Aspartame did a leading US politician ease its passage through food safety legislation?

After I suffered liver damage from ingesting aspartame, my web research showed that it is banned in some countries and is thought to be a toxic poisen. So why is it on sale in US and UK ? It is now used in many foods and it is easy to exceed recommended dosages.

The aspartame industry is a multi billion dollar business and is protected with counter claims to any negative comments about its safety and long term use. The long answer is typical of the prevarication the supporters of this industry introduce into the agrument. What about some honest research into the effects of long term use. It has not been around long enough to be observed. Now that it is in many more foods you will see more side effects. A leading US politicians is involved with the business. You did not answer my question.

There is little scientific evidence that aspartame causes cancer in humans. There are though plenty of Internet conspiracy theories and undocumented allegations. Often it can be difficult to pick your way through fact vs fiction. It is best not to rely too heavily on unofficial websites for sources of information. (Aspartame dangers, by the way, have also been associated with well known Internet hoaxes, myths, and urban legends - so, you need to be very careful when you evaluate information.)

The best source of information about any cancer danger is documented evidence kept at the National Library of Medicine. You can search for reports, studies, journals, and articles about diseases, treatments, and carcinogens . . be sure to read a variety of reports in order to ascertain some reliability of information.

National Library of Medicine
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/

You can also search Entrez PubMed which is part of the NLM and has extensive reliable information:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query...

There is also information about Artificial Sweetners posted at the National Cancer Institute website: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/facts...

"Aspartame

Aspartame, distributed under several trade names (e.g., Nutrasweet庐 and Equal庐), was approved in 1981 by the FDA after numerous tests showed that it did not cause cancer or other adverse effects in laboratory animals. Questions regarding the safety of aspartame were renewed by a 1996 report suggesting that an increase in the number of people with brain tumors between 1975 and 1992 might be associated with the introduction and use of this sweetener in the United States. However, an analysis of then-current NCI statistics showed that the overall incidence of brain and central nervous system cancers began to rise in 1973, 8 years prior to the approval of aspartame, and continued to rise until 1985. Moreover, increases in overall brain cancer incidence occurred primarily in people age 70 and older, a group that was not exposed to the highest doses of aspartame since its introduction. These data do not establish a clear link between the consumption of aspartame and the development of brain tumors.

Recently, a laboratory experiment found more lymphomas and leukemias in rats fed very high doses of aspartame (equivalent to drinking 8 to 2,083 cans of diet soda daily) (1) . However, there were some inconsistencies in the findings. For example, the cancers found in the treated rats were not specific to aspartame, and the number of cancer cases did not rise with increasing amounts of aspartame as would be expected. Subsequently, the NCI examined human data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study of over half a million retirees. Increasing consumption of aspartame-containing beverages was not associated with the development of lymphoma, leukemia, or brain cancer (2) . More information about aspartame can be found in the FDA Statement on Aspartame, which is available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/tpaspart.h... on the Internet. "

I'm sorry that you suffered liver damage, but I am uncertain how the diagnosis was made that aspartame was responsible?

i don't know why our FDA is so screwed up. look into milk thistle for your liver damage though.

yeah it's weird. i have found it in diet products and like sugarless gum and mints. i am very concerned for people with diabetes. the government should be looking more into aspartame.