URGENT: NutraSweet/MENTHANOL/TRUTH

[06BROOKS at CUA.EDU]

Betty Martini <betty at noel.pd.org> wrote:
>
> 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
> > 
> >