"Anything else you're interested in doing is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet." - Carl Sagan

Let's make some positive changes, shall we? Wishing you the best in health, and best wishes from all of us at The Hullistic Network.

Janet Hull

I thought this to be extremely useful information - now I feel more empowered when shopping, and hope your readers will be, too!

Beth Christopher, Oklahoma

PS - THE THIRD OPINION RADIO SHOW with Mary Schrick airs

Mon - Fri
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There is little doubt that we are witnessing some crazy changes happening all over the world today. Earth changes, climate changes, economic changes, social changes, religious changes...well, almost everything seems to be cha-cha- changin'.

But, this is great news! Change is good, and a necessary part of living on this planet. The changes we are experiencing are normal, and to be expected. Actually, we are overdue for the cha-cha-changes that we are facing today, and if I were you, I'd be worried if we don't make changes.

We are all alive at the most exciting time in human history, and we all will be a part of historic change for the better. To resist change because it's simply "easier" to remain as we are, well, this usually means that we will inevitably face the very issues we are trying to avoid; like the many issues we face today. Instead of stuffing our pockets full of band-aides to temporarily stop the bleeding, lets collectively shift off the same ole' spot, and make real changes - changes we all know must eventually be made.

To remain where we are today means that we face an energy crisis, a water shortage, a war over oil, polluted oceans, nuclear breakdowns, dominant control by money lenders...well the list of self-imposed hardships is depressing.

Let's focus on the changes that bring about healthy food, cheap-alternative energy, the protection of endangered species, clean oceans, quality schools, the fortification of forests and farmland, the construction of green developments, and a respect for the cultures that choose to be different.

Sounds impossible, doesn't it, and a bit like a fairytale. But, this is the change we must distinguish as inevitable to pull humanity out of a very deep rut. We can fight for the last drop of oil or for the last coin in the ATM machine, but by the end of the day, this means NOTHING to the Earth on which our ultimate survival depends, and upon which humanity has no control. It is time to realize that humanity is no longer in synch with our planet, and as hard as we try to avoid making changes, the Earth will one day force us to. Let's begin now so we are better prepared for the changing future.

Ah, think about home schools and small community schools, no more over-priced pharmaceuticals, and no more GMOs. There are protected forests, honeybees, clear blue oceans, inexpensive alternative energy.... It makes you feel good just reading the list, doesn't it?

Let me share a clip from my new book, As The World Turns to open awareness to the real changes ahead - changes we cannot avoid any longer:

In recent years, dramatic discoveries in scientific research have unfolded, primarily due to computer technology. Yet, advances in science are not able to answer most of the questions we have about the Earth and the other planets. Actually, we know very little about our planet's origin, why our magnetic field reverses, when the next earthquake or volcanic eruption will occur, or why we are all here, living in a zillion different shapes and sizes.

Maybe we are looking in the wrong places. Perhaps we need to look for the answers hidden within the Earth itself.

We go about our daily lives giving little thought to the influences of the Sun, to the fact that without gravity, we'd be spinning off into space, or how a Chameleon can change its colors when it is colorblind. Few of us spend time wondering why nature is the way it is, where we all come from, and where we go from here. Most everyone is unaware that the Earth turns on its axis like a spinning toy top, wobbling to and fro at the North Pole until it eventually tips over. We have long forgotten that the magnetic field inside our bodies lines up with the Earth's magnetic field, and when the Earth shifts, we physically shift with it.

For many of us, our focus is engrossed in the stresses of daily life, but our bodies were not created to handle the amount of stress that we endure in the way that we tolerate it. In an ideal world, we are merely along for the ride here; touching, feeling, tasting, and experiencing the natural world that the Earth has so graciously bestowed to all things. In nature, resources are free and unlimited, but over the past few hundred years, mankind has coveted them, and this has interrupted the Earth's ability to restore them.

Today, just being for a human being carries a hefty price tag, and this has led our species far down the wrong road. We have now reached a point on this journey where decisions must be made. Many of us don't even know what those decisions are because we have long forgotten the questions. Families, tribes, social classes, nations, and races have lost sight of the fact that we all share life within this Earthly paradise.

The more complex societies become, the more conditions we place on each other and on nature. In our attempt to manage the chaos that we have created, we create more. Our edicts are unnatural laws of nature; they no longer maintain a healthy relationship with the Earth. We have put giving back to nature on the back burner.

The Earth is changing today and in dramatic ways. Drastically changing weather patterns, increases in powerful earthquakes, the rise in tsunamis and global flooding, astonishing volcanic eruptions, and powerful tornadoes seem to inconvenience us more than stimulate our understanding of unpredictable Earth processes. Many disbelieve when faced with grave and imminent danger or a catastrophe. We must realize that we cannot stop major Earth events, so in order to survive as a species, we must change the way we look at them.

We build towering buildings on top of earthquake zones. We construct double-Decker bridges across miles of splintered oceans. We build cities and airports at the bases of volcanoes, and design housing developments and hospitals on flood plains. Then we blame nature when earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis destroy our possessions. Our focus on money is distorting our awareness that this planet is mightier than the dollar. Nature can change in an instant, and it is, right now, right under our noses, while we keep our eyes focused on profits.

It's never too late to reverse our direction to find our way back to living in harmony with nature - realistically living in harmony with nature. This, of course, is easier said than done, but will inevitably result in the most phenomenal change in human knowledge since the beginning of societies. By adopting a new view of the Earth, we can thrust our wishes and desires in the right direction, into a place that is more down-to-earth, and certainly more in synch with the on-going power of this planet.

It's time for some serious cha-cha-changes, don't you think? I'm one who's turning to face the change.

There is a difference between man-made, inorganic elements that are toxic, and nature-made, organic elements, however. Typically, the molecules are different sizes, natural elements come in "groups" that provide a buffer, organic elements are rarely isolated like we find in man-made products, and natural elements are usually found in trace amounts, which makes exposure less-toxic. However, on occasion, natural elements can become toxic if they come to the Earth's surface in greater quantities. Hence, mercury exposure is increasing because we are experiencing an increase in volcanic activity, worldwide.

I highly recommend having a hair analysis done if you are living in an area where volcanic ash may be circulating. Hopefully, exposure is merely extraneous and not internal. Any way you look at it, it is good to know if mercury is increasing within your living environment - for you, your family, and for your pets.

There are approximately 1,500 known, active volcanoes worldwide. A volcano is considered active if it has erupted in the last 10,000 years, and over 75% of the world's volcanoes, and most active volcanoes, are located along the Pacific Ocean Rim. The number of active volcanoes can only be determined at the time they erupt, however - so, um hum, they're active!!

No one has really counted all of the Earth's volcanoes because we can't see the tens of thousands on the sea floor. Around 1,511 volcanoes have erupted in the last 10,000 years, and these are still considered active. Today, there are about 60 volcanoes showing activity of some kind. On the average, 50 to 70 volcanoes activate every year, and about 160 volcanoes show activity every decade. All these volcanoes release mercury into the atmosphere.

Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe, which currently stands 3,329 meters (10,922 ft) high. Mount Etna is currently releasing mercury into the environment, and scientists are measuring the amount released as an average 2 tons per day. Mount Etna contributes about 20 tons of mercury per year into the air over the Mediterranean basin. Keep a watch on Mt Etna.

