INDONESIA GOVT MAY BAN ASPARTAME

It was reported in South Africa (Star, 1/7/2007) Paul Hammann won in his issue against the false advertising of aspartame (Canderel) tasting like sugar. "Initially Merisant SA (trading as Canderel) submitted documents to support the claims, but later advised the ASA that both claims would be withdrawn "on a global scale" during the course of the year. The company requested that instead of being given the usual three months to remove existing stock from the shelves, that they be given eight months to comply. At the Dec 14 hearing the ASA Directorate settled on a compromise of five months." The product should be removed forever in South Africa!

In July, Food Ingredients First.com reported: "China to Restrict Aspartame Production and Sale." The article continued, "State-designated aspartame producers shall in principle shift production to other products when moving to a new place, according to the circular. By controlling production and banning the launch of new projects, China will exert more efforts to restrict the production and sale of aspartame, press reports said. A circular issued by The National Development and Reform Commission (NDR), the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the State Environmental Protection Administration highlighted their further strengthening of China's work on restricting the sale and production of the widely used sweetener. State-designated aspartame producers shall in principle shift production to other products when moving to a new place, according to the circular." ..
Sounds like a "get out of town notice"!

Parliamentarian Roger Williams in England demanded a ban of aspartame when the Ramazzini Study confirmed FDA's original studies that aspartame is a multipotential carcinogen.

In the Falklands, Robin Goodwin, Mission Possible Falklands, also petitioned for a ban and got tired of waiting. He wrote every resident of the Falklands and today aspartame products rot on the shelves. His wife suffered an aspartame brain tumor and his daughter had seizures for 18 years until they found out aspartame is a seizure-triggering drug and abstained. All the seizures stopped.

Requests for ban are coming in from other states (today Washington State, California and Illinois) and the ban aspartame bill in New Mexico can be used for any state or country. Aspartame is illegally on the market. It violates adulteration and interstate commerce statutes, as well as the Delaney Amendment, which forbids putting anything in food that has proven cancer in animals. http://www.wnho.net/delaney_lives.htm The aspartame documentary, Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World, exposes how Don Rumsfeld called in his markers to get this poison on the market when the FDA said no.

For information on the ban aspartame bill you can contact Stephen Fox who spearheaded the efforts there, Mission Possible New Mexico at Stephen@santafefineart.com

Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum, Founder
Mission Possible International (warning the world off aspartame)
9270 River Club Parkway
Duluth, Georgia 30097
770 242-2599
www.wnho.net and www.dorway.com
Aspartame Information List www.mpwhi.com
Aspartame Toxicity Center, www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
Aspartame Documentary: Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World,
http://www.amazon.com
Medical Text: Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, H. J. Roberts, M.D.
www.sunsentpress.com
Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, Russell Blaylock, M.D., www.russellblaylockmd.com

Govt may ban aspartame in food

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is currently reviewing regulations allowing the use of several controversial sweeteners in food products sold in Indonesia.

The review, which forms part of a decades-long worldwide debate on use of three particular sweeteners -- aspartame, saccharin and cyclamate -- is expected to be completed later this month.

"We may remove artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, saccharin and cyclamate, from the Health Ministry's decree ... about allowable food additives," said Drug and Food Monitoring Agency (BPOM) head Husniah R.T. Akib.

The review will receive input from the BPOM,the Health Ministry, the State Ministry for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises, the Industry Ministry and the Trade Ministry, as well as experts from universities and non-government organizations.

The food and beverage industry, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and several consumer groups are also involved in the process.

"We are looking at the various opinions around the world on these sweeteners. If stakeholders and people believe those three substitutes are health hazards, we will ban them," Husniah said.

"We, the regulators, don't have any problems with the possible ban. The industries unfortunately will," she added.

BPOM data shows Codex Alimentarius -- a set of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relating to foods, food production and food safety -- as well as the European Union and Britain still allow the use of the three sweeteners in food production and consumption.

In Asia, Japan and Malaysia do not allow use of the sweeteners. Japan bans aspartame and cyclamate while Malaysia only prohibits cyclamate.

"In addition to Codex Alimentarius, we also refer to world agencies such as the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the FDA," Husniah said.

"There is no way can we do research on every one of the two million products in the country. We only monitor products available in markets," she added.

University experts said studies on aspartame and other artificial sweeteners in Indonesia were rare.

The use of aspartame as a sweetener was allowed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States for the first time in 1981. This decision came under question, however, with the release of studies finding aspartame to be carcinogenic.

Cyclamate was discovered in 1937 and recognized as safe for consumption in the U.S. by 1958. However, it was banned by the FDA in 1969 when reports surfaced linking it with cancer.

Likewise, the use of saccharin has also been disputed. Canada banned it in 1977 after a study found the prevalence of bladder cancer in rats that had been fed large doses of the sweetener. The FDA also imposed a ban, though lifted it in 1991.

"Doubts about aspartame among FDA scientists were overruled by the FDA's management and it was given approval. Many countries soon followed suit and approved aspartame on the basis of the same flawed studies," Roger Williams, a British parliamentarian, told the The Guardian on Dec. 15, 2005.

A 1996 review of past research conducted on aspartame found that every industry-funded study had said the sweetener was safe to consume. However 92 percent of independent studies claim one or more problems exist with its use, the British newspaper reported. (Martini: This report is on www.dorway.com Scroll down to experts, Ralph Walton, M.D. )

Other artificial sweeteners currently approved by the BPOM include acesulfame-K, alitame, neotame and sucralose, as well as natural substances such as isomalt, xylitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol and lactitol.