bionet.neuroscience.not.aspartame

[Betty Martini]

Dear Andy:  I've spoken with the MS Society on several occasions and 
specificly asked them what they do for the MS patient.  All I could ever 
get out of them was they give them information.  I discussed the MS 
Society with Richard Wilson who lost his wife to NutraSweet.  She had the 
MS symptoms you get from NutraSweet (neurological symptoms, loss of 
equilibrium, etc.) and he said he asked for their help in alerting people 
with MS they should abstain from NutraSweet so what happened to his wife 
would not happen to others.  Had she been warned in time her symptoms 
were due to NutraSweet they could have saved her.  They refused.  He said 
they were only interested in contributions.

I've talked to several people about the MS Society and because I've 
always gotten the same answer, I discussed it with Dr. Roberts.  He said 
years ago when they had taken in great sums of money they even refused 
$2000.00 for research. Since he had looked into where the money went I 
asked him to elaborate.  It was like with other organizations.  The 
majority of all the money goes to their people.  You can pay high 
salaries, great bonuses, and even put your family on staff.  

Basically I've been frustrated with them because every time I call I get 
a different number when I ask for statistics and they can never tell me 
what they do.  Depending on who you talk to, at least in this city, the 
figure keeps changing.  My last question to the MS Society was: "Can you 
give me any factual number you are sure of that won't be different the 
next time I call?"  The answer was "no - we don't really know."  

Many organizations are just information centers, but at least if they 
give you information that will benefit, its something.  But take the 
American Diabetic Assn.  They give out information, too, but that 
information can be fatal.  They recommend NutraSweet for diabetics 
because they are Monsanto funded.  They REFUSE to publish factual 
information like Dr. Roberts abstract of aspartame reactors that was 
published in Clinical Research.  The very very dangerous affects of 
aspartame on a diabetic is kept from them and their physicians.  The 
endocrinologists see these patients and recommend NutraSweet because it 
is recommended by the ADA.  I wish you could have seen the look on the 
physicians' faces when they looked at the components of aspartame at the 
American College of Physicians conference in March.  One said: "We're 
recommending to our patients the very substance that is keeping their 
diabetes out of control.  How could the ADA do this to us?"  One doctor said:
"I've been a member of the ADA for 30 years - how could they?"  I answered:
"Very easy, doctor, they are funded by Monsanto and they can't take their 
money and tell diabetics how dangerous this product is.  Dr. Roberts has 
been a member for almost 40 years and they refuse to publish the 
information that would save their lives."

This particular physician asked to see more and when I showed him Dr. 
Roberts abstract he said: "This was published in Clinical Research and 
the ADA wouldn't publish it?"  He just shook his head and walked away. 

Many physicians think diabetics are suffering from diabetic retinopathy 
when, in reality, they are going blind because the methanol converts to 
formaldehyde in the retina of the eye (Aspartame:  Methanol and the 
Public Health, Dr. Woodrow Monte, Journal of Applied Nutrition, Volume 
36, number 1, 1984).  When the methanol converts to formaldehyde and then 
formic acid the patient gets metabolic acidosis.  Even the professor 
wrote me a letter when I sent him the information he requested saying it 
is vital to inform the consumer public.  

I guess I could sum it all up in one line, Andy:  THOSE RESPONSIBLE TO 
SOLVE THE PROBLEM ARE THE PROBLEM!  The pathetic thing is in the instance 
of diabetics they look to the ADA for advice and the information they 
give can take their life.  Constantly I meet diabetics who are half blind 
and out-of-control, and terribly ill because they are on NutraSweet.

When we had Dr. Roberts' seminar here on Alzheimers one man said to me:
"My mother was a diabetic.  She did well for years on saccharin.  Then 
she decided to switch to NutraSweet.  Soon she went blind, got Alzheimers 
and died a horrible death!"  Dr. Roberts said when aspartame was approved 
his diabetic patients began to present with confusion and memory loss, 
and serious vision problems.  He also says NutraSweet, in his opinion, is 
escalating Alzheimers Disease.