With over 60 volcanoes erupting in some capacity today, the volcanic gases are now mixing within both the atmosphere and our water. The Iceland volcanoes are impacting four groundwater springs, which find their way into the oceans.

Mercury from the underwater Mt. Sakurajima volcano in Japan is now within Kagoshima Bay. The water above the volcano in the inner bay registers large amounts of mercury compared to the water at the bay entrance, which is farther from the underwater volcano. Soil samples taken from around the bay show that the soil also contains a large amount of mercury from the volcano.

Mercury levels in the air, ash, and lava around an erupting volcano impact the vegetation, soil, water, and the atmosphere. Mercury contents of pine and spruce needles, brooms, lichens, and the soil around Mt. Etna were determined to have mercury within them, but the levels are generally low at this time, but Mt. Etna is still the main source of mercury in the Mediterranean basin. Bottom-line, the mercury is there.

Mercury is a toxic, trace metal that bioaccumulates with a long atmospheric life cycle. Volcanic mercury exists as gas, as well as particulate matter. Volcanoes are the only natural sources of direct mercury emission into the troposphere and stratosphere, and are the principal natural sources of reactive and particulate mercury in the soil and water.

If you are exposed to ambient mercury, I recommend detoxing regularly, and research quality air and water filters. But, don't get mad at Mother Nature - she's just releasing some steam....

Oh, thank you for this reminder. I wrote that article long before stevia finally got GRAS approved. You're reading a bit of history here! I have been working with the stevia importers since the 1980 and 1990s when the FDA was burning all their literature. Yep, the FDA came into the Stevita Company in Arlington, TX and literally burned their books on stevia.....this really proves the politics behind safe, alternative sweeteners, doesn't it? Three books were being distributed by the Stevita Company, who were also the owners of the Brazilian patent on stevia manufacturing. The books described the history and usage of the sweet herb, and provided recipes for stevia use. The Stevita Company was also forced by the FDA to remove all links to their Internet website, which was a clear violation of their First Amendment Rights, but they did remove the links.

Wow, huh? Stevia importers were simply trying to offer consumers a safer solution to aspartame's 20+ year monopoly. It's just nasty politics, but who's surprised?

For YEARS, the FDA ignored the overwhelming evidence of stevia's benign and beneficial qualities. Over 1500 years of safe use in other countries throughout the world meant nothing to the rickety "regulatory minds" of our government agencies supporting aspartame lobbyists. Hundreds - hundreds - of studies show how aspartame causes serious health defects, yet aspartame ranks above the safety of stevia.

After decades of stevia being kept away from consumers, after decades of stevia suppliers being harassed by the government agencies supposedly protecting our public health, and after 1500 years of safe use in countries around the world, stevia is now GRAS approved in the USA. It goes to show you that the GRAS stamp of approval is just as "manipulated" as the plethora of the many other FDA approvals. Otherwise, stevia would have gotten GRAS decades ago.

Stevia History (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoli)

In 1994 when the DSHEA (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act) went into effect, stevia remained in "limbo" while the FDA struggled to keep it off the market as a "sweetener." Stevia had been safely used for centuries around the world as a low-calorie, no "adverse affect" sweet herb. Stevia is like basil or oregano; it's simply an "herb" that is sweet. Stevia can be found as crushed leaves, as a liquid tincture, or as a fluffy white powder. Unlike aspartame, stevia is safe to cook with.

Stevia is less expensive to use than synthetic, chemical sweeteners, and despite the FDA's attempts to keep stevia off the American market, more and more consumers began using stevia because they were rejecting the pharmaceutical "versions of sugar." Consumers will never stop searching for the ideal "healthy" sweetener.

Stevia was a threat to aspartame from the very beginning, and this sweetener battle made it hard for the consumer to simply choose a healthy sugar-free product. As the fight for profits escalated, we were left with no healthy choices.

Interestingly, natural herbs, like basil and stevia, typically do not cause "health problems" like the artificial chemicals created in a laboratory do, but as soon as stevia became GRAS, it began getting scrutinized as unsafe based on "new lab studies." Hum, will they do this to basil and oregano one day? Only if it pinches someone's profits.....

The FDA now publicizes two questionable studies as proof that stevia is not safe. A graduate student in South America claiming stevia has a mild contraceptive property did the first study. The other study, published in 1988 in a Brazilian pharmacological journal, showed that stevia might be unsafe by creating a hypoglycemic effect on some individuals.

An interesting point here is that both of these studies were done outside of the USA, yet the studies performed outside of the USA showing aspartame causes lymphoma and leukemia, however, are not recognized by the FDA as credible; hence, these studies have been ignored and debunked.

Hum.

Is the FDA grasping at straws to support their prejudice against stevia as a sweetener, while continuing to promote aspartame to secure profits for stockholders? We have national health care issues flooding the streets of Washington, yet aspartame is allowed to remain in the public food supply without question. Can you imagine how much money our health care system would save if aspartame were just taken off the market? Hum. Do our government agencies and leaders really want to save money within our health care system, or do they prefer to protect their stocks at the expense of the average consumer? None of this makes any sense.

Hum.

A: I have so many clients with MS, Parkinson's, diabetes, and epilepsy caused by aspartame, but certainly worsened by aspartame use.

This DVD I am recommending for you to watch is about MS caused by aspartame, but the principals will be the same for your son's diabetes, and the cause and effect is the same. Aspartame dissolves inside of the body and travels to the organs, into the brain, and throughout all body tissues. It can create damage in many different ways depending on the specific weaknesses one has. Your son has been a sitting target for the continuous destruction caused by the chemicals in aspartame. It is not your fault - it is the fault of our government watch-dog agencies and the AMA that have both failed consumers because of profits made on these toxic sweeteners.

Get this DVD (below), and begin researching how to detox your son - clean him up, get him full of healthy food and vitamins ASAP, and you can stop this from getting out of control. DVD: http://thetruthaboutstuff.com/ by Dr. Woodrow Monte, PhD.

I do suggest letting me do a hair analysis on him - there is no time to waste - we can get him on a program to stop further damage and restore the damage that has been done - damage caused by aspartame.

Kids are amazingly resilient, so do not give up hope.

Kept In The Dark
Q: I don't know anything about this stuff, but it is very interesting because I think I have had aspartame poisoning all the time the doctors have been searching and found nothing.

A: Thank you for your email. I am glad that you have now learned the truth about the diet sweetener dangers, and isn't it sad that this truth is being kept from the consumer as if we don't know what we're talking about? I hold hope that one day enough people will believe this truth, and sadly, understand how much it is being manipulated.

For now, all you can do is get your health back by stopping ALL chemical sweeteners, and spread the word to others who are just now becoming aware of this issue. Your doctor is merely one of the millions of humans who has no interest in learning something new, or no control over his own practice, so restore your health without his help, and then you can teach him something new!

One day, enough people will stop buying these artificial sweeteners, and their profits will go down. That's the only thing these corporations understand.

Aspartame and Eye Problems
Q: My right eyes started to blur (like having cataract), when I use aspartame. I have used it for over 20 years, so could this be the cause?

