According to several medical pioneers, aspartame, a so-called "natural" sweetener is really a neurolgical toxin and is the cause of at least 75-80% of all the complaints to the FDA. According to Dr. William Campbell Douglass,II M.D. "it also appears to worsen or mimic the symptoms of such conditions as fibromyalgia, MS, lupus, ADD, diabetes, Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue,and depression." The reason that it has been accepted as safe is due to the influence of politics and the pharmaceutical industry. Apparently, the GD Searle Corp., tried for 16 years to get the FDA to approve it, and it was finally approved in '81 even though it was found to produce cancer in experimental animals. Apparently, Donald Rumsfield appointed Alfred Hull Hayes, MD to the FDA who approved it in 1981 in spite of the fact that there was evidence that it produced cancer in experimental animals. Jere Goyan was removed as the head of the FDA on the 1st day of Ronald Reagan's presidency because of his refusal to approve it.

Even the US Air force issued an alert in 1992 against drinking diet drinks with aspartame to its pilots. Aspartame apparently breaks down in the body to methanol and formaldehyde. Another debate is over the breakdown into phenylalanine which is a neurotoxin. To counteract this, Nutrasweet developed Neotame which does not breakdown into phenylalanine and only has to be used in trace amounts as a sweetener.

Then there was a study done in Italy at the Ramazzini Institue, but it has been refuted as proving any link to the carcinogenic effects of aspartame. The Ramazzini study used life-long effects, but was animal based. The national Cancer Institue did a study, but the interval of the study was only 12 months.Presumably the effects of aspartame, if any, would be on the younger generation. Unfortunately, in many of the studies that have approved aspartame indicate there is a conflict of interest, like the researchers being on the pharmaceutical industry's payroll.

However, again you might ask yourself the question: who gains? And, again it is the pharmaceutical companies. So, for now, while there is no agreement. For your own safety, and especially, your children's avoid these artifical sweeteners. There are alternatives: honey, "Stevia, from a natural source (300 times sweeter than sugar)...Lo han (derived from dried and fresh fruit) and xylitol (found in the fibers of many fruits and vegetables) are (four) other natural alternatives to sugar."

As I was writing this, a friend of mine from india forwarded me a message about avoidind soft drinks. Hesaid that the ph of sof drinks is about 3.7 and that acidity can dissolve bonestructure and even teeth. A group of Delhi University students put an extracted tooth in a bottle of Coke, and after 10 days it hadbeen dissolved.