The Soil & Health Association is very concerned that New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) staff are hell-bent on ignoring scientific research that clearly shows the links between aspartame and cancer, especially in children when the mother consumes aspartame during pregnancy. Aspartame converts to formaldehyde when ingested.

Not only that but Food Safety calling the Soil & Health spokesperson a scaremonger is again shooting the messenger instead of attending to the health concerns of the New Zealand community.

“Evidence from award-winning scientific researchers and the increasing local evidence is being studiously ignored by the agency. Why?” asks Soil & Health spokesperson, Steffan Browning.

“The agency has nothing original in its material and is trotting out the same old industry pap. Why? Who are they beholden to? Is it commercial and trade imperatives, philosophical, attitudinal and institutional blindness and deafness? What ever it is, it needs to change very quickly. The information that substantiates the rising list of aspartame victims concerns exists, but the precautionary approach is not even considered unless it is for trade protection.”

“Although the NZFSA toxicologist is touted as an expert, with over 30 years experience, including serving on international expert consultations, he is ignoring mounting research from the international scientific community, such as the following:

“These are indeed extremely high levels for adducts of formaldehyde, a substance responsible for chronic deleterious effects that has also been considered carcinogenic…..
”It is concluded that aspartame consumption may constitute a hazard because of its contribution to the formation of formaldehyde adducts.” (Trocho 1998)

“It was a very interesting paper, that demonstrates that formaldehyde formation from aspartame ingestion is very common and does indeed accumulate within the cell, reacting with cellular proteins (mostly enzymes) and DNA (both mitochondrial and nuclear). The fact that it accumulates with each dose, indicates grave consequences among those who consume diet drinks and foodstuffs on a daily basis.” (Blaylock 1998)

Methanol from aspartame is released in the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounters the enzyme chymotrypsin (Stegink 1984, page 143). A relatively small amount of aspartame (e.g., one can of soda ingested by a child) can significantly increase plasma methanol levels (Davoli 1986a).

Clinically, chronic, low-level exposure to methanol has been seen to cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, ear buzzing, GI disturbances, weakness, vertigo, chills, memory lapses, numbness & shooting pains, behavioral disturbances, neuritis, misty vision, vision tunneling, blurring of vision, conjunctivitis, insomnia, vision loss, depression, heart problems (including disease of the heart muscle), and pancreatic inflammation (Kavet 1990, Monte 1984, Posner 1975).

The methanol from aspartame is converted to formaldehyde and then formic acid (DHHS 1993, Liesivuori 1991), although some of the formaldehyde appears to accumulate in the body as discussed above. Chronic formaldehyde exposure at very low doses has been shown to cause immune system and nervous system changes and damage as well as headaches, general poor health, irreversible genetic damage, and a number of other serious health problems (Fujimaki 1992, He 1998, John 1994, Liu 1993, Main 1983, Molhave 1986, National Research Council 1981, Shaham 1996, Srivastava 1992, Vojdani 1992, Wantke 1996). One experiment (Wantke 1996) showed that chronic exposure to formaldehyde caused systemic health problems (i.e., poor health) in children at an air concentration of only 0.043 – 0.070 parts per million!

“Methanol is a metabolic poison which, in the absence of ethanol (such as in fruits) is unstable and breaks down into formaldehyde, a poison and carcinogen, and formic acid, also a poison and carcinogen,” said Browning.

“The NZFSA “expert” toxicologist quotes formaldehyde in fruit digestion as some sort of equivalent, yet in fruit the methanol does not break down at the same rate into formaldehyde, when bound by natural pectin and is balanced by the proportionately much greater ethanol.”

“Fruit has protective factors which help prevent chronic poisoning from methanol metabolites such as formaldehyde. A dose of aspartame is significantly different than that of a mouthful of fruit which has a range of enzymes and compounds in balance.”

“Some NZFSA staff are also choosing to ignore the very real experiences of New Zealanders who thanks to Abby Cormack, Betty Martini, Safe Food Campaign and Soil & Health have quit aspartame and have recovered from serious life altering health effects,” said Browning.