A: You are wise to connect your health symptoms to aspartame use. Aspartame has been proven in many laboratory studies to create eye problems. The methanol is proven to adversely affect the eyes. Sadly, this information is not promoted over the tremendous profits these sweeteners bring the corporations making and selling them.

Know that the research is available to support your concerns, and you can go to my newsletter archives and search for aspartame studies, and download some of the recent research proving aspartame dangers. http://www.janethull.com/newsletter/

Anytime aspartame is used and health symptoms appear, or get worse, always stop using all diet products, return to a healthier diet of real foods, drink plenty of water, and more than likely, you will notice the improvement in your health rather quickly.

The best in health,

- Janet Hull

The biggest volcano on Earth is one of the five volcanoes in Hawaii - Mauna Loa. It towers 13,000 feet above sea level.

The fine ash particles in the atmosphere from a volcano make sunsets more colorful.

Volcanoes that are not currently active, but may erupt again, are labeled dormant.

Iceland is known as the land of fire and ice because it sits on top of some of the most active volcanoes at the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge.

The volcano under Yellowstone is a supervolcano, the most formidable of volcanoes.

Indonesia is thought to have the largest number of active volcanoes - a total of 76.

The volcanic rock called pumice is the only rock that can float on water.

There are at least 1,500 active volcanoes across the globe.

The underground, volcanic chambers that contain magma can quietly remain underground for hundreds of years.

The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines spewed 22 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, which encircled the entire planet and brought the global temperature down 0.5 degrees C (0.9 degrees F).

Creamy Asian Slaw

Ingredients:

10 oz cooking cream (cream cheese)
¼ cup Asian toasted sesame dressing*
12 oz broccoli slaw
½ cup golden raisins
½ cup slivered almonds

Method

1. Combine cooking creme and dressing in a large bowl;
2. Add remaining ingredients;
3. Toss to coat;
4. Cool in refrigerator for 1 hour;
5. Stir before serving.

Serves:16; about 1/2 cup each
Prep Time:15 minutes + refrigeration

Substitute if near Mt. Etna, Italy: for an Italian twist, prepare as directed, adding Italian herbs and spices to the cooking creme, and Tuscan Italian dressing (oil and vinegar).

Recipes found on: Cook Philly.com

* Katie's Asian Toasted Sesame Salad Dressing

2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2-3 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs sesame oil (optional) plus extra virgin olive oil to make 1/2 cup
2 tsp sesame seeds, toasted**
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp ginger

1. Whisk apple cider vinegar, olive oil, optional sesame oil and soy sauce.
2. Whiz the garlic and toasted sesame seeds in a mini-food processor until garlic is in small pieces.
3. Combine and enjoy!

*To toast sesame seeds, put them on a dry cookie sheet in the toaster oven and toast on light once or twice until lightly browned and aromatic. No toaster oven? You could certainly use a regular oven on low heat - just watch the closely every few minutes to make sure they don't burn. I'm thinking you could also put them in a hot, dry pan and stir constantly until browned, but I haven't tried that myself.
Store in the fridge (I think?) and try to remember to take it out a half hour before dinner, because the olive oil will solidify when cold.

From "Kitchen Stewardship"

The real reason market tomatoes don't taste as good as homegrown

As the increase in radiation from the March 11, 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan makes its way into everyone's life around the world, we are re-running an interview I did with Dr. Hildegarde Staninger concerning ways to detox from radioactive toxins in the air, water and soil. Barefoot Radiation Detox Guide brought to you by the Advertisers of The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper and Rob McConnell, Xzoneradiotv.com.

Dr. Hildegarde Staninger and Dr. Janet Starr Hull - Barefoot Radiation-Exposed Person's Guidebook

Rob McConnell welcomes Dr. Janet Starr Hull as Janet shares her experience in radiation cleanup in Europe, and her protocols for protecting and detoxing the body from radiation exposure.

Rob McConnell welcomes Dr. Staninger to discuss her expertise in cleansing the body and building a strong, healthy system to ward off radiation resulting from the radiation disaster in Japan.

Wishing you the best in health, and best wishes from all of us at The Hullistic Network.

Janet Hull

National chains like 'Sprouts®' carry many products with artificial sweeteners in them, especially 'Hansen's®" sodas. Your information has quite possibly saved another life. Mine. May God bless you and yours.

I have an existing malignant tumor (GI tract) that has been well on its way to being asymptomatic and in remission. Subsequent to starting on the Sprout's/Hansen's diet sodas approximately three months ago, I recently began to experience symptoms that I'm very familiar with. Even though I suspected the Splenda, and discontinued the sodas as a precaution, your information confirmed my suspicions. My symptoms are gradually abating now that I have stopped all diet chemicals. Thanks again!!

When you were a baby, you pooped after every feeding. Your body gathered the nutrients from what you were fed, and then eliminated the waste that it did not use. Within 1 to 2 hours after your digestion was complete, you pooped the waste products.

Dogs, cats, squirrels, snakes and lizards do the exact same thing. They eat, they digest, and then they poop.

Well, human beings are no different. It is normal to eliminate your waste 3 times a day after eating 3 healthy and nutrient-rich meals. If your elimination isn't on this time schedule, then you need to carefully scrutinize what you are eating, and when.

Typically, city dwellers who work outside of their homes have issues with elimination. You certainly don't want to have to go to the bathroom in the middle of rush hour traffic. If your highway is a crawl way, you're out of luck. (There's an expression that fits this scenario very well...)

If you are counting the morning minutes to get the kids up and ready for school at the same time you feed the house pets and get your spouse out the door, when is there time to relax and allow your body the time it needs to eliminate your waste from the night before? You rush out the door and hope the "urge" to clear your bowels waits until you get to work. Once there, you really wish you could wait until you get back to the privacy of your home after work to do your business. Hence, the day passes without any efficient elimination. So, goes each day, right?

This lifestyle is unhealthy, and as time goes by, your body doesn't eliminate as it should. The result - an unhealthy colon, allergies, and constipation.

Here's a suggestion: if you work outside of your home, wake up an hour before you need to "start your day" so that you can be relaxed. Give yourself ample time to have your morning eliminations - ideally, you should have 2 or 3 bowel movements first thing in the morning to clear out the waste from the night's deep cleaning. When your bowels are healthy, you do not need to concentrate, focus, or work at this. A healthy bowel movement comes quickly and completely, and you have little time to dilly-dattle around - your body will let you know, and when it's ready - it's ready! You'll be bolting for the bathroom.

Set this morning goal, and follow these tips:

1. Drink at least 8 oz of water first thing in the morning;
2. Drink plenty of water throughout the day;
3. Do an herbal colon cleanse at least twice every year;
4. Use the French Green clay at least 1 week every 3 months;
5. Add a tablespoon of olive oil, flax seed oil, or coconut oil to your diet daily;
6. Take ascorbic acid (vitamin C NOT from corn) daily to bowel tolerance.

Healthy elimination is a key to maintaining good health. Bottom-line, this is the real poop scoop.

Let me share a story explaining why enzymes are so important for digestion:

Bill was a bus driver who experimented over a period of years with various nutrients from the health food store. Taking one vitamin at a time, he'd see how they affected his health. One evening, he reported what he thought were unrelated events. Bill had taken some pancreatic enzymes and his nasal allergies cleared up. "Could digestive enzymes be affecting my nasal passages?" he asked.

