URGENT: NutraSweet/MENTHANOL/TRUTH

[Betty Martini]

Dear CMB:

The original story is my post at the beginning of 
URGENT;NutraSweet:METHANOL/TRUTH which if not on your screen I will be 
happy to forward. I mentioned that menthanol is a narcotic.  John Vogel 
made this comment that it wasn't.  I then came back and gave the reference
which is:

Louis, R.J.  Sax's Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials, Eighth 
Edition, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold (1992) pp.2251-2252.

Also, I've posted so many notes on this in the past but aspartame is a 
drug, and I've given original data on that before.  After John's remark, 
and even though Sax is a well accepted reference, I checked some more 
sources about methanol just because its so bad.  Here's some interesting 
data:

Merck Index: Tenth Edition: 5816: Methanol:  Methyl alcohol..wood alcohol...
"Poisoning may occur from ingestion, inhalation or percutaneous 
absorption.  Acute Effects:  Headache, fatigue, nausea, visual impairment 
or complete blindness (may be permanently), acidosis, 
convulsions..respiratory failure, death.  Death from ingestion of less 
than 30 ml. has been reported. .."

That's very interesting since this is what we see with aspartame, and I 
for one don't want methanol in my food and drink or body.  Yes, it is a 
solvent, and thats what it should be used for not added for food.

The Merck goes on: "Industrial solvent:  Raw material for making 
formaldehyde and methyl esters of organic and inorganic acids ..

This is what happens in your body.  Methanol converts to formaldehyde 
and  formic acid (ant sting poison) and causes metabolic acidosis.  

In the book FUNDAMENTALS OF CHEMISTRY BY  Jean Bogert, eighth edition, on 
page 286 it says:

"Methyl Alcohol or "wood alcohol" taken internally is a dangerous 
poison.  It paralyzes the optic nerve and as little as 10 cc may cause 
blindness.  Its use as a solvent in industries causes a hazard for 
workmen unless forced ventilation is installed, since continual breathing 
of the vapors, may result in blindness.  A similar hazard exists when it 
is used as an antifreeze agent in automobile radiators, since it is 
vaporized by engine heat and the toxic vapor may be swept back into the car.
Methyl (wood) alcohol is sometimes present in improperly prepared 
distilled liquors and is added to ethyl alcohol to render it unfit for 
beverage purposes. ("denatured alcohol")."

The problems coming from this in aspartame are very serious, especially 
so much vision loss and blindness.  Even the Government says they are 
going to redo the currency in 1996 because people are having problems 
reading it and they think its coming from diabetes.  Well aspartame 
triggers diabetes (Dr. Russell Blaylock, neurosurgeon says that in his book
EXCITOTOXINS; THE TASTE THAT KILLS) and it triggers blindness.

People begin to slur their words when they get a good deal of aspartame 
and lost their equilibrium.  We have so many case histories where they 
are diagnosed as multiple sclerosis when in reality its a methanol 
toxicity which mimics MS.  If you will read my post in nutrition 
newsgroup under Coca Cola/Health-Attitude you'll see a case history of 
exactly that.  We see these cases over and over again.  

There is so much blindness from aspartame that in October, l986 the 
Community Nutrition Institute in Washington, D.C. filed a petition with 
the FDA to have it banned because of its link to blindness.  (CHICAGO SUN 
TIMES, Friday, October 17, 1986   titled:  CONSUMER GROUP LINKS 
NUTRASWEET TO BLINDNESS)  The methanol converts to formaldehyde in the 
retina.

This is especially serious in diabetics because sometimes physicians 
think its just diabetic retinopathy when their patients are going blind.
There are so many diabetics going blind because of aspartame and its just 
criminal.  As a man told me just this last Saturday: "My mother was doing 
so well as a diabetic.  She had been using saccharin but decided to 
switch to NutraSweet.  She went completely blind."  I hear that so much 
its like a broken record.  And this is just one of the reasons we are 
trying so desperately to get this poison off the market.  

In the article in the Chicago Sun Times they quote Dr. H. J. Roberts who 
said: "Of 360 patients he has diagnosed as having aspartame-related 
problems, Roberts said, about one-fourth had decreased vision or 
blindness, nearly half had severe headaches and substantial numbers had 
epileptic seizures, confusion or memory loss, extreme depression and 
marked personality change."   Keep in mind this was in l986 when 
aspartame was in about 600 products - now the patent has expired and its 
in 5000 products and climbing!  

Here's more info about methanol from an article by Dr. Ron Austin of 
Norwalk, California in his newsletter BACK ISSUES TITLED: NutraSweet 
Friend or Foe!

"One man's (Nutra) Sweet is another man's poison! ...Methanol (methyl 
alcohol, wood alcohol), a poisonous substance, is added as a component 
during the manufacture of aspartame (NutraSweet).  This methanol is 
subsequently released within hours of consumption in the small 
intestine.  However, in humans this process is sped up tremendously if 
the methanol is ingested as a free methanol such as occurs in soft drinks 
after storage or in other foods after being heated.  Regardless as to 
whether this happens or not 10% of the weight of aspartame intake of an 
individual will be absorbed by the bloodstream as methanol within hours 
after consumption.  Important note:  Up until date there has been no 
therapeutic (healing) properties of this substance (methanol) and it has 
been considered to be a poison.  The ingestion of two (2) teaspoons is 
considered to be deadly in humans."

