How money can buy what it wants and what that can mean to your health.

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece on aspartame and what it can do to your health - none of it good I'm afraid, or back in April my post on the Monsanto Protection Act, not to mention my post back in March - Legal Drug Pushers.  All these posts - and this one, have two things in common:

1. My desire to give you information that will help you to improve and protect your health and that of your family and loved ones.
2. The private and political corruption which means the supermarket shelves are full of products that are KNOWINGLY harmful to our health.

Just to recap a little from my previous posts:

The Monsanto Protection Act:

What we do know about Genetically Modified Foods (GMOs) is what Monsanto and only Monsanto has said - they are safe - or at least this is what they want us to believe.  GMOs have been around for 15 years and it has rapidly grown into a $billion business on the promise of eradicating world hunger and the promise that GMO crops would be resistant to blights and therefore wouldn't need as much pesticides as regular crops.

However, neither of these promises have been kept.  And now, thanks to the work of Michael Antoniou of Earth Open Source and Dr. Giles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caan in France, we have more information contrary to Monsanto's.

Seralini and Antoniou have found in their studies on GMOs that they are provoking a range of serious health problems such as; birth defects, cancer, neurological imbalances, embryonic deaths, DNA damage and fetal death.  GMOs are full of pesticides such as RoundUp that contain glyphosate and 2-4-D which is the active ingredient in Active Orange.  So, if we are what we eat, and our food is full of harmful pesticides, it isn't difficult to understand how GMOs are harmful to human health...

...So why is everyone who values good health up in arms about what has gone on recently in Washington?

The answer is very simple.  It is yet another demonstration that private sector companies with lots of money are really the ones with the power - not the government elected to serve and protect the people.

On Tuesday, 26th March 2013, President Barak Obama signed a spending bill: HR933.  Within this bill is a section - Section 735 also called the Farmers Assurance Provision; publicly labelled The Monsanto Protection Act.

Section 735 effectively stops Federal courts from being able to stop the sale or planting of genetically modified (GMO) or genetically engineered (GE) seeds, even if these seeds or products made from these GMO and GE seeds and their subsequent harvests are found to be dangerous to human health.

It is believed by many that not enough studies have been carried out on GMO and GE crops to analyze the potential health risks...

Legal Drug Pushers:

Food manufacturers are pushing drugs legally.  Salt, sugar and fat are just as dangerous to our health as other "hard drugs".  And, the western world has been hooked on these three for so long that no-one really knows when it started.

However, the side effects of these drugs are not the ones you would normally associate with "hard drugs".  Sugar - especially in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup, puts a great strain on the liver, raised levels of fat in the bloodstream and  a whole range of problems, which are all associated with cardiovascular disease.

Excessive intake of salt has been linked to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease and over-consumption of fat to obesity, diabetes and other related epidemics.

Just how dangerous are diet sodas?

...Over the years, it has been found that aspartame accounts for over 75% of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA.  Many of these adverse reactions are actually extremely serious, including seizures and even death.  A report has documented 90 different symptoms caused by aspartame, such as:

• Headaches/ migraines
• Dizziness
• Seizures
• Nausea
• Numbness
• Muscle Spasms
• Weight GAIN
• Rashes
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Tachycardia
• Insomnia
• Vision Problems
• Hearing Loss
• Heart Palpitations
• Breathing Difficulties
• Anxiety Attacks
• Slurred Speech
• Loss of Taste
• Tinnitus
• Vertigo
• Memory Loss
• Joint Pain

and the list goes on...

So in this post I want to show you just how corrupt the system is in the USA.  Here is a timeline of how ASPARTAME came to form such a huge part of our diet:

December 1965: A chemist by the name of James Schlatter working for the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle accidentally discovers aspartame while working on an ulcer drug.  Aspartame: a chemical substance 180 times sweeter than sugar but has no calories.

Spring 1967:  G.D. Searle commences safety testing on aspartame - a necessity to apply for FDA approval of food additives.

Autumn 1967:  A biochemist by the name of Dr. Harold Waisman, at the University of Wisconsin, carries out safety tests on aspartame on behalf of G.D. Searle.  He used seven monkeys who were fed milk mixed with aspartame, one monkey died and five others experienced grand mal seizures.

November 1970:  The sweetener of choice, cyclamate, at that time is pulled off the market after being associated with cancer by some scientists.  Other questions are also raised over the safety of saccharin - the only other artificial sweetener on the market.  This leaves the market wide open for aspartame to come into play.

18th December 1970:  The Searle Company executives design a "Food and Drug Sweetener Strategy" hoping to put the FDA into a positive frame of mind about aspartame.  An internal policy memorandum goes so far as to describe psychological tactics that Searle should use to bring the FDA into a "subconscious spirit of participation" on aspartame and get the FDA regulators into the "habit of saying, yes".

Spring 1971:  A very well respected Neuroscientist by the name of Dr. John Olney (whose work was responsible for having monosodium glutamate removed from baby foods), informs Searle that the results of his studies show that aspartic acid - one of the ingredients of aspartame) actually caused HOLES in the brains of infant mice.  In fact, one of Searle's own researchers confirmed Dr. Olney's findings in a similar study.

February 1973: Searle applies for FDA approval after spending tens of millions of dollars on safety trials and presents over 100 studies claiming to support the safety of aspartame.

5th March 1973:  A scientist at the FDA states that after reviewing the safety data presented by Searle that "the information provided is inadequate to permit an evaluation of the potential toxicity of aspartame", she also says that further testing is needed.

