde, which is of course quite a serious carcinogen. I thought it was more widely reported but alas. I don't do any of that diet, low-fat, no-fat Buuuull-shit. Just eat a lot of natural fruits and veggies, wash them well, or even better soak them, try and buy eggs or fish or meat from people who use humane, healthy methods, and limit the sugar. I still take my sugar light as sunrise and sweeter than an angel's nipple, and I'm doing alright health wise. Blood Sugar - 96 mg/dL, cholesterol 82 bitches!

good. i was afraid the smoking and fast food weren't going to be enough.

now i'm covered either way.

ive heard this all before... its like eggs ...ok, bad, ok, bad...

i think each different colored packet of artifical sweetener is a different terminal illness

i forget the order

=-> Alecks

But then putting on weight isn't healthy for you either...

Add that to the list of things that cause cancer....this has been around for ever. You even get warnings on certain gums and sodas....if ppl want to consume it, let them. free will ftw......

Bottled water, that is...no telling what kind of shit's in the tap water. Can't put anything in our bodies anymore without risking cancer. Ah well.

*lights cigarette*

Aspartame was once involved in a chemical weapons program.

I don't think you could sue Coke for using a government approved sweetener.

Fake sugar all tastes like shit anyway.

Like all good Australians, I get my science from a quirky fellow named Dr Karl. He knows his shit and doesn't beat around the bush with long winded tripe.

Here is what he has to say about the topic:

Dr Karl has a BIG BRAIN

I'll keep sucking back my DC for a good while yet.

bxxx