On November 2-3, 1987, the US Senate chamber was sparsely filled – as usual, yet it was grossly divided – as usual.
Senators Edward Kennedy, Howard Metzenbaum, and Orrin Hatch sat behind an oversized polished wooden table, while predominant medical researchers, physicians, and consumer attorneys faced them with anticipation; their briefcases overflowing with research documents.
Senator Hatch reached down to remove a smudge on his shoe; it was hard to tell if the Senators were really interested in the health dangers of aspartame, but the researchers were excited for the opportunity to finally expose their research showing aspartame caused autism and lower IQs in their lab pups, and breast cancer and brain tumors in their research animals.
It was interesting that the room was filled with only men, though, especially because the diet sweeteners were, and still are, primarily marketed to women and children.
Dr. Louis Elsas, M.D., Emory University Medical School Director of Genetics, Professor of Pediatrics, informed this Senate Committee on Labor and Human Relations that his research showed pregnant women’s blood phenylalanine levels increased from aspartame use, resulting in the placenta magnifying phenylalanine levels four to six times the normal levels.
This resulted in mental retardation and birth defects in his studies.
His full statement is in my book, Sweet Poison, pp 269-271. In his statement submitted to the Senate Committee, Dr. Elsas documented for the record, (sic)
In view of the new (and confirmation of old) research findings, I suggest the following:
- Immediate quantitative labeling of all aspartame-containing foods, so the consumer will know how much phenylalanine they are ingesting;
- Declare an immediate moratorium on the addition of aspartame to more foods and remove it from all low-protein beverages, foods and children’s medications;
- Provide funds not controlled by industry to:
a) Allow active surveillance for potential side-effects of aspartame on newborns whose mothers dieted with aspartame-containing foods;
b) Allow active evaluation of other users whose complaints cannot be adequately studied at present;
c) Clarify the dose relationship and mechanisms by which L-phenylalanine affects human brain function.
Aspartame’s Effects On Humans
Dr. Elsas told the Senators that, fortunately, these effects on the mature brain may be reversible, but that he could provide clear evidence for a negative effect on sensitive parameters of brain function that could not be reversed in a developing fetus.
He emphasized that he had considerable concern for the increased sales and consumption of the artificial sweetener aspartame in the world food supply. He explained to the Senators that humans do not metabolize phenylalanine as efficiently as lower species do, such as the rodents they use in the research studies.
This means that most of the studies on aspartame are irrelevant to the question, “Will aspartame adversely affect human brain function?” Humans are different from rats.
Fast Forward To Today
After years of trying to expose the research proving aspartame is harmful to your health, and knowing that the US Senate and the FDA were fully aware of the damning research, ask yourself why aspartame is still on the market today.
It’s apparently the politics of greed. Respectable science, good medicine, and consumer wellness have been hidden behind mega-profits and greedy government lobbyists. We are now plagued with obesity, autism and learning disabilities, cancer and a myriad of degenerative diseases after 60 years of artificial sweetener use.
The researchers predicted this would happen after witnessing fat rats with cancers in their 1970s research studies on aspartame.
Today, government funded agencies, such as the CDC, maintain that the causes of fetal deformities remain unknown. But in 1987, Dr. Louis Elsas provided proof to the US Senate Committee on Labor and Human Relations that aspartame is a proven cause of fetal deformities.
Who do you believe?
Connect The Dots
There is no question that birth defects have been on a rapid rise since the 1987 Senate Committee Hearing. Autism, ADD/ADHD, hyperactivity, learning disorders, weak vision, and hearing and speech impediments are just a few examples of the increase in childhood disorders.
All of these disorders can be rooted to fetal development.
Dr. Elsas provided proof of one known cause. ASPARTAME.
We are finally beginning to connect the dots concerning the rising number of birth defects today, but our work isn’t providing answers fast enough. Government is finally admitting that the use of antidepressants and other drugs during pregnancy are harmful to a developing fetus, but Big Pharma is fighting the truth.
And still, not one mention of aspartame used during pregnancy as a proven cause of fetal damage.
It is time to resurrect the documents that were presented to the US Senate, proving aspartame’s harmful health effects. Join me in the months ahead as I release these documents in my new book The Sweet Taste of Trouble. I have dusted off my old files to unveil all the suppressed research, hidden corporate memos, and ignored Senate Hearings warning us of the health dangers of the artificial sweeteners.
The diet sweeteners are, indeed, a sweet taste of trouble …. it’s time to straighten this issue out, once and for all.
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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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