May 1974:  A consumer advocate and Attorney by the name of Jim Turner - he was highly involved in getting cyclamate taken off the market  has a meeting with representatives from Searle to discuss Dr. Olney's 1971 study which showed that aspartic acid caused HOLES in the brains of infant mice.

26th July 1974:  The FDA grants approval to aspartame for the first time for restricted use in dry foods.

August 1974:  JIm Turner and Dr. John Olney file the first objections against aspartame's approval.

24th March, 1976:  Thanks to Jim Turner and Dr. J. Olney's petition, the FDA investigates the laboratory practices of G.D. Searle - aspartame's manufacturer.  The investigation results in Searle's testing procedures being found "shoddy", full of inaccuracies and "manipulated" test data.  The investigators reported that they had "never seen anhything as bad as Searle's testing".

10th January, 1977:  For the first time in history the FDA requests a criminal investigation of a manufacturer by formally requesting the U.S. Attorney's Office to begin grand jury proceedings to investigate whether indictments should be filed against Searle for KNOWINGLY misrepresenting findings and "concealing material facts and making false statements" in aspartame safety tests.

8th March, 1977:  Searle hires Donald Rumsfeld as CEO - at that point Rumsfeld was a prominent Washington insider.  His mission was to try to turn the company around, to do this he brought in several of his Washington friends as top management.

1st July, 1977:  Samuel Skinner leaves the U.S. Attorney's Office to fill a position at Searle's law firm (remember at this stage there is an ongoing investigation by the FDA and the U.S. Attorney's Office)

1st August, 1977:  A report compiled by the FDA investigators, headed by Jerome Bressler and called The Bressler Report is released.  The report noted a whole host of discrepancies in Searle's aspartame testing studies such as 98 our of 196 animals died during one of Searle's studies, but were not autopsied until much later - in some cases over a year after death.  There were also many other errors and inconsistencies such as a rat reported alive, then dead, then alive, then dead again; a mass, a uterine polyp, and ovarian neoplasms were found in animals, however, these findings were not reported or diagnosed in Searle's reports.

8th December, 1977:  U.S. Attorney Skinner's withdrawal and resignation stalls the Searle grand jury investigation for so long that the statute of limitations on the aspartame charges expires.  The grand jury investigation is stopped.

1st June, 1979:  The FDA establishes a Public Board of Inquiry to govern safety issues surrounding NutraSweet.

30th September 1980:  The Public Board of Inquiry resolves that NutraSweet should NOT be approved pending further investigations of brain tumors in animals.  The board states; "it has not been presented with proof of reasonable certainty that aspartame is safe for use as a food additive."

January 1981:  During a sales meeting at Searle, then CEO Donald Rumsfeld states that he is going to do everything he can to get aspartame approved within the year, using his political pull in Washington rather than scientific proof of safety to make sure it is approved.

21st January, 1981:  Ronald Reagan is sworn in as President of the United States of America.  A member of his transition team is Donald Rumsfeld - CEO of G.D. Searle.  That transition team picks Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes Jr. to be the new FDA Commissioner.

March 1981:  The FDA creates a commissioner's panel to review issues raised by the Public Board of Inquiry.

19th March, 1981:  Three our of six FDA scientists, after reviewing the brain tumor issues, advise against approval of NutraSweet, stating on the record that the Searle tests are unreliable and not adequate to determine the safety of aspartame.  These scientists were Dr. Robert Condon, Dr. Satya Dubey and Dr. Douglas Park.

15th July 1981:  Dr. Arthur Hayes Jr., the new FDA Commissioner, in one of his first official acts, overrules the Public Board of Inquiry, ignores the recommendations of the FDA scientists and APPROVES NutraSweet for dry products.  Hayes says that aspartame has been shown to be safe for its proposed uses and says few compounds have withstood such detailed testing and repeated close scrutiny.

15th October, 1982:  The FDA announces that Searle has filed a petition that aspartame be approved as a sweetener in carbonated drinks and other liquids.

1st July, 1983:  The National Soft Drink Association (NSDA) asks the FDA to delay approval of aspartame for carbonated drinks pending further testing as aspartame is highly unstable in liquid form.  When liquid aspartame is stored at temperatures above 85ºF/ 29ºC, it breaks down into DKP and Formaldehyde, both known toxins.

8th July, 1983:  The NSDA drafts an objection to the final ruling which permits the use of aspartame in carbonated drinks and syrup bases and requests a hearing on the objections.  The NSDA claims that Searle has not provided reasonable certainty that aspartame and its degradation products are safe for use in soft drinks.

8th August, 1983:  Consumer Attorney, Jim Turner of the Community Nutrition Institute and Dr. Woodrow Monte, Arizona State University's Director of Food Science and Nutritional Laboratories, file a suit with the FDA objecting against aspartame approval based on unresolved safety issues.

September 1983:  Dr. Hayes resigns as FDA commissioner due to controversy about him taking unauthorized rides on General Food's jet - General Foods is a major customer of NutraSweet.  Burson-Marsteller - Searle's PR company which also represented several of NutraSweet's major users, immediately hires Dr. Hayes as senior scientific consultant.

Autumn 1983:  The first carbonated drinks containing aspartame are sold for public consumption.

And that is how aspartame became a part of our lives... ignoring science and by the power of political pull and lobbying.

Source: Real Farmacy

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