FDA Ignores Complaints of Neurological Symptoms

In 1989, the FDA received over 4,000 complaints from people who described adverse reactions. Because the FDA conveniently lists aspartane as a "food additive", it removes the legal requirement for adverse effect reporting to any Federal agency and the necessity for safety monitoring processes. Research also indicates that aspartame, when combined with glutamine products (such as MSG, widely used in foods) increase the likelihood of brain damage occurring in children.[12]

Aspartame Affecting Airline Pilots

Some of the more interesting developments in 1989 surfaced in the Palm Beach Post on October 14th, where an article by Dr. H.J. Robert described several recent aircraft accidents involving confusion and aberrant pilot behavior caused by ingestion of products containing aspartame.[13] Soft drink makers were notified of this problem in 1991. It is interesting to note that after Samuel Skinner left Sidney & Austin, Searle’s law firm, he was appointed Secretary of Transportation. Hence, he was in charge of the FAA, just in time to head off complaints from pilots affected by aspartame. His wife was employed by Sidney & Austin. Later as George Bush’s Chief of Staff in 1991, during the Gulf War, he was in a position to head off all inquiries relative to asparatame, no matter where they were directed - to the FDA, FAA or Department of Defense. This constitutes criminal negligence and racketeering. George Bush, of course, was an ex-director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

British News: "Nutrasweet Tests Faked"

On July 20, 1990, an article in the national British newspaper The Guardian, entitled "NutraSweet test results ‘faked’", revealed that the British government had finally been persuaded to review the safety of aspartame after "receiving a dossier of evidence highlighting its potential dangers." According to The Guardian, the dossier alleged that laboratory tests were falsified, tumors were removed from laboratory animals and animals were ‘restored to life’ in laboratory records.[14] The dossier against NutraSweet was compiled by Erik Millstone, a lecturer at the Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex University and author of two books on food additives. It was based on thousands of pages of evidence, much of which was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The COT, Committee on Toxicity, was at the time looking into consumption of artificial sweeteners and did not possess the key documents covering alleged mishandling of the safety tests which Millstone was asked to provide.

The British Ministry of Agriculture and Department of Health have never revealed the evidence upon which approval was given in England for the distribution of aspartame, maintaining that "these are matters of commercial confidence." The British government does not testing of its own but relies on safety tests provided by the manufacturer, which of course constitutes a conflict of interest. The 1990 article quoted the British Department of Health as saying "NutraSweet is not a health hazard on the available evidence, but people do suffer ‘ideosyncratic reactions’ to food additives." Interestingly, it was pointed out that three out of 14 members of the Committee on Toxicity have direct or indirect links with the artificial sweetener industry, according to David Clark, the Labour Party Agriculture spokeman, who requested a Parliamentary Answer to address questions of conflict of interest. Aspartame is also sold in England under the product name "Canderel." In 1990, the market for asparatame in England was estimated at £800 million.