The Written Word
for July 9, 2000

Surely we all agree that no substance should be declared fit for consumption unless proved beyond a reasonable doubt, to be safe - especially if it’ so common that we could scarcely, without being super careful, avoid consuming it.

In 1974 an artificial sweetener called Aspartame had its patent revoked because it was found to cause holes in the brains of rats. While the drinking of Diet Coke might thus explain what happens to our politicians it is a deadly serious subject. Unhappily, the patent was restored

More and more experts are finding stronger and stronger evidence that this substance, put out by Monsanto Chemicals (which gave you Agent Orange) is in fact a poison. Often marketed under the name Nutrasweet – isn’t that a nice seductive marketing moniker? – aspartame is now seen as a causative factor in many diseases including Alzheimer’s, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Epstein-Barr, Lyme disease and Epilepsy.

Perhaps you don’t think of yourself as a sufferer now in the future of any of the above but how about diabetes, adult onset or Type II variety which will, depending upon the statistical source, hit about half of you? No one knows why diabetes has reached these proportions though living long enough to get it is certainly a factor. One thing I can tell you both from the research and from personal experience is that Aspartame drives up the blood sugar and that’s what diabetes is all about. I’ve demonstrated that beyond all doubt with personal blood-testing before and after consuming Diet Coke.

The research of which I speak isn’t coming out of Bible belt Colleges who, for a few bucks and some box tops, hand out diplomas but serious and world-renowned experts. I have interviewed a number of them and the story is always the same – if we knew then what we know now aspartame would not have been approved for human consumption. It’s a poison and for some, a lethal one.

Dr H.J. Roberts, a diabetes specialist and world expert on aspartame poisoning says it’s hastening Alzheimer’s such that there are now sufferers in their 30s. The largest number of non drug complaints to the US Food and Drug Administration, indeed 85%, are related to aspartame. Dr James B Hays, Designated Medical Examiner for the Federal Aeronautics Administration, has recorded numerous cases of pilots affected by aspartame, including seizures, and states that aspartame "is a significant hazard to transportation safety." This is but a small taste of the expert evidence against aspartame – the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming!

What is especially upsetting about all this is that there is a natural sweetener on the market, called stevia, which though extremely widely used, especially in Asia, has had no recorded complaint! (By way of aside, back in the eighties I had shares in a "stevia" company which, like so many Vancouver Stock Exchange Companies went under for reasons utterly unrelated to the value of the product. If it had not, I would be a very wealthy man today.) Stevia is some 200-300 times sweeter than sugar and, far from being harmful to diabetics may be helpful.

The scandal is not just that Monsanto is producing a product which – and I contend this is far from hyperbole – is poisoning people the world over. It’s not just that the authorities in the United States and Canada are ignoring all the warnings and are knuckling under to the huge corporate monster. No, what is troubling to me, a diabetic, is that authorities all the way from ignorant doctors to diabetic associations are recommending, as safe for diabetics, food products sweetened with aspartame, a drug which amongst other things drives up the blood sugar and increases the cravings for carbohydrates (which are bad news for diabetics.)

Go into the diabetic section of your local hospital where doctors advise all diabetics go to learn about the disease. Indeed the government forces you, if you’re over 65, to go there to prove that you can test yourself properly before Pharmacare will pay for your test strips. When you get there you will find an array of goodies you can eat such as ice cream bars and Popsicle’s sweetened with aspartame! The people dedicated to your welfare are – sincerely to be sure – advising you to eat things that will kill you!

Thus does your government, and organizations it supports, care for your health and welfare.