Since the question was raised about who funds studies on NutraSweet
(aspartame), I thought it would be of interest to print a letter that was
sent to Barbara Mullarkey, journalist in Oak Park, Illinis by the
Department of Health & Human Services (FDA). It is dated March 23, 1989:
Dear Ms. Mullarkey:
This responds to your letter of March 8, 1989, concerning the list of
over a hundred articles included in the master file No. 134 on aspartame.
You asked which studies have been peer reviewed by scientific journals
and which were Searle-funded.
Since all these studies were submitted by the NutraSweet Company, we
believe that the majority, if not all, of them were Searle-funded. We
have no requirements as to knowing who their financial sponsors are.
Therefore, you are advised to obtain this type of information directly
from the NutraSweet Company.
Moreover, the majority of these studies were not published in scientific
journals at the time we received them. However, a portion of them were
published later. We have no requirement that the petitioner inform us
where or when he publishes the data that have been submitted to support
the safety of aspartame. Therefore, we are unable to inform you which
studies have been published in scientific jurnals (thereby having been
peer reviewed by scientists outside the FDA). However, we wish to
emphasize that for those that are not published, our careful in-house
review of the primary data by a number of qualified scientists
constitutes peer review.
Sincerely yours,
Lawrence J. Lin, Ph.D.
Direct Additives Branch, HFF-334
Division of Food and Color Additives
Center for Food Safety
and Applied Nutrition"
It is of interest that Dr. Ralph Walton, Director of Behavioral Medicine
for the Western Reserve Care System in Ohio conducted a scientific study
of aspartame's effect on depressed patients. The NutraSweet Company knew
they would have no control over the study so they refused to sell Dr.
Walton aspartame, and he had to purchase analytically certified USP grade
aspartame from a distributor. Also, Dr. Walton had to cut the study
short. He said: "Some of our patients had such severe reactions, that we
felt that ethically we couldn't continue the study." He also said that a
number of patients spontaneously reported they felt they had been
poisoned. They had, it is a poison. In the book PRESCRIPTION FOR
HEALING by Bach, aspartame is listed under C for chemical poisoning!
The NutraSweet Company did fund a study for Dr. Dianna Dow Edwards. As
soon as she started getting negative results they immediately stopped the
funding and Dr. Edwards had to pay the rest herself. This was on birth
defects.
Betty Martini
Domain: betty at pd.org
UUCP: ...!emory!pd.org!betty