“For the NZFSA toxicologist to suggest that Soil & Health encouraging people away from a carcinogenic neurotoxic synthetic sweetener is in any way inappropriate because of obesity or diabetes, shows a lack of objectivity. Yes we are taken seriously and the Obesity Action Coalition Executive Director has changed her televised pro-aspartame view since meeting anti-aspartame campaigners Abby Cormack and Betty Martini, and hearing of the corruption and spin, and having the independent research produced in a public forum.”

“Soil & Health will produce research papers substantiating any of its aspartame claims and the supportive information has all been available to NZFSA. It is a matter of will to acknowledge that people in the community are being harmed by aspartame and then actually do something about it.”

“Soil & Health is committed along with Safe Food Campaign, ADHD Society, Mission Possible, many scientists and doctors, consumers and producers to have the toxic aspartame and its stablemates out of the food chain.”

Note:
www.dorway.com/formaldehyde.html

Soil & Health is looking forward to the Organics Aotearoa New Zealand Conference at Lincoln University, on Friday & Saturday, following release of NZFSA’s Total Diet Survey (TDS) results.

“NZFSA should reduce the spin it puts in its pesticide residue results and admit that it is pure good luck to find pesticide and heavy metal residue free food,” said Soil & Health spokesperson Steffan Browning.

“The statement that of approximately 199,100 individual analytical agricultural compound residue results, 997 results (0.5%) represented detectable residues, was misleading. The majority of the tests were totally irrelevant to the foods tested and were in fact a by catch from a multi residue screen of 221 compounds, multiplied by about 121 tested foods in batches.”

“Of course most foods do not have anything like 221 pesticides near them and so there are numerous zero detections, but put around the other way, we find that numerous foods have one or more residues. Of 121 foods just 25 had no residues, and some of those would instead have dubious food additives also considered safe by the trade focused NZFSA,” said Browning.

“New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) also fails consumers with its food testing by using the spurious Maximum Residue Limit as a safety guide and takes no account of the cocktail effect of consuming multiple agrichemical residues.”

At Wednesday’s media conference, NZFSA staff downplayed the health risks of chemical cocktails, by saying the total volume of chemicals ingested was the appropriate measure, rather than accepting evidence that some pesticides heightened health effects at low residue levels when mixed in typical food combinations with other pesticides.

““Dose makes the poison,” was the repeated phrase as the NZFSA chemical apologist attempted to hoodwink yesterday’s strong media presence. Suggesting that synthetic agrichemical residues in New Zealand food were no worse than what occurs naturally, and that the Allowable Daily Intake (ADI) limits and MRL’s were all set at such conservative levels that meant that even the numerous non-compliances in the Total Diet Survey were absolutely safe.”

“Soil & Health has another view based on independent science (eg. Lodovici, M. et al 1994,1997) and the continuing withdrawal of agrichemicals when serious health effects are finally acknowledged. For example an organophosphate and also pentachlorophenol, will be withdrawn by the Environmental Risk Management Authority this year,” said Browning, “NZFSA should acknowledge that their ADI’s and MRL’s are just their tool in the absence of knowledge and serious precaution, and should stop fudging the residue figures.”

“Chlorothalonil the active ingredient in Bravo fungicide, is noted and down played in the NZFSA celery and spinach residue results. 16 and 13 results above the MRL respectively for 48 tests each, but the real fact is that celery only had 6 out of 48 tests chlorothalonil negative and 5 of those had other residues. The only one residue free celery sample of 48, would most likely be organic but was not differentiated.”

“Chlorothalonil, a carcinogen, mutagenic environmental toxin, was in all samples of conventional celery tested almost 3 years ago by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority and Soil and Health. However part of the change is use by growers of different fungicides.”

“Organic celery of course has no such pesticide residues and while not always looking like the nitrate and pesticide compromised supermarket versions, can still be attractive but more sustainably produced.”

“A fresh approach to food is needed in New Zealand and with massive growth in organics internationally, it is time that synthetic pesticide free organic production targets, such as in Soil & Health’s Organic 2020 vision, were taken on for the well being of New Zealand’s environmental and human health.”

Healthy Soil, Healthy Food, Healthy People.