Yes, they can. Enzymes in the bloodstream can digest foreign protein in the body outside of the digestive tract - even in the nasal passages or any other tissues in the body.

Pollen is approximately 50 percent protein. When it enters into the body, this, or any other foreign protein, will cause toxic reactions if not properly detoxified or digested. Foreign or undigested protein is highly toxic to the body anywhere it makes contact.

There is no reason digestion must be confined to the digestive tract. On the contrary, there is abundant biological proof that proteins can be digested (broken down into their constituent amino acids) anywhere the proteolytic, or protein digesting enzymes, are present under the right conditions of temperature, moisture, etc. Thus, digestive enzymes can effectively digest foreign protein anywhere in the body if these enzymes are present and in contact with these foreign proteins. Therefore, these proteolytic enzymes are an integral and necessary part of the immune system and disease recovery.

So, digestion can take place anywhere in the body where these enzymes are found.

It is well known that these enzymes are produced in the pancreas and enter the small intestines just below the stomach through the common bile duct. Here, they digest the foreign protein going through the intestinal tract. What is not well-known is that a healthy person produces an excess of these enzymes over and above the amount needed for digestion of food protein, and this excess is picked up by the blood and carried to every cell in the body. These enzymes are found in the blood of all healthy individuals.

People with cancer typically need more digestive enzymes. This is one of the reasons Drs. Richardson and Krebs identified cancer as a "deficiency disease."

People with allergies tend to develop cancer at a higher rate than people who are relatively free from allergy. Both are caused by toxicity in the body and inadequate elimination of toxins. Statistically, there is never cancer at the juncture of the common bile duct and the small intestine. There is certainly cancer above this point in the mouth, esophagus, and stomach. There is cancer below this point in both the small and large intestines, but there is a curious relationship here. In direct proportion, further down the intestinal tract from the common bile duct, the greater the incidence of cancer. What enters the intestines through the common bile duct that has such potent anti-cancer effect? The protein digestive enzymes.

Pancreatic enzymes are able to control even nasal allergies because digestion by enzymes of pollen and other foreign protein can, and does, take place in the nasal passages and other tissues of the body. Dosage recommendations of up to four tablets, four times a day are sometimes suggested for severe problems. Enzymes are essentially non-toxic.

Pancreatic enzymes can be found in the blood of a healthy person, but they cannot be found in the blood of the cancer patient. The enzyme producing capacity of the cancer patient is commonly reduced and overloaded by the food proteins that are depleting the total proteolytic enzyme output; so, none remain to be picked up by the blood.

Vegetarians have a much lower incidence of cancer than meat eaters because they are not overloading their digestive capacity. People on a high meat, protein diet need more hydrochloric acid-producing capacity in the stomach and a higher output of proteolytic enzymes than do vegetarians.

Statistics show that 50 percent of Americans over 40 do not produce enough acid in the stomach. These same figures apply to enzyme production as well.

Pump up your digestion because it's not just in your stomach.

I had a friend send me an article that she had come across entitled "ASPARTAME POISONING" MILLIONS OF AMERICANS ARE BEING MISDIAGNOSED WITH MS, AND OTHER ILLNESSES WHEN IT IS ACTUALLY ASPARTAME POISONING. Needless to say, it got my attention

I read the article and decided to just stop all of anything that was diet or had aspartame in it. To be honest, I did not think it would make any difference, but let me tell you, my initial MRI showed 19 lesions on my brain. After being off the aspartame products for 6 months, the MRI showed only 2 lesions, and the last one I had, like a year later, showed no more lesions. That was great.

I no longer had to deal with the muscle spasms, confusion, and weight gain. To this day, if I happen to ingest something that has aspartame in it and I don't realize it, I find out soon because I begin to have the memory loss and the spasms all over again. So, I just pour water down me and stay away from anything that I am not sure is aspartame-free. Then everything goes back to normal again.

This is not some made up story - it is very real. I sure wish this stuff would be taken off the market - not just for my sake, but for the sake of other innocent victims.

I just had lunch with a friend whose husband is a diabetic, and about everything he eats has some sort of sugar substitute in it, like the aspartame. She just told me that he has been having a whole lot of problems with memory loss lately. She thought it was due to his age, but I told her about my situation and told her to see if he could stop ingesting anything that has sugar subs in it to see if his memory improves.

It is really scary to me to think about how many people are on medications for diseases that they really don't have. Yet they continue to feed themselves this poison and wonder why they are not getting better???

I am well now, and I'll never touch that stuff again.

1. Big Ag and Monsanto take over research universities and turn them into pro-industry propaganda machines:

http://www.naturalnews.com/035930_Monsanto_universities_propaganda.html

2. Monsanto Presents: Big Ag 101 - Playing at a Campus Near You - Food Integrity Campaign:

http://foodwhistleblower.org/blog/23-2012/385-monsanto-presents-big-ag-101-playing-at-a-campus-near-you

A: Oh gosh - thank you for sending this to me. Whenever you mention Monsanto + University Agriculture and Environmental Science departments all in one sentence - that spells trouble!

I would probably label that as a bribe, but the universities are allowing it and are selling their ethics out to the big corps. That is the biggest issue - can't anyone say "no" to the need for greed? Money - it's all for money. Not for quality education. Not for ethical education. Not for integrity. And students figure this out, believe me....and when they do - and are told to be "quiet" about it - well, the university just taught, and confirmed, their true level of integrity. That's a sad lesson to learn, and how disappointing for that university....they aren't what they seem, eh? So, it's up to the university to say "no." The better universities will do this, hopefully.

Reselling Old Food
Q: I've heard that in order to save money, some corporations are repackaging older food into new packaging and reselling it. Is this true?

A: Sadly, it appears this is being allowed. The Activist Post had an article about this. Go to this link: FDA Allows Corporations To 'Recondition' Old Food and read their research.

This is disgusting, don't you think? Are the corporations so desperate in today's world that they have to squeeze every penny out of consumers to line their pockets at any cost? And find the latest scams concerning school lunches. Ah, don't get me started about that. It's sad, so sad what's happening to public food....but, we're figuring out these new problems before too much damage is done!

More About the Earth Expansion Theory
Q: After listening to your radio program, I thought I would forward some links to add some interesting information. I think that you would really want to read these.

http://www.polarpublishing.com/#expanding
http://eearthk.com/Readings.html
http://www.continuitystudios.net/nmu.html

Cheers

A: Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness. Thank goodness for the Internet making it possible to keep the truth and needed information public. I am amazed that this basic science is so hard to access, and that people are not being taught any of this. To me, controlling the information and science behind Earth changes and Nature's cycles is an over-the-top manipulation. Good golly, the masses are not slaves to the rulers - it is time we realize this, and stand up and defend our birthrights on this planet. It's time we start respecting and taking care of the Earth before it's too late for humanity's healthy survival. We CAN prevent an apocalypse - we can. We are just being kept from doing it because "someone" will lose his or her dominant cash flow.

Good gads, it is time for some changes - they are long overdue, really.

Gum Almost Killed Me
Q: I thought gums were completely safe and approved by the FDA as safe for children, as well. My gum almost killed me. Is there something we can do about this, legally?

