From: Jaffe, Lyle D Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 8:52 AM To: Dockets, FDA Subject: FW: Sudden Death from Aspartame, now Epidemic with permission to publish -----Original Message----- From: Betty Martini [mailto:Bettym19@mindspring.com] Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2002 2:54 PM To: RXH@CFSAN.FDA.GOV; DHATTAN-CFSAN.FDA.GOV Subject: Fwd: Sudden Death from Aspartame, now Epidemic with permission to publish X-Sender: bettym19@pop.mindspring.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.0.2 Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 16:39:44 -0400 To: "Activist List-yahoogroups.com" From: Betty Martini Subject: Sudden Death from Aspartame, now Epidemic with permission to publish The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently published an article about sudden death referring to Science magazine. It reported 450,000 people drop dead each year and discussed consumers with an irregular heart rhythm. Aspartame notoriously triggers an irregular heart rhythm. Frankly, this is probably an understatement as to deaths. In fact, On Dec 16, 2001, the Sunday Telegraph in the UK wrote an article on sudden death and epilepsy. Aspartame is also a seizure triggering drug as proven on a pivotal study that approved it, a 52 week oral toxicity study where 7 infant monkeys were fed the toxin. Five had grand mal seizures and one died. The FDA report of 92 symptoms list 4 types of seizures triggered by this neurotoxin. To make matters worse aspartame interacts with anti-seizure medication like Dilantin and like drugs. In this article it said: .."many people, including doctors, have little idea that a disturbing number of patients, many of them young and in good health, die unexpectedly, often in their sleep. Further it said: "The unpredictable death syndrome has become known as Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy or Sudep. In 1996, there were 969 epilepsy related deaths, twice as many as from sudden infant or "cot" syndrome, which is the subject of widespread inquiry." Dr. James Bowen wrote at the time: "Sudden death during seizures is almost always due to cardiac standstill due to cardiac arrhythmias.. There are several ways this is due to aspartame damage. Aspartame and methyl alcohol poisoning are noted for damaging myocardium and the specialized form of myocardium called the cardiac conduction system. This kind of damage leads to susceptibility to arrhythmias. The aspartame and methyl alcohol poisoning cause immense damage to the mitochondria and to MtDNA which perpetuates the mitochondria damage. The myocardium and cardiac conduction system never get to rest. They are constantly at work pumping blood, therefore they are very highly concentrated in mitochondria to accommodate the metabolic needs of this tremendous work load. So mitochondrial damage is more highly reflected in the heart. Damaged mitochondria produce increased amounts of free radicals and other abnormal metabolites that produce arrhythmias. .." Dr. Bowen continues about the unusual demands on the cardiorespiratory system and says that seizures due to NutraSweet occur more frequently and in spite of otherwise adequate anti seizure medication. And then aspartame creates unusual medical toxicity from the anti-seizure medication. He says it should be no surprise then that people are dropping dead from this aspect of aspartame toxicity. On www.dorway.com you will see two reports about aspartame and sudden death: Aspartame and cardiac and chest problems by H. J. Roberts, M.D. Aspartame, MSG and Other Excitotoxins and the Hypothalamus by neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D. Both have written books to discuss sudden death: Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, www.aspartameispoison.com or www.sunsentpress.com or 1 800 814 - 9800. H. J. Roberts, M.D. Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills by neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D., www.amazon.com Today we are taking case histories for class action on aspartame triggered seizures, brain tumors, eye deterioration and blindness. With the recent article about sudden death and the constant reports on athletes dropping dead who probably are using diet drinks, proteins drinks, etc. laced with aspartame, Dr. Bowen has written an indepth report on aspartame and sudden death as reported below. September 7th and 8th is Aspartame Awareness Weekend. We hope everyone can help by sending this report to cardiologists, athletic organizations, neurologists, the media and mass mailing lists to get to the general public. Because of length this report below has been cut down from its original, dealing only with aspartame and sudden death, and not the politics and influence that has caused what may be one of the largest plagues in world history, Aspartame Disease. Betty