by Long Island Attorney Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
The FDA, entrusted to protect the American people, has rendered their decision on two separate petitions to ban the controversial sweetener aspartame as a food additive. Notwithstanding the litany of reported side effects and studies raising serious questions and issues as to the safety of aspartame, the FDA has deemed it safe for Americans to consume. The basis for their decision, was that there is a lack of "substantive scientific evidence" that aspartame presents a public health risk.
Aspartame is said to have been discovered in 1965 by a Searle Company chemist. The Searle Company repeatedly sought FDA approval of aspartame in the subsequent years. Due to numerous setbacks with the FDA, many of which are alleged to be a result of falsified and manipulated data, it took almost 20 years to obtain the FDA's blessing. In 1981 and 1983 respectively, aspartame was approved by the FDA to be used in dry foods and diet soft drinks. This approval came under the then new Commissioner Dr. Arthur Hayes, who left the FDA approximately one month thereafter. Dr. Hayes, reportedly within a few months of leaving the FDA, secured employment with Searle's advertising agency. Noteworthy is that in 1985, shortly after the FDA's approval of aspartame in 1983, Monsanto reportedly bought Searle Company and made it their own.
The claimed side effects of Aspartame are innumerable, from memory loss, seizures, vision loss, tumors, neurological disorders to gastrointestinal disorders and more. To many people it comes as no surprise that the FDA would fail to ban such a controversial food additive and fail to error on the side of caution when it comes to the health of Americans. The FDA's history with the Food Industry and the Biotech Industry speaks for itself. In the United States under the protection of the FDA, obesity is out of control and our country is far from ranking among the healthiest in the world. So how much more "substantial scientific evidence" does the FDA need, to see the error of their ways? Unfortunately, as found in big business and politics, greed appears to continue to reign supreme with the American people paying the price.
Long Island Lawyer
Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
www.liattorney.com
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