A: Isn't this a shame that they put aspartame and the other toxic chemical sweeteners in ALL gum and do not label them as sugar-free? Yep, the millions of children chewing these gums, and the moms thinking it is better for their children, is a real crime, I think. The corps KNOW these gums are unhealthy, and they know these diet chemicals have been proven as carcinogens. How can they sleep at night? I guess they "assume" there is a smaller amount in gum, so no harm can come from that, right? Wrong. With all our freedom and technology in America, I can't understand how these companies get by with such blatant deceptions.

Well, as long as people buy this junk, they'll keep selling it with a grin on their faces as they drive to their bank to make a deposit.

I am glad that you figured this one out, and are now on your way to health! Keep spreading the word.

The best in health,

- Janet Hull

Chemicals in your saliva start digestion in your mouth.

Your muscles squeeze food down your esophagus like squeezing a tube of toothpaste.

The intestines in an adult are at least 25 feet long. The intestines in a horse are 89 feet long.

About 1.7 liters (2 quarts) of saliva are produced in your mouth every day.

Indigestion can be a lack of food enzymes.

Gas is basically produced by foods that have indigestible or excess carbohydrates, which are not absorbed when they get to the colon.

Food is either cooled or warmed in your mouth to a suitable temperature.

Your stomach is a muscle that mashes food into pulp.

It takes about three hours for food to move through the intestines.

Digestive enzymes play a vital role in breaking food down so it can be absorbed by your body.

Roasted Beet & Fennel Salad with Manchego Cheese

Ingredients:

4 oz Manchego cheese
¼ tsp dried rosemary leaves, crushed
¼ tsp course ground pepper
8 cups baby spinach leaves
4 medium beets, peeled, thinly sliced and roasted*
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
½ cup raspberry or balsamic vinaigrette dressing

* To roast beets, lightly coat pan with Olive Oil; sprinkle with ¼ tsp ground pepper; place on baking pan and bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees F, or until tender, turning halfway through baking time.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F; using a vegetable peeler, shave cheese into 1x2 inch pieces;
2. Place half of the pieces on parchment paper-lined baking pan;
3. Sprinkle with rosemary and pepper;
4. Bake 3-5 minutes or until crisp and golden brown around the edges;
5. Cool completely before removing from pan;
6. Place spinach, beets, and fennel in large bowl;
7. Pour dressing over greens, toss until coated;
8. Place equal amounts of salad onto 4 plates;
9. Top with remaining shaved cheese and tuck the baked cheese along the edge;
10. Serve immediately.

Serves:4; about 2 cups each
Prep Time:30 minutes
Total Time:50 minutes

From Couch Potato to One of the World's Fittest Men

On April 18th, I had the pleasure of doing a radio show on aspartame dangers with Dr. Woodrow Monte. Other than my phone battery crackling off and on, it was an excellent 2-hour show hosted by Dr. Hildegarde Staninger. Click here to listen to the archives of the live show.

Wishing you the best in health, and best wishes from all of us at The Hullistic Network.

Janet Hull

It's been thirty years since aspartame first came on the market as NutraSweet/Equal®. Researchers warned us as early as the 1960s that this artificial sugar substitute was harmful to human health, but their warnings never reached the consumer. Today, the scientific research continues with the hope that the findings that aspartame causes cancer, memory loss, birth defects, leukemia, and lymphoma will finally get through to public awareness. The question most people ask are why aspartame is still on the market and why the FDA insists that it is safe? Aspartame's history reveals the answer, and that involves a complex and alarming chronicle of events.

The Sweetener Timeline:

1965. G.D. Searle chemist, James Schlatter, discovered aspartame as a sweetener while originally testing the chemical compound for an ulcer drug. His boiling flask bubbled over; the formula spilled; Schlatter's ledger fell to the floor; he licked his fingers to pick up the fallen papers, and he unexpectedly discovered aspartame was incredibly sweet.

G.D. Searle switched their FDA approval application from an ulcer drug to the newest sweetener food additive.

1969. Physician and Biochemist, Dr. Harry Waisman, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin and Director of the University's Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Memorial Laboratories for Mental Retardation Research, approached G.D. Searle to conduct a study on the effects of aspartame on Phenylketonurics (PKU). An expert on PKU, Dr. Waisman proposed to study the genetic disorder in response to aspartame using primates. Dr. Waisman's experiments resulted in the following:

Of the seven infant monkeys fed aspartame mixed with milk, one died after 300 days and five other monkeys suffered grand mal seizures. Dr. Waisman reported his findings to G. D. Searle, but Searle never submitted the test results to the FDA. (In the 1975 investigations, the FDA Investigative Task Force first discovered Dr. Waisman's 1969 study and questioned Searle why the study had been deleted from FDA records. They did not receive an answer.)

Before he completed his study, Dr. Waisman was killed in an automobile accident in March of 1971.

The FDA considered his research important, but in 1980, his findings were dismissed as incomplete.
After his death, G.D. Searle granted researcher Ann Reynolds funds to study Waisman's findings.

According to Congressional records, her findings were fragmented as she evaluated plasma aspartic acid levels only; not the neurotoxicity or seizure potentiality of phenylalanine, as did Dr. Waisman.

Primates were never used in further aspartame research. All subsequent studies submitted by Searle to the FDA were performed on rodents. Unfortunately, the tests on rodents were not as accurate as those using primates. The rodents had to be fed at least 60 times more aspartame than the primates in order to duplicate the intake effect on humans, resulting in inaccuracies between the tests.

The safety of saccharin was tested at this time, and the laboratory rats used in the studies were fed the equivalent of 600 to 800 cans of diet soda with saccharin per day. There was a public outcry over the potential abuse related to the excessive amount of saccharin fed to the test animals, but a proposed ban on saccharin began.

1970. The safety of saccharin was seriously being questioned, and the FDA banned cyclamate. The Director of the FDA Toxicological Services Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Robert Scheuplein stated, "The decision to ban cyclamate was more a matter of politics than science. Meetings were not held. Things were not pursued. Work was not done. The people who were involved at the time were inadequate to the job. "

Dr. John Olney, Research Psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry at The Washington School of Medicine, began his research on the safety of aspartame.

1971. Dr. Olney informed G.D. Searle that the aspartic acid in aspartame caused holes to form in the brains of his test mice. Ann Reynolds, the same researcher hired by Searle to investigate Dr. Waisman's findings, was again contracted by Searle to investigate Dr. Olney's findings. She confirmed his findings in a similar study.

1973. G.D. Searle petitioned the FDA for approval to use aspartame in all foods.
Dr. Olney and Jim Turner, J.D. met with G.D. Searle representatives to discuss Dr. Olney's research findings.

1974. FDA Commissioner Alexander Schmidt, M.D. approved aspartame as a food additive in dry foods only. Olney and Turner met with FDA Commissioner Schmidt to discuss Dr. Olney's findings.

1975. A FDA Task Force was formed to investigate aspartame safety concerns. FDA Lead Investigator, Philip Brodsky and FDA Toxicologist, Adrian Gross, M.D headed the Task Force. Both were charged with examining the original test material submitted by Searle for aspartame and their Copper-7 IUD.

After several months of investigations, the Task Force submitted a 15,000-page document with a summary of over 80 pages. They reported that the problems they found throughout the Searle studies revealed a pattern of conduct that "compromised the scientific integrity of the studies."

