00:05Soft drinks, iced tea, hot chocolate, tabletop sweetener, chewing gum, cereal, pudding, ice cream, cookies, even breath mints and children's vitamins.
00:14Odds are, aspartame is part of your diet.
00:16But should it be?
00:18It should be withdrawn from the market.
00:20Look at this.
00:21A summary of nearly 10,000 complaints filed with the Food and Drug Administration since 1980 by people just like Edith Johnson.
00:27I was horrified.
00:29I was panic-stricken.
00:30I was perspiring.
00:32I was scared to death on that night.
00:33Edith says she'll never forget it.
00:36Within a matter of moments, I went completely blind.
00:38I could not see anything.
00:41Edith was drinking a cup of low-calorie hot chocolate that night.
00:44Aspartame made it sweet.
00:46And Johnson says aspartame made her sick.
00:48All of a sudden, I couldn't see.
00:50My eyes went out of focus.
00:52And my vision became quite blurred.
00:55And you think it's because of aspartame?
00:56I think it's very deliberately because of aspartame, yes.
00:59It was terrifying.
01:01Kate Randall thought she was going crazy.
01:03I started popping in my hands and twitching in my feet, my legs, my knees, my upper legs, and shoulders and arms and everywhere.
01:11Like millions of Americans, Kate Randall was a Diet Coke drinker.
01:17A big one.
01:17Nine Diet Cokes a day.
01:19For how long?
01:19Five years.
01:20Every day.
01:21Every day.
01:23Kate developed a twitch in her eyes.
01:25And then my chin, this part of my neck, and right up by my temples started to twitch.
01:30Kate Randall went to several doctors, but their tests were negative.
01:34The doctors told me that it was just a glitch in my system.
01:37My first reaction was, well, it's a glitch in my system that I'm not willing to live with.
01:42And what that meant was that I was going to do my own research.
01:46So Kate went online searching for answers.
01:48And she says what she found left her with a bitter taste for NutraSuite.
01:53I absolutely believe that it was the breakdown of my health for two years.
01:57Kate Randall isn't the only one who believes NutraSuite is dangerous.
02:01Dozens of webpages warn against the ill effects of aspartame.
02:05One of them is supported by this man, Dr. H.J. Roberts, a private physician and author of several articles and books on aspartame.
02:12Somebody has got to put this out and say, be careful.
02:18Roberts calls aspartame an ignored epidemic.
02:21The internist says he's treated patients who suffered severe side effects from America's favorite artificial sweetener.
02:27The bottom line is that I have over 1,300 in my own database that people have had terrible reactions to products containing aspartame.
02:37Dr. Olney, do you think that aspartame should be on the market today?
02:41No.
02:42Why not?
02:44Because it hasn't been demonstrated to be safe.
02:47Dr. John Olney is a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis.
02:52I fed aspartame to infant mice and found that it produced the same kind of brain damage that monosodium glutamate causes.
03:01Dr. Olney started studying the effects of aspartame in 1970.
03:05He says he was alarmed when the rodents developed brain tumors.
03:09It indicates that if there's an adverse effect, a serious adverse effect in the animals,
03:16and if that adverse effect is absolutely proven in the animal research,
03:21then it should not be approved for human use.
03:28Dr. Olney took his findings to the Food and Drug Administration
03:31as Searle, the company that developed aspartame, pushed to get the new sweetener to market.
03:37The FDA looked at the research and in 1975 put aspartame's approval on hold.
03:42It set up an independent panel of doctors to study aspartame.
03:45In 1980, that public board of inquiry unanimously ruled aspartame should not go on the market.
03:53We had a major responsibility to evaluate.
03:57Dr. Vernon Young from MIT is the only surviving member of the board of inquiry.
04:03Our conclusion was that on the basis of the evidence presented at that time,
04:08we weren't able to assure ourselves of the safety of aspartame in that particular context
04:16and that we advised the need for additional studies.
04:22They had some concerns about it and felt that there should be additional animal studies done before it was approved.
04:30Dr. Jerry Goyan was the FDA commissioner then.
04:33I looked at that, read it at the time obviously,
04:36and said that, well, what we had to do next was set up an internal committee
04:42of people who had played no part in previous studies of aspartame.
04:47But Goyan never had the chance to review the results.
04:51That's because he was forced to step down in 1981
04:54when newly elected President Ronald Reagan appointed a new commissioner.
04:59That commissioner quickly approved the use of aspartame for dry foods like cookies and pudding mix.
05:04Just two years later, he okayed it for carbonated drapes.
05:10We tracked down that FDA commissioner, Dr. Arthur Hall-Hayes.
05:14Hi, Dr. Hayes.
