The Man Who Sold the World....Aspertame

The main difference between the right and left is their view of the government and it's role as a servant of the people. The right thinks that the government should adopt a laissez-faire attitude towards business, while acting like our big daddy to protect us from the horrors of gay marriages, independent thought, and the retaliations of the people from whom we are stealing oil. The left, on the other hand, feels the government should keep out of a person's private life, and protect it citizens from the greed and hazards of the corrupt corporate America.
Also the role of the federal government is to determine which legislation is best left to the individual states. As is stands now, states have the right to determine what kind of food safety labeling for products that can cause cancer, birth defects, allergic reactions or mercury poisoning. But now Congress is actively trying to change that with H.R. 4167 which will not only prevent states from passing laws requiring labels for such dangerous products, but also for genetically altered food, or food that may contain rBGH. Truly if the Congress is not going to defend the people from potentially dangerous foods, we cannot expect the corrupt corporations from doing it. Because they've already proven in the past that they don't really give a rat's dropping what goes in our food.
A good example of this would be aspertame. Aspertame was first discovered in 1966 by a scientist working at G.D.Searle Industries as he was trying to develop an ulcer drug. It was suggested as a sugar substitute after the scientist accidentally licked his fingers and found them to taste sweet. It is an rDNA deriviative, made by combining two amino acids.It was once listed as a prospective chemical warfare weapon on a list submitted to Congress by the Pentagon. It has three components,asparatic acid, phenylalaline, and methanol amino acids saturated in petrochemicals. when ingested, aspertame breaks down into it's constituent amino acids, and methanol, which then biodgrades into formaldehyde.Mmmmm...formaldehyde. says Monsanto, one of the leading suppliers of aspertame, "Formaldehyde has been implicated as a possible carcinogen when inhaled, but this hasn't been shown to be the case when taken by mouth."
Aspertame used in diet drinks, affects the brains production of serotonin, making the body crave more carbohydrates, cancelling out it's effectiveness as a diet aid. It can produce brain tumors, lead to blindness, and dries up the lubricating synovial fluid and turns joints into plastic. It can cause memory loss, chronic fatigue, and even death at extreme levels. One man who walked into a manufacturing facility with out proper protection died instantly.
From it's inception, aspertame was a drug. An addictive drug. So how did it become a food additive?
Searle had been seeking FDA approval for fifteen years for aspertame as a drug. While it funded a number of reports minimizing aspertame's dangers, a number of independent tests proved it to be unsafe.That all changed with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. A member of Reagan's transition team, Donald Rumsfeld was appointed CEO of Searle.Calling in all his markers Rumsfeld was able to get aspertame fast tracked as a food additive despite FDA reports it caused brain tumors. It's so deadly, flies won't touch it. Yet this person, looking to line his pockets, use politics to unleash a potentially deadly ingredient into the American diet. So excuse me if I feel he is unfit to defend the country from a terrorist attack. He has already unleashed a deadly chemical weapon upon the American people.
But at least gay people can't marry each other, and isn't that the most important thing?