Somebody ought to make these organizations account for every penny.  One 
of the things Mission Possible does is get information to the medical 
profession, and we notice books are being rewritten.  For instance, Dr. 
Robert Atkins who wrote the famous Atkins Diet just wrote a new book 
called HEALTH REVELATIONS and in it he retracts his original statements 
saying aspartame is safe.  I think I have that retraction on email and if 
I can find it I will forward it.  I think the Yeast Connection has been 
rewritten too because of aspartame.  We also get information to writers 
of books on diet and nutrition.  

I might also mention that I read the ADA's magazine Forecast and it was 
full of ads for products that contained NutraSweet, advertising what they 
considered safe for the diabetic.  As Dr. Russell Blaylock, neurosurgeon, 
has said - aspartame actually triggers diabetes!  The reason we work so 
hard at alerting the public is that so many, like diabetics, have been
sacrificed out of greed.  We must care, Andy, we all work free!  

And I wouldn't even get me started on the American Dietetics Assn.
I will forward an article about them where they admit that NutraSweet 
writes their material - and they too recommend this chemical poison as 
safe for diabetics and pregnant women.  When you think of the babies that 
have been sacrificed you could weep.  As Dr. James Bowen once said: 
"fetal tissue doesn't tolerate methanol."

These organizations know what they are doing.  They have been given 
enough documentation.   

Incidently, even though this may not be the place for a discussion on 
organizations, what I'm telling you is well known.  Dr. Julian Whitaker 
in January, 1995 wrote a supplement titled THE AMERICAN DIETETIC 
ASSOCIATION MUST BE STOPPED IN ITS TRACTS.  He says: "You must realize 
the American Dietetic Association is simply a private trade association 
of dieticians that functions more like a cheerleader for big business.  
Like childish rock stars wearing a sign that says, "Give money, will 
endorse," they join hands with large food and pharmaceutical companies.  
If this group has any concept of conflict of interest, it is all but 
invisible.  ADA proudly flaunts it financial ties to multinational food 
and drug companies."

"In April of this year, callers to the ADA free "public information" 
hotline were told that this "public service" was funded in part by 
Monsanto, makers of NutraSweet.  Notice the paradox here.  The ADA 
endorses NutraSweet, a non-nutritive chemical sweetener that breaks down 
in your body into methyl alcohol and formaldehyde, and has been the 
subject of more "adverse reaction reports" to the FDA than any food 
additive in history.  But it publicly embarrasses a Ph.D. nutritionist 
for saying that vitamins may enhance the immune system of the elderly!"

Thank you, Dr. Whitaker!  His ending said it all: "You R.D.s that are 
angry with me, the messenger, had best check the message.  Your leaders 
don't lead - they intimidate.  Their agenda is simply a blueprint for 
tyranny.  The rank and file should either clean house or walk away.  
There is no reason why you can't learn new things along with the rest of 
us, and earn respect, instead of hoodwinking state legislatures into 
mandating it for you.  If you continue to seek power instead of knowledge 
to coerce instead of to influence, you will only reap contempt from those 
trying to advance the field of nutrition.  Is that the legacy you wish to 
leave to your grandchildren?"  Julian Whitaker, M.D.

So you see, Andy, many times its a fight to get the truth to the public 
because of organizations that do more harm than benefit.  


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

On Mon, 28 Aug 1995, Andrew K. Groves wrote:

> In article <Pine.SUN.3.91.950828224730.11430D-100000 at noel.pd.org>, Betty
> Martini <betty at noel.pd.org> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > If I talk about an organization I talk from research and experience. 
> > 
> 
> So what has the MS Society done to earn the plaudit that " They are
> another organization that takes in contributions but helps the MS patient
> very little if at all" ?
> 
> -- 
> Andy Groves
> Division of Biology, 216-76
> California Institute of Technology
> 
>