Martini, Founder, Mission Possible International, 9270 River Club Parkway, Duluth, Georgia 30097 770 242-2599 From James Bowen, M.D: EPIDEMIC SUDDEN DEATHS in those EXPOSED TO ASPARTAME: The horrendous toxicity of Aspartame has been well documented ever since its inception. Sudden deaths logically arise from several of its many toxicities. For example, Christina Onassis, Patty Crane, and Carol Hamm are amongst those that I know of who were using Aspartame and were addicted to it, and visibly deteriorating under its influence when they suddenly, and unexpectedly died therefrom. Patty Crane was found dead amongst a litter of diet Pepsi cans. When her mother, Betty Hayland, who was exposing Patty's "Nutra Death" on TV, came to me to learn the biochemical basis of its deadliness; she after learning some of the biochemistry, asked: "Dr Bowen, how could such a poisonous chemical ever be on the market?" I answered "Betty! This is organized crime in our government." She became furious with me! "That I should suggest there is organized crime in the US government! What a nut!" A few days later they called and threatened her life. A couple days later two men tried to drag her into a car. She was able to make her escape by breaking free and running. A couple days later her husband Dave, who now has no question that organized crime runs our government, came home and found her shot dead in a puddle of blood on the floor. Carol Hamm was a close friend, but not my patient so medical confidentiality does not prevent my discussing her tragedy. We played cards together a couple of times per week and she constantly had diet drinks in her hands while she played. She, over a short period of a few weeks use, visibly deterorated physically right in front of my eyes, and mentally. Her card playing deteriorated as well! She would defiantly look me right in the eye as she drank diet to let me know that she didn't care that I had warned her of what I knew about Aspartame. She was going to satisfy her addiction by damn! Come what may! What came was that, one night she didn't show for cards, and her daughter Debby called the police. When we arrived at her house she was lying dead in bed with bloody fluid running out of her mouth. In all three cases the autopsy report revealed only "unexplained pulmonary edema". That is the difference between death from Aspartame metholism and regular alcholism, you can't smell it on the breath, and medical politics forbids attributing anything evil to "Nutra Sweet." Jim krossik was an employee at Searle's first Aspartame plant in Phoenix. He developed neural toxicty from breathing the Aspartame dust in the air in the plant and passed out on the plant floor. When he recovered and returned to work, he found that all employees were required to wear face masks lest they breath the deadly Nutra Sweet dust! He complied, but absorbed enough through his skin that he passed out on the floor dead! The autopsy report revealed a "severe alcholic cardiomyopathy" as its only finding. Jim used no beverage alcohol! I have published extensively on www.dorway.com. My articles such as "Sperm Warfare", "Aspartame and methanol revisited" etc. enlarge upon the unique methanol toxicity from Aspartame. It metabolizes in a toxic axis of Aspartame to methanol, to formaldehyde, to formic acid, to carbon monoxide. Aspartame, to a striking degree, carries toxic heavy metals into the body, as well as generating toxic superoxide free radicals in the metabolic channels that are poisoned by it,. A good overview of the Aspartame problem is my book "Billions of Victims" which is available as free advice at many educational/informational sites on the net. Since it educates about Chemical Hypersensitivity, (CHz), it is essential reading for a full understanding of the issue of sudden deaths from Aspartame. The heart muscle is very sensitive to alchol poisonings. Such alcholic cardiomyopathies frequently terminate in sudden death. The Aspartame molecule is an alcohol poison about 20,000 times as toxic a poison as ethanol, (regular old sipping. or beverage alcohol) on a per weight basis! Moreover, myocardium never gets to rest except between heart beats, so things like the methanol from Aspartame which become more or progressively toxic upon metabolism in muscles are especially damaging to it. The myocardium is especially rich in mitochondriae to subserve this metabolic need. The mitochondriae and their DNA, (Mt DNA), are especially subject to these damages, and Mt DNA lacks the repair mechanisms of nuclear DNA, so damage to it is highly cumulative and is even passed on to the fetus by the mother! The Cardiac Conduction System is a specialized kind of tissue that is a hybrid of neuronal and muscle tissues, which is even richer in mitochondriae, and it never gets to rest. It is the clock that generates and effectively coordinates heartbeats and heart