The FDA concluded that many of Searle's studies were questionable, and Commissioner Schmidt's 1974 aspartame approval was rescinded.

1976. As a result of the Task Force's investigation results, the first Senate Subcommittee on Labor and Public Welfare hearing was called on April 8 to discuss the safety aspartame and several other Searle drugs.

Tate & Lyle, a British sugar company, began searching for ways to blend sucrose (sugar) with laboratory chemicals, discovering sucralose (Splenda).

1977. A five member FDA Task Force headed by FDA Inspector Jerome Bressler received 15 Searle aspartame studies to examine. Bressler discovered that some of the test animals had developed uterine tumors during the research studies, and determined that some of the blood tests had been tampered with. According to Bressler's report, Searle claimed they experienced problems with their instruments, and, therefore, substituted the results of some studies with other test results.

A Rockville, Maryland firm, UAREP, examined 12 of the 15 Searle aspartame studies, and reported finding written accounts of brain tumors.

In January, FDA Chief Counsel Richard Merrill formally requested that U.S. Attorney Samuel Skinner conduct a Grand Jury investigation on the tests submitted to the FDA by G.D. Searle. The investigation was based on whether Searle "concealed material facts and made false statements in animal study reports concerning the safety of the drug aldactone and aspartame."

At this time, the FDA cited two specific aspartame studies needing special attention. One was a primate study where the monkeys suffered seizures but were never given autopsies. The second was a toxicity study on hamsters.

Attorney Skinner removed himself from the case in March, accepting a position with the law firm Sidley and Austin, hired to defend Searle in these specific investigations.

William Conlon, Senior Assistant US Attorney, was appointed US Attorney. Conlon took no action on the aspartame case, and accepted a position with Sidley and Austin later that same year.

Thomas Sullivan was appointed US Attorney, and also took no action in the aspartame investigations.

The statute of limitations for a grand jury investigation to prosecute the case expired in December.

Donald Rumsfeld, former Congressman and Chief of Staff for the Ford Administration, was hired as G.D. Searle's President. He immediately hired three government officials, John Robson, Robert Shapiro, and William Greener, Jr.

John Robson was hired as Executive Vice-president. He was a former lawyer with Sidley and Austin, and served as Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board, working with the US Department of Transportation.

Robert Shapiro was hired as Searle's general counsel, and soon became Searle's first Director of the NutraSweet Division. Shapiro was Robson's special assistant at the US Department of Transportation.

William Greener, Jr. was hired as Searle's chief spokesman. He was former spokesman for the Ford Administration.

1978. Northeastern Illinois University, Department of Psychology, submitted a study on aspartame. They documented the following research results: reproductive dysfunction in both male and female test animals; endocrine dysfunction including the pituitary gland, the thyroid gland, the ovaries, and the testes; an increase in weight; and a decrease in locomotor function.

Aspartame safety proceedings were held at The National Academy of Sciences. Research was presented showing elevated blood phenylalanine levels affecting the fetuses of mothers who carried the PKU gene, which resulted in a lower IQ and a higher incidence of developmental abnormalities in the fetus.

1979. US Attorney Tom Sullivan submitted a formal statement to the FDA stating his reasons for not prosecuting Searle on aldactone. He made no mention of aspartame.

Several independent studies on aspartame were performed. As reported in Science magazine, studies linked methanol (10 percent aspartame) to fetal alcohol syndrome and to diminished cognitive capacity in newborn rats. The New England Journal of Medicine published a study showing a high incidence of birth defects as a result of elevated phenylalanine levels in PKU women exposed to phenylalanine (50 percent aspartame).

Dr. Daniel Azarnoff, head of G.D. Searle's Research and Development Division, stated that rats eating the required amount of DKP (Diketopiperazine) in research studies had a statistically significant number of tumors in their wombs.

The FDA requested a review of the objections to aspartame approval. Routinely, Administrative Law Judges held public hearings, but in this case, the FDA suggested a Public Board of Inquiry be assembled with three scientists as opposed to judges.

1980. The Public Board of Inquiry was impaneled. The Board members were: Peter J. Lampert, M.D., Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pathology, University of California, San Diego; Vernon R. Young, PhD. Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry, M.I.T., and Walle Nauta, M.D., PhD., Institute Professor, Department of Psychology and Brain Science, M.I.T. Dr. Nauta chaired the Board.

The Board's investigation focused on the findings of the Rockville, Maryland firm, UARP (investigators from the 1977 Task Force). After a full review, the Board voted unanimously to ban aspartame for human consumption.

Dr. Nauta expressed the Board's concerns on aspartame safety based on the fact that Searle never submitted their testing procedures and protocols to the FDA, but submitted only their final research findings. The Board concluded that: "the available data on laboratory rats does not rule out the possibility of aspartame causing brain tumors, and indeed, the evidence suggests that aspartame might induce brain tumors."

After these recommendations were submitted, another investigative team was assembled to study the Public Board of Inquiry's findings. A five member Commissioner's Team of Scientists was impaneled. By this time, so much data had been assembled; each team member was given a different review assignment.

Three team members investigated the brain tumor issue, and two members were assigned brain damage, mental retardation, and endocrine problems. The three members investigating the brain tumor studies expressed serious concerns with the data provided, showing aspartame caused tumors. The other two scientists were satisfied with the tests that showed aspartame did not cause brain tumors.

A sixth member was then appointed to the team, who voted that aspartame did not cause brain tumors. The vote was now deadlocked; three votes for aspartame approval, and three votes against.

Jacqueline Verrett, PhD., Toxicologist and senior member of the review team, criticized how the safety review was performed. She stated, "It was pretty obvious that somewhere along the line, the bureau officials were working up to a whitewash. The Bureau of Foods under Howard Roberts either discarded or completely ignored problems and deficiencies outlined by the Team report."

She concluded, "It is unthinkable that any reputable toxicologist giving a completely objective evaluation of the data resulting from such a study could conclude anything other than the study was uninterpretable and worthless, and should be repeated as the safety questions still remain unanswered."

The scientific journal, Neurobehavorial Toxicology, "Brain Damage in Mice from Voluntary Ingestion of Glutamate and Aspartate" published the research results of harmful effects of aspartate; salt from aspartic acid and 40 percent of aspartame. Their research showed that aspartate could not be detected after years of exposure except in the form of obesity or neuro-endocrine disturbances, which is known to occur in rodents following treatment in infancy.

The FDA Public Board of Inquiry denied aspartame approval pending further brain tumor testing. The Board also formally revoked aspartame's 1974 approval granted by Commissioner Schmidt.

In September, Searle announced that they were repetitioning for aspartame approval for NutraSweet.

In November, Ronald Reagan was elected President of The United States.

1981. In January, Searle officially reapplied for NutraSweet approval.
In April, President Ronald Reagan appointed Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr., M.D. the new FDA Commissioner.

In July, Dr. Hayes overruled the Public Board of Inquiry's recommendation that aspartame "not be approved until further animal testing be conducted to resolve the brain tumor issue."

Hayes granted FDA approval for aspartame in dry foods (marketed as NutraSweet), and as a tabletop, sugar substitute (marketed as Equal).

