News > Culture > Aspartame: Sweet Taste of Cancer?

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THURSDAY JUNE 28 2007 4:00 PM

Aspartame: Sweet Taste of Cancer?

Submitted by evanharos

Edited by erin_broadley

Tags: aspartame, cancer, fda, Rumsfeld

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

A new study on aspartame conducted by the Ramazzini Foundation reveals that aspartame causes a dose-dependent increase in cancers (lymphomas, leukemias and breast cancers) when consumed at levels approaching those consumed by humans in diet soft drinks.

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 wasnt 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 Reagans 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 cant be trusted to look out for the nations health.

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Comments

mqx

Seattle, WA

January 2003

JUN 28, 2007 09:33 PM

The cancer doesn't bother me as much as the hypertension. Blood pressure while I drank diet pop: 180/128. Two weeks after I stopped: 127/86. The five or seven extra pounds I put on from switching back to normal pop, waaay worth it. And now I'm even cutting normal pop off.

liljohn

USA

November 2006

JUN 28, 2007 09:41 PM

If I remember correctly there was speculation about the aspertame that was used in soldiers MRE's during the first gulf war, and an increase in occurence of mini strokes.

This shit is also used in a some diet/health products such as protein bars, energy bars, diet bars, and protein shakes.

vampiresslupus

Hampstead, NC

May 2007

JUN 28, 2007 09:55 PM

Forget aspartame...this is the real dangerous shit:
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

BlastProcessing

USA

OLD SKOOL

JUN 28, 2007 10:17 PM

Strelnikov said:

SaxmanKK said:
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*

http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/bwinx.asp

Oops, bottled water ain't safe either.

Can someone just give me a simple breakdown by brand on that?

BlastProcessing

USA

OLD SKOOL

JUN 28, 2007 10:19 PM

pandakrs said:
fuck it all diet coke taste good and there's not one fact in this article. how much would you have to drink in order to get cancer. whatever happen to doin stuff cuz it feels good fuck the consequences.

Have fun dying at 40. Maybe Heaven won't have an essay test.

miserabelle

United Kingdom

April 2007

JUN 29, 2007 03:11 AM

I knew that years ago... diet drinks are often far less healthy than the original product and it's often the aspartame that they put in that fucks the whole thing up.

I'm glad I drink more tea than soda (:

xx

Kundalini

Kalamazoo, MI

June 2004

JUN 29, 2007 03:45 AM

I was drinking Diet Pepsi for a while after I was first diagnosed with IBS. My vision started going to shit and I was getting mysterious headaches. I quit drinking it, and voila, no more vision problems or headaches. Then I started doing some research and found out how toxic most artifical sweeteners are. I can only hope that the rest of the world catches on before they all get poisoned so that someone else can get rich..

MoonKatz

Cleburne, TX

January 2006

JUN 29, 2007 04:14 AM

iirc... aspartame was originally created as an insecticide. I've used it successfully to kill whole mounds of fire ants (liquid nutra-sweet and powdered equal).

lilcupcake

Kitchener, ON

June 2006

JUN 29, 2007 04:33 AM

IKCSmiley said:
My mom's told this this 20 years ago - and we're just getting around to this now?

+1 lol

fentopal

Denver, CO

July 2003

JUN 29, 2007 07:39 AM

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

I have a feeling this has more to do with the notion "If I drink diet soda, I can gorge myself on this greasy, deep-fried bacon-cheeseburger" than anything actually in the soda.