..."Methyl alcohol has a selective action on the optic nerve and can cause
blindness, the consumption of as little as 30 ml (two teaspoons) has
caused death.  Methyl alcohol is used as a polar solvent for plastics,
paints, and varnishes, as an antifreeze, and in the manufacture of
formaldehyde and other methyl compounds such as methyl amine, methyl
chloride, and methyl methacrylate.  Patients may complain of lethargy
(extreme tiredness), confusion, and impairment of speech, all signs of
nervous system involvement.  The individual may suffer leg cramps, back
pain, severe headache, abdominal pain, labored breathing, vertigo and
visual loss, the latter being a very important clue to making a diagnosis
of this type (methanol) poisoning.  In severe cases the liver, kidneys,
heart and lungs show dangerous signs of degeneration." 

These symptoms are what we are seeing in the population on a grand scale, 
the reason for the warning flyers we distribute worldwide.  People see 
the symptoms and realize what the culprit, and hopefully get off of it 
before it takes their life.  

Dr. Austin goes on about CHRONIC OR PROLONGED EXPOSURE IN HUMANS: "Many 
of the signs and symptoms of intoxication due to methanol ingestion are 
not specific to methyl (wood) alcohol.  For example, headache, ear 
buzzing, dizziness, nausea and unsteady gait (intoxicated or drunk type 
of walking), gastrointestinal disturbances, weakness, vertigo, chills, 
memory lapses, numbness and shooting pains in the lower extremities, 
hands and forearms, behavioral disturbances and neuritis.  The most 
distinctive signs and symptoms of this type of poisoning in humans are 
the various visual disturbances such as:  misty vision, progressive 
contraction of the visual fields (tunnel vision) mist before the eyes, 
blurring of vision and indistinct vision."

We are having a lot of problems with pilots having vision problems from 
aspartame.  They are reporting to the Worldwide Pilot Hotline  (214 352-4268)
and keeping them quite busy.  You may remember that the American Airliner 
that fell out of the sky in December was reported as "pilot error - 
tunnel vision"!  Many of them are having grand mal seizures in the 
cockpits of commercial airliners full of passengers.  In fact, I asked 
Mary Stoddard of the Worldwide Pilot Hotline just yesterday could she 
give a number of how many seizures there had been.  She said: "They are 
still putting them in the database and haven't come to a total count as yet."
They come in quite frequently.  The United States Air Force warned all 
pilots off this neurotoxin in their journal FLYING SAFETY in May 1992.  
We quote it on our flyer:

"...Some people have suffered aspartame related disorders with doses as 
small as that carried in a single stick of chewing gum.  This could mean 
a pilot who drinks diet sodas is more susceptible to flicker vertigo, or 
to flicker-induced epileptic activity.  It also means that all pilots are 
potential victims of sudden memory loss, dizziness during instrument 
flight and gradual loss of vision."    Thank you, United States Air Force!
The Navy said the same thing in Navy Physiology!

And they are having a great deal of problems with methanol even in the 
plants.  Dr. Austin quotes one case:  "A 21 year old non-drinking male 
who had been exposed daily to the fine dust of aspartame (NutraSweet) at 
the packaging plant he had been working at for over one year, was 
complaining of blurred vision, headaches, dizziness, and depression 
before his sudden death.  An autopsy revealed liver, kidneys, heart and 
lungs degeneration (disease).  The damage to the heart was as if the man 
had been an alcoholic between the ages of 30 and 50 and up to 50% of his 
food intake for over a 10 to 15 year period was alcohol.  Mind you, he 
was a 21 year old non-drinker!!   But I only have one soft drink daily 
with NutraSweet, surly that can't kill me, right?  "

Incidently, the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network keeps the autopsy 
reports on file of those who die from NutraSweet, and they have this one.

A good deal of Dr. Austin's newsletter is quoted from Dr. Woodrow Monte's
report:  ASPARTAME; METHANOL AND THE PUBLIC HEALTH (JOURNAL OF APPLIED 
NUTRITION, VOLUME 36, NUMBER 1, 1984).  Dr. Monte said back then that the 
public use of this toxin might constitute the test of its safety!  It has 
- we have seen all the things he said would happen on a large scale 
worldwide.  He pleaded with Congress and the FDA to stop the insanity of 
marketing this poison.  His eloquent concluding remarks should never be
forgotten:

"I am sure you have been pressured by the petitioner's attorneys.  You 
must remember you are the American's public last defense; you must be 
strong to this mandate, for once you allow usage there is literally 
nothing I or my colleagues can do to reverse the course."

It fell on deaf ears, and the prophecy continues to be fulfilled as 
aspartame continues to insult the human constitution causing disease and 
death -- and three worldwide organizations - Mission Possible - the 
Aspartame Consumer Safety Network and Worldwide Pilot Hotline send 
worldwide alerts warning all we can get to, to get off this toxin and 
escape the horrors we see daily from this poison!



Betty Martini
Domain:  betty at pd.org
UUCP:  ...!emory!pd.org!betty

On Thu, 3 Aug 1995 06BROOKS at CUA.EDU wrote:

> jvogel at crl.com (John M. Vogel) wrote:
> >
> > Betty Martini (betty at noel.pd.org) wrote:
> > 
> > : Methanol is classified as a narcotic.
> > 
> > You're fabricating; Methanol is *not* a narcotic.
> > 
> > John, R.N.
> > jvogel at crl.com
> > 
> As Re: MEOH.....
> 
> Methanol is a solvent, not 'narcotic'...where are the chemists' in the
> group:>?
> 
> What is this set of links, anyway?
> 
> Would appreciate a synopsis so I can join the debate.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> CMB
> 
>