The FDA approval of aspartame was for a food additive, as opposed to a drug, which exempted Searle from future safety monitoring. Searle was no longer obligated to defend the corporate studies, nor required to submit additional reports to the FDA.

Four FDA officials accepted jobs with NutraSweet companies: S.M. Pape, Associate Chief Counsel for Foods, Health and Human Services and Special Assistant to FDA Commissioner; Sherwin Gardner, FDA Deputy Commissioner; Mike Taylor, attorney with the Board of Inquiry; and Albert Kolbye, Associate Director for the Bureau of Foods for Toxicology.

1982. G.D. Searle presented campaign contributions to the following Senators and Representatives: Senator Robert Byrd, Democrat, W. Virginia; Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican, Utah; Senator Howell Heflin, Democrat, Alabama; and Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat, California.

Senator Heflin, Chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, proposed an amendment to change the laws to extend the US Patent for aspartame. Senator Robert Byrd initiated the amendment on Senator's Heflin's behalf. Senator Orrin Hatch, Chairman of the Labor and Human Resources Committee, spoke on the Senate floor supporting the proposed extension.

The patent extension for NutraSweet was approved as an amendment to the Orphan Drug Act.

Representative Henry Waxman sponsored the Orphan Drug Act.

NutraSweet's patent was extended until 1992.

1983. NutraSweet was approved in carbonated beverages and carbonated beverage syrup bases. FDA Commissioner Hull Hayes resigned his position to accept a position as senior medical advisor to Searle's public relations firm, Burston Marsteller.

Anthony Brunetti, FDA Consumer Product Officer, drafted notice to approve NutraSweet in soft drinks.

Brunetti accepted a position with the Soft Drink Association as their Science Advisor later that year.
Acting FDA commissioner, Mark Novitch, approved aspartame for use in carbonated beverages.

The FDA raised the acceptable maximum daily intake of aspartame from 20mg/kg/day (milligrams per kilograms of body weight per day) to 50mg/kg/day, the equivalent of increasing from two cans per day to 17 cans per day for a 150-pound person. The acceptable maximum daily intake of 50mg/kg/day for a 25 to 30 pound child was raised to accumulative levels of three cans of soda per day, or a pack of chewing gum, a multi-vitamin, cereal, pudding, or sugar-free ice cream combined per day.

A two-liter bottle of Diet Coke^® contained 1,200 mg of aspartame.

1984. Aspartame was approved in children's chewable multivitamins.

Seven million pounds of NutraSweet was consumed in the United States.

NutraSweet sales exceeded $600 million.

Woodrow Monte, PhD., Director of the Science and Nutrition Laboratory, Arizona State University, announced that there were presently no animal nor mammalian studies that had evaluated the possible mutagenic or carcinogenic effects of chronic intake of methanol, now 10 percent of aspartame.

Based on the methanol issue, Dr. Monte requested an Arizona State hearing on a petition to ban NutraSweet in Arizona. He was granted the hearing in April the following year. Pushing his efforts to get Arizona to recognize the dangers of consuming aspartame, he did not succeed. The Arizona legislature changed the laws without public notice, barring any state regulation of FDA-approved food additives. The measure passed under a "toxic waste bill."

Searle hired over a dozen lobbyists. United Press International traced nearly $200,000.00 in campaign contributions, including contributions to House Majority Leader, Burton Barr and Representatives Don Aldridge, Karen Mill, and Jan Brewer.

Searle hired the following lobbyists to oppose Dr. Monte's efforts to ban aspartame in Arizona: Andrew Herwitz (Arizona Governor Babbitt's former Chief of Staff), Charles Pine (Arizona lobbyist), Roger Thies (Searle lawyer), and David West (Searle official).

Richard Wurtman, M.D., Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, M.I.T. began research on NutraSweet.

Drs. Monte and Wurtman had received over 1,000 complaints against aspartame. The most common complaints were: dizziness, visual impairment, disorientation, ear buzzing, pancreatitis, tunnel vision, loss of equilibrium, severe retinal hemorrhaging, menstrual flow changes, and depression.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) submitted a report, "Evaluation Of Consumer Complaints Related To Aspartame Use."

1985. Sixteen million pounds of aspartame was added to the US food supply.

NutraSweet sales exceeded $1 billion.

The FDA petitioned the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) to review the first 650 complaints they received about aspartame; a record number of complaints filed for one product after only three years on the market. The CDC reported that between 25 percent and 30 percent of female users experienced some form of symptom from aspartame use, and when all use stopped, all health symptoms stopped.

Ohio Senator Howard Metzenbaum called for a hearing on NutraSweet. Metzenbaum introduced the Aspartame Safety Act of 1985 in the Senate. The bill called for:

• Clinical studies on brain chemistry, behavioral and neurological effects on children, pregnant women, and fetuses;
• A study into the sudden increases in seizures;
• Drug interactions with aspartame;
• A moratorium on the introduction of aspartame into new products until independent testing was completed;
• Labeling of products to include the amount of aspartame in each serving, as well as allowable daily intake;
• A warning that aspartame is not intended for infant use;
• Mandates for the FDA to set up a Clinical Adverse Reaction Committee to compile reports, establish a telephone service information hotline, and send written notices to physicians about aspartame concerns.

Senator Metzenbaum's press secretary, Drew Von Bergen, drafted the statement: "Members of the scientific community have grave reservations about the safety of aspartame. The Senator is not out to ban aspartame, but to set up independent tests to clear up the problem."

Dr. Louis Elsas, M.D., Director of Medical Genetics at Emory University School of Medicine, performed a study on the effects of phenylalanine on the fetus and on infants. He examined two groups ranging from eight to 24 years of age, monitoring the reaction time and the reduction in the production of adrenaline-like chemicals in the brain. He concluded that both pregnant women and infants should not consume foods containing aspartame because of the danger of brain damage to the fetus and to infants.

Keith Conners, M.D., Children's Hospital, Washington, D.C., documented a study of children who suffered extreme agitation when consuming aspartame in an amount equivalent to a 6-oz. serving of Kool-Aid^® sweetened with NutraSweet.

Roger A Coulombe, Jr., PhD., Center for Environmental Toxicology, Utah State University, demonstrated that it was possible for aspartame to produce nervous system and behavioral affects, particularly in children and susceptible individuals.

Ronald Gautieri, PhD. and Michael Mahalik, PhD., Department of Pharmacology, Temple University, demonstrated in a study that aspartame produced brain dysfunction in newborn mice.

William Pardridge, M.D., University of California at Los Angeles, testified along with Dr. Wurtman before a Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, urging that labeling requirements for aspartame be amended to include quantity consumed. They brought into the discussion two important points:

• Children may be at risk of suffering brain damage from excessive intake of aspartame;
• Aspartame consumed at the same time as simple carbohydrates, as in carbonated soft drinks, could double the effect on the brain as ingesting aspartame alone.

1986. Dr. Pardridge released a study in the American Medical Association of Scientific Affairs Review, stating the two amino acids found in aspartame, aspartic acid and phenylalanine, were neurotoxic. He recorded a drop in IQ in babies born to mothers with elevated phenylalanine levels, and noted a decrease in choice reaction time in adults with slightly elevated phenylalanine levels.

Current sales figures were no longer unavailable.

