Taken From Keynote Speech by ACSN Founder Sept. 8, 2005 at Nutrition Conference in Detroit MI

Studies Show Aspartame Causes Lymphomas and Leukemia ATTENTION: ASSIGNMENTS EDITORS Interview Opp For Immediate Release September 1, 2005 Keywords: FDA/ FAA / Health and Safety / Medical / Science/ Transportation Contact: Mary Stoddard 214-387-4001 Latest Scientific Studies Show Aspartame Causes Lymphomas and Leukemia Reports Leading Consumer Advocate Dallas - New studies, published in scientific journals, link the artificial sweetener aspartame to lymphoma and leukemia in rats and spontaneous changes in thinking and behavior in people, Aspartame Consumer Safety Network founder reports. Stoddard is the keynote speaker at a health and nutrition conference in Detroit, Michigan, Thursday evening, September 8th. "The release of important scientific studies - in Italy and Africa, warns that the artificial sweetener, aspartame, commonly found in diet drinks and 7,000 products worldwide, may cause more harm than once thought possible," said network founder Mary Nash Stoddard of Frisco, Texas. "The first study was released, in the European Journal of Oncology by Morando Soffritti and coworkers," Stoddard said. "This study clearly demonstrates a significant increase in several types of lymphomas and leukemia in rats. . . . These malignancies have increased dramatically, since the widespread use of aspartame," said neurosurgeon and author of Excitotoxins The Taste That Kills, Russell Blaylock, M.D., in Jackson, Mississippi. The second is The dose-dependent effects of Aspartame on Serotoninergic Parameters in Albino Rats, by B.A. Iwalokun, Department of Biochemistry, Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria. Study results provided "strong indications that aspartame may alter serotoninergic parameters and associated behaviors," Stoddard said. The abstract was published in the abstract book from the Third International Conference on Mechanisms of Action of Neutraceuticals, at Maggie Valley Resort, North Carolina. Dr. Richard Wurtman, a neurologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] in Cambridge, says aspartame may have effects that are not detectable by standard neurotoxicological texts. Specifically, Wurtman and his collaborators are concerned that excess phenylalanine in the blood can reduce the production of brain neurotransmitters - catecholamines and serotonin - by competing with their precursor amino acids for transport across the blood-brain barrier. "There is no question that you can demonstrate changes in neurotransmitter release in rats given large doses of aspartame," says Wurtman. [from an interview with writer, Tim Stephens in The Journal of NIH Research, April, 1999; VOL 3 pg. 35; title: Some Still Bitter Over NutraSweet.] A1993 study, published in Biological Psychiatry by Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Ralph G. Walton, M.D. shows: "Administration of this substance [aspartame], has also been associated with aggression and bingeing." An evolving view in modern psychiatry is that although depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, impulse control disorders and eating disorders have been viewed as separate entities, they should be viewed as a continuum of disorders - all involving some degree of dysregulation of serotonin. "I believe there is overwhelming evidence that aspartame contributes to this dysregulation," said Dr. Walton. In a 1997 lecture at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, published, 1998 in toxicology sourcebook, Deadly Deception Story of Aspartame, Stoddard told students: "Individuals are reporting, to ACSN, cases of brain tumors and non-Hodgkins lymphoma." In 1986, Stoddard was diagnosed with a life threatening blood disease, eosinophilia myalgia, after adding aspartame to her daily diet. When she ceased using the sweetener, the illness went away. [www.aspartamesafety.com] ### Mary Nash Stoddard, Founder Aspartame Consumer Safety Network and Pilot Hotline [1987-present] P.O. Box 2001 - Frisco, TX 75034 tel. 1-214-387-4001 email: marystod@airmail.net http://www.aspartamesafety.com