From the February 2006 Idaho Observer:

Aspartame on the ropes

Governor could declare state of emergency in New Mexico

Several other states ready to follow

New York Times article fans class action flames

Aspartame producers trying to put out public opinion fires

Calorie Control Council still maintains telling consumers to ignore the dead test rats

By Mission Possible

New Mexico Governor William Blaine Richardson III has been requested by 10 New Mexico state senators in a letter to declare a state of public health emergency, in accordance with NMSA 12-10A-5.

The letter, dated February 10, 2006, states, "The nature of the emergency derives from 70% of the adults and 40% of the children in New Mexico having consumed methanol and formaldehyde, the resultant metabolites from their ingestion of aspartame. The conditions that cause the emergency are the fact that the G.D. Searle Corporation ramrodded the approval of this illegal drug through the United States Food and Drug Administration in 1981 as a ‘food additive.’ It is now found in over 6,000 food products and over 600 children’s medications, vitamins, and aspirin."

"The expected duration of the emergency is more than thirty days [which is] necessary to prevent further instances of methanol/formaldehyde poisoning, and will end when all products containing aspartame, a poisonous and deleterious food additive are removed from sale in New Mexico in accordance with statutes in the New Mexico Food Act."

Governor Richardson was requested by the 10 Senators to recognize aspartame disease as a public health emergency on February 13, 2006. The governor’s office is "researching the law to see if he has the authority" to declare such an emergency. Though it is clear that he does have the authority, he has not yet made the declaration at press time. The 2006 NM legislative session is scheduled to close Feb. 17.

The governor is apparently in a bit of a pickle as his campaign manager Amanda Cooper accepted a $10,000 donation from Altria Corporate Services, a subsidiary of Kraft/Philip Morris—the parent corporation of General Foods (one of the world’s largest distributors of aspartame-containing foods). In a letter dated Feb. 3, 2006, Mission Possible Director Betty Martini asked Cooper to, "Please...ask Governor Richardson to either return the $10,000 contribution by Altria Corporate Services (a merger of Kraft and Philip Morris) or, better yet, ask him to make his own donation of the same $10,000 to 10 of the worst aspartame poisoning victims in the United States."

The senators who signed the letter to Governor Richardson include Judiciary Chairman, Cisco Mc Sorley; Indian Affairs Chairman, John Pinto, Navajo; Rules Chair, Linda Lopez; Conservation Chairman, Carlos Cisneros, Finance Committee Vice Chair, John Arthur Smith; Corporations Committee, Bernadette Sanchez; Indian Affairs Vice Chairman, Lidio Rainaldi; Rules Vice Chair, John Grubesic; Gerald Ortiz y Pino, and Leonard Tsosie, Navajo.

Most of the New Mexico Legislators have been given copies of Cori Brackett’s DVD, Sweet Misery, to educate them during the Interim before the next Session of the New Mexico Legislature.

NYT

The New York Times published an article entitled, "The Lowdown on Sweet" February 12, 2006. The article has fanned the flames of a class action lawsuit being prepared for aspartame consumers in New York and New Jersey who have developed brain cancers. Contact Mission Possible if you know of any NY/NJ residents with brain tumors at (770) 242-2599.

The article by Melanie Warner cites extensively the long-term study performed by Dr. Morando Soffriti of Bologna, Italy showing a direct link between aspartame consumption and "unusually high rates of lymphomas, leukemias and other cancers in rats that had been given doses of it starting at what would be equivalent to four to five 20-ounce bottles of diet soda a day for a 150-pound person," wrote Warner.

Though the evidence is overwhelming that millions of people are suffering the adverse effects of aspartame poisoning, the Calorie Control Council, a trade organization that has been promoting the use of aspartame for decades, is still defending the known neurotoxin.

Diane Fleming

Diane Fleming was sentenced to serve 25 years for allegedly fatally poisoning her husband Chuck with the contents of an unopened jug of methanol-containing windshield washer fluid. Chuck died of methanol poisoning, but it was a systemic poisoning that came from his drinking and eating a large variety of aspartame-containing products. A Virginia judge has just reviewed her habeas corpus and a ruling is pending at this time. People close to Fleming say the chances for release are good.

Help us remove this poison from our food supply. Contact The IO for more info.