The 1986 Quarterly Report submitted by the Department of Health and Human Services showed 3,000 complaints against aspartame were reported to the FDA and the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Most of the complaints related to brain function and to behavior disorders.

Food Chemical News, 1986, reported the Community Nutrition Institute had petitioned the FDA to ban aspartame, citing cases of seizures and visual problems. Request denied.

The Department of Psychology, Leeds University, Leeds, England, reported in the British medical journal, Lancet, May 10, 1986, that consumption of aspartame caused an increase in appetite and weight gain. Leeds researchers Blundell and Hill stated in their findings that aspartame increased the rated motivation to eat and decreased the ratings of fullness in the test volunteers. They concluded that people using aspartame receive ambiguous signals important for the control of appetite and ingestion, and that aspartame may contribute to disordered patterns of eating prevalent among certain groups of normal weight individuals.

1987. NutraSweet petitioned for FDA approval in baked goods and baking products. Petition pending. The US General Accounting Office reported they were monitoring the food additive process for aspartame. A third United States Senate Hearing was summoned on "NutraSweet; Health and Safety Concerns." Senator Howard Metzenbaum chaired the Committee on Labor and Human Resources overseeing the hearings.

Many research scientists and medical researchers responded to the Senate Hearings, addressing letters to Senators Edward Kennedy, Howard Metzenbaum, and Orrin Hatch, particularly concerning the safety issues concerning pregnant women and fetuses.

Dr. Louis Elsas, M.D., Emory University Medical School, determined that pregnant women's blood phenylalanine levels increased from aspartame use, resulting in the placenta magnifying phenylalanine levels four to six times the normal levels. This resulted in mental retardation and birth defects in his studies.

Alfred Miller, M.D., San Antonio, Texas, noted in clinical observations that aspartame was linked to mood swings and severe headaches in many of his patients.

1988. Researchers began tallying increases in headaches, seizures, tumors, depression, and brain lesions - all confirming the predictions if aspartame's neurotoxicity from twenty years before.

Aspartame critics came upon strong corporate resistance.

1989. NutraSweet's patent was due to expire in four years.
NutraSweet was now in over 2,000 products worldwide.

Media advertising intensified; information against NutraSweet became more suppressed.
United Press International announced the "Aspartame Technical Committee", consisting of the NutraSweet Company, Ajinomoto Company (Searle's Japanese aspartame supplier), the Coca-Cola Company, Pepsico, Inc., Royal Crown Cola Company, and General Foods, along with various smaller food manufacturers utilizing aspartame. The Committee launched a campaign to discourage researchers and critics from receiving Research Funding Awards grants, in particular those awarded by the International Life Sciences Institute, an organization predominant in awarding grants to research scientists.

Samuel Molinary, Co-chairman of the International Life Sciences Institute grant panel, accepted employment as G.D. Searle's Director of Scientific Affairs.

Shortly afterward, Molinary accepted a position as Pepsico's Research Director.

1991. The first National Symposium on the Safety of NutraSweet/Equal was held at The University of North Texas at Denton, November 8-9, directed by Dr. Janet Starr Hull.

Canada became the first country to approve the use of Splenda.

1992. NutraSweet's patent for aspartame expired. Now available in both sugar-free and regular food products, aspartame was no longer exclusively identified with the NutraSweet swirl. Saccharin sales increased, reappearing in more food products.

Over 10,000 complaints against aspartame were filed with the FDA.

1993. Dr. Susan Shephard published a study "Mutagenic activity of peptides and the artificial sweetener aspartame after nitrosation", Food and Chemical Toxicology, 1993, Vol. 31, pp. 323-329.

Shephard and her colleagues attempted to simulate in vitro the conditions that occur in the human digestive tract, and in particular the conditions that result in the nitrosation of dietary ingredients. They reported that the nitrosated aspartame had significant mutagenic action. This research identified a mechanism through which aspartame can exert a carcinogenic action.

1996. Dr. John Olney of Washington University published an aspartame study in the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology: November 1996.

Olney analyzed cancer statistics from the US National Cancer Institute covering a sample of approximately 10 percent of the US population for the period from 1975 to 1995.

He found that the introduction of aspartame into dry goods in 1981 and into soft drinks in 1983 was followed by an abrupt increase in the reported incidence of brain tumors. The change was most noticeable between 1984 and 1985, and it corresponded to approximately 1,500 extra cases of brain cancer per year in the US.

1998. The diet sweetener industry was worth $1.5 billion, with 70 to 80 percent of the market from diet soft drinks.

The US FDA granted marketing approval for Splenda.

Johnson & Johnson purchased the rights to develop sucralose in the United States as a commercially available product. They formed McNeil Specialty Products (renamed McNeil Nutritionals) as a part of the Johnson & Johnson corporate umbrella for the exclusive purpose of marketing Splenda.

The Trocho study was published on aspartame toxicity performed through the Bosch & Gimpera Foundation, Barcelona, Spain. The study concluded that aspartame consumption may constitute a health hazard because of its contribution to the formation of formaldehyde adducts. The binding of methanol-derived carbon to tissue proteins was widespread in the study, affecting all body systems, and fully reaching the most sensitive targets such as the brain and the retina.

Johnson & Johnson bought the rights to sell sucralose in the United States as Splenda®.

2000. Splenda comes on the American market.

Monsanto Chemical Company sold their sweetener division for $440 million.

2003. Coca Cola launched a $50 million campaign for C2 Coke®.

2004. Coca Cola introduced C2 Coke despite suffering sharp loses in the third quarter earnings.

For the four weeks ending January 26, Splenda's dollar-market share of the tabletop-sweetener had exceeded that of Equal-brand products for the first time in sweetener history.

In February, the Sugar Association sued McNeil Nutritionals, charging McNeil with false advertising and unfair competition.

Two weeks later, McNeil filed suit against The Sugar Association, each of The Sugar Association's members and Qorvis Communications (a public relations firm representing the Sugar Association) for false advertising and deceptive trade practices.

In December, Equal's manufacturer, Merisant, filed a lawsuit against the manufacturers of Splenda for false advertising, claiming its top-selling competitor, sucralose in Splenda, isn't really made from sugar as its packaging claimed.

2005. Dr. Morando Soffritti of the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center, European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences, published research results that demonstrated the multipotential carcinogenic effects of aspartame in the European Journal of Oncology: July 2005.

Dr. Stylianos Tsakiris, Department of Experimental Physiology, Medical School, University of Athens and his research team at the Institute of Child Health, Research Center, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece published a study that showed high levels and cumulative toxic concentrations of aspartame decreased the membrane AChE activity, resulting in memory loss.

2006. Splenda became the runaway leader in the sugar-substitute category with $212.3 million in US sales, while Equal brought in $48.7 million.

Dr. Soffritti published a second study on the carcinogenic effects of aspartame.

2007. The Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Public Health University of Pecs, Pecs, Hungary, published an aspartame study showing that aspartame ingested up to the maximum daily dose changed the genes in various organs in animals.

2009. Sugar-free gum accounted for 82 per cent of the US chewing gum market by value, equivalent to sales worth almost $3.38 billion.

2010. NutraSweet introduced Equal^® in a pink packet, in addition to the original blue packet.

2011. The EU is expected to approve the use of Stevia in food manufacturing throughout Europe.

The rest is history in the making.

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