rythymns and contractions. Many various malfunctions of it precipitate sudden death. Its extreme mitochondrial concentration, and its dependence upon mitochondrial metabolism for its unresting labors make it a site intensely generative of the poisonous Aspartame cogeners and extremely subject to their resultant chemical, immune, mitochondrial and CHz damages. When the methanol from Aspartame is metabolized it has obligatory first step metabolism to formaldehyde, the strongest organic base. This is a polymerizing agent which cross links sites on DNA so it can't reproduce or function to transmit genetic information nor essential metabolic instructions. The next step in the metabolism is to formic acid which is a chromosome shattering agent. (along with cyanide, and flouride it is called a "blister poison" because it is so damaging that it leaves blisters of dead tissue behind.) Formate is also recognized as fire ant poison. The whole, entire toxic axis are severe sensitizing agents. A fire ant can, because of the sensitivity it engenders, kill a human being that outweighs it billions of times. Thus, the myocardium and conduction system are rendered highly subject to attack both from the direct actions of the Aspartame poisons and their metabolic derangements along with the free radicals they generate via the impaired metabolic competence, and are highly succeptible to other toxics and "sick environments" via CHz, (Chemical Hypersensitivity). Damaged Mt DNA, as well, and its resultant mitochondrial dysfuction along with dysfunctions by and from immune and hyperdsensitivity reactions (CHz) are all associated with sudden deaths. Cardiomyopathies from damaged MtDNA are also well known to be passed to the child from the mother. Many other MtDNA diseases are inherited from mothers who have damaged MtDNA. Because the MtDNA is not in the nucleus but rather is located in the mitochondria of the cell, its transmission in the case of a given ovum is haphazard and random, so that infants from such mothers usually display varied, random, and often dissimilar disease patterns. One may be diabetic, another may have a cardiomyopathy, another pervasive developmental disorders such as autism, another, metabolically generated diseases like steatohepatitis, hypotonic obesity etc.(see my dorway and article, "Steato Hepatitis".) Another whole related area is the damage done to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Repeated poisonous assaults, such as CHz, cause the activation fo the antishock mechanisms of the adrenal glands leading to either adrenal fatigue or a cushionoid status, both are conducive to sudden death, especially in response to toxic or other shock inducing states, such as the CHz response. The hypothalamus, along with many other brain structures is severely damaged by the dicarboxylic amino acid neuroexcitoxin component of the Aspartame poisoning. This alone can cause adrenal insufficiency and resultant sudden death. The phenyl alanine isolate poisoning from Asp leads to serotonin and dopamine depletion in some areas of the brain, and elevation of serotonin in others, leading to neuroendocrine disruptions which contribute to all of the above, as well as depression and schizophrenic episodes which have often lead to Aspartame related suicides. Aspartame is a potent epileptogenic agent, causing seizures directly from its toxic effect, as well as when in withdrawal from same, along with seizures induced by the CHz when the patient is exposed to even minute amounts of sensitizing agents such as chemical contaminants, ie. sulphites from pulp mills (or the universally practiced new world order environmental abuse of illegally burning high sulphur coal in power plants), pollens, fungal blooms, and other "sick" environments, and food chemicals. Such seizures can result in sudden death, especially if the subject is alone and suffering from the other aforementioned Aspartame risk factors. Sincerely, Dr Jim Bowen Note from Martini: Please read the 8 month investigation by UPI and NutraPoison on www.dorway.com for the politics of aspartame approval. The story of Patricia Crane and her death was on Pat Roberts show on aspartame some years ago. He admitted that the autopsy of Christina O'nassis was identical to that of Patricia Crane. Pat Roberts was also threatened not to expose the story. To: aspartame@yahoogroups.com Subject: [Aspartame Support] Aspartame Killing Athletes? I was just thinking... I heard a report of another teen athlete who died while exercising today. I know one of the things aspartame does is mess with your heart, so I wonder if that's what's killing these otherwise healthy athletes. I can't imagine ALL of them were born with heart defects that were undetected until it was too late. Does anyone out there know more about this? Heather _________________________________________________________________