From the May 2005 Idaho Observer:

If DDT were sweet, would you put it in your tea?

Government-approved sucralose is the chemical cousin of some extremely toxic substances

by The Idaho Observer

Sucralose, under the trade name "Splenda", is expected to replace aspartame as industry’s choice to artificially sweeten foods and beverages for public consumption. Industry is being forced to phase out the use of aspartame due to public awareness that the artificial sweetener, which is 10 percent free methanol (a deadly neurotoxin), is an underlying cause of chronic illness in America and around the world.

Researcher and biochemist James Bowen, MD, has released a report categorizing sucralose within a class of chemicals that include known toxins. "Sucralose, under the trade name ‘Splenda’, is a chlorocarbon—a chlorinated synthetic sugar molecule. Chlorocarbons are highly toxic to many species. Common chlorocarbons include carbon tetrachloride, trichlorethelene and methylene chloride—all of which are deadly in varying degrees," Dr. Bowen explained.

Dr. Bowen described chlorine as "nature’s Doberman attack dog—a highly excitable, ferocious atomic element employed as a biocide in bleach, disinfectants, insecticides, WWI poison gas and hydrochloric acid."

Sucralose is a molecule of sugar that has been chemically manipulated to surrender three hydroxyl groups (hydrogen + oxygen) which are then replaced with three chlorine atoms. "Natural sugar is a hydrocarbon built around 12 carbon atoms. When turned

into Splenda, it becomes a chlorocarbon, in the family of Chlorodane, Lindane and DDT," says Dr. Bowen.

It is logical for the layman to ask, "why is sodium chloride, or common table salt, considered safe while sucralose is considered toxic?"

When molecular chemistry binds sodium to chlorine to make table salt, a chlorocarbon is not the result. So sucralose and table salt are as different chemically as oil and water.

"Unlike sodium chloride, chlorocarbons are never nutritionally compatible with human metabolic processes and are wholly incompatible with normal human metabolic functioning. "When chlorine is chemically reacted into carbon-structured organic compounds to form chlorocarbons, the carbon and chloride atoms bind to each other by mutually sharing electrons in their outer shells. This arrangement adversely affects human metabolism because our mitochondrial and cellular enzyme systems are designed to completely utilize organic molecules containing carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and other electrostatically compatible nutritional elements," Dr. Bowen explained.

More simply stated, chlorocarbons such as sucralose deliver chlorine directly into our cells because the body is programmed to metabolize carbons. Dr. Bowen added, "This characteristic makes chlorocarbons effective insecticides and preservatives. Preservatives, by nature, must kill everything which has life or metabolism in it to prevent bacterial decomposition."

Dr. Bowen believes that the damage done by ingested chlorocarbons continues with the formation of other chlorinated poisons. "Any chlorocarbons not directly excreted from the body intact can cause immense damage to the processes of human metabolism and, eventually, internal organs," said Dr. Bowen.

The liver is a detoxification organ, which has to deal with ingested poisons. Much of this chlorocarbon poisoning affects and damages the hepatocytes, the liver’s metabolic cells, damaging them. The brain and nervous system are highly subject to metabolic toxicities and solvency damages by chlorocarbon poisoning. The high solvency of chlorocarbons damages the human nervous system and many other body systems including genetics and the immune function. Thus, chlorocarbon poisoning can cause cancer, birth defects, and immune system destruction.

Dioxin and PCBs are other well-known examples of chlorocarbons.

Just like aspartame, which achieved marketplace approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after animal studies had demonstrated toxicity, sucralose has also failed to demonstrate safety in clinical trials with animals. Where aspartame was found to cause brain tumors in rats and mice, sucralose was found to cause the shrinkage of thymus glands (the biological seat of immunity) and liver inflammation in rats and mice.

In the coming months we can expect to see a lot of media hype expounding upon the virtues of Splenda—the trade name for sucralose. We should not be fooled once again into accepting the safety of an artificial sweetener on the advice of the FDA or the food and beverage industries. In terms of potential long-term human toxicity, we should regard sucralose alongside its chemical cousin DDT, the insecticide now outlawed because of its horrendous long term toxicities at even minute trace levels in human, avian, and mammalian tissues.

James Bowen, M.D. has spent 20 years researching artificial sweeteners after his use of aspartame resulted in being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Dr. Bowen’s mission is to warn the world of the toxicity of tabletop poisons like aspartame, Splenda and Neotame.