05:16Yes.
05:16My name is Alene Sergani with Fox 5 in Washington.
05:18Yes.
05:19Can we ask you a few questions about aspartame?
05:21FDA has all the information you need.
05:23Yes, but sir, you were the FDA commissioner when aspartame was approved,
05:27and so we'd like to ask you a few questions.
05:29No, I really have no comments.
05:30All the information is available for the Food and Drug Administration.
05:32Sir, don't you think it's your responsibility as the FDA commissioner
05:35when aspartame was approved to answer some of our questions?
05:38Not now. I'm no longer commissioner of the FDA.
05:40Do you think the public was ever put at risk?
05:42Sir, was the public ever put at risk?
05:44Sir, do you think he put the public at risk, sir?
05:47Yes, I do.
05:48Senator Howard Metzenbaum has his own concerns.
05:51I can say that I was dissatisfied with the manner in which aspartame was approved.
05:56So Senator Metzenbaum requested a review of the FDA's approval process.
06:00I have a kind of recollection of it that sort of left a bad taste in my mouth.
06:06And it wasn't from aspartame.
06:08To understand the senator's concerns, you have to realize what this little blue packet is really worth.
06:14Searle sells millions of dollars of aspartame each year.
06:17It's used in nearly 6,000 products, including Diet Coke.
06:22Searle had a vested interest in keeping aspartame on the market.
06:28And the American public had a craving for a calorie-free sweetener.
06:33It was a big public issue.
06:35It was a matter of considerable publicity and public attention.
06:42Between my first and second seizures, I asked my neurologist about aspartame and a possible link to seizures.
06:47The Senate's public hearings took place in 1987.
06:50But nothing came of Metzenbaum's worries.
06:52The committee decided not to request more studies and left aspartame on the market.
06:58I think that there were a lot of politics involved in it being approved.
07:02A lot of people share the senator's viewpoint.
07:05So Fox 5 obtained these campaign contribution records.
07:08They show that Searle made contributions to several senators involved in keeping aspartame on the market.
07:13Senator Howell Heflin received at least $5,000.
07:16Searle also contributed at least $3,000 to Senator Orrin Hatch.
07:20Senator Robert Byrd got $1,000.
07:23And Representative Henry Waxman also received a $1,000 contribution.
07:27And that's not all.
07:28We also learned that several federal officials were investigated for possible ties to Searle.
07:33I think the chairman of the FDA wound up in having some sort of economic relationship beneficial to himself
07:41with Searle Manufacturing, who at that time owned the rights to aspartame.
07:50The issue is really not an issue of science.
07:53It's an issue of politics.
07:55The Monsanto webpage links sites belonging to the American Diabetes Association and the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.
08:01Both organizations have published articles supporting NutraSuite.
08:06Monsanto does not mention its large contributions to both non-profit groups.
08:11Not enough is known about NutraSuite.
08:14Edith Johnson just wants the FDA to order more studies.
08:17So do the hundreds of people who continue to file complaints.
08:20So many, the Department of Health and Human Services has identified 91 symptoms by complainants attributed to aspartame use.
08:28The number one reported symptom is headaches.
08:31Some of the other most reported symptoms are dizziness, mood changes, nausea, and stomach pain.
08:37Absolutely, I think the FDA should revisit this issue.
08:40But for now, the FDA has no plans to revisit the issue.
08:44The agency wouldn't even designate someone to speak with us on camera.
08:47But FDA officials did recently speak with members of the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network.
08:52James Turner and Mary Stoddard say they've been trying for years to convince the FDA that aspartame should be taken off the market.
08:59But their most recent attempt failed.
09:01They barely acknowledge the possibility that some people may be harmed.
09:05Their basic position is that in everything they've looked at, all the data has come in and there's nothing, zero, that suggests to them that there's any problem.
09:12The Food and Drug Administration maintains aspartame is safe.
09:18But that's no comfort for Edith Johnson.
09:20You are talking with a very angry lady.
09:23I am furious today.
09:25They had no right to market it.
09:28My message to people is drink water.
09:31You don't need aspartame in your life.
09:33It's everywhere.
09:35Try walking down one aisle in the grocery store without finding aspartame in something.
09:39Is it safe?
09:40Should it have ever been approved?
09:41That all depends on who you ask.
09:44What would you like to tell people about aspartame?
09:48Um.
09:53Avoid it.
09:53FDA representatives would not speak to us on camera, but they did send us this statement.
10:05In it, the agency stands behind its decision.
10:08The statement then goes on to say the FDA remains ready to act if it receives what it considers to be credible scientific evidence.
10:15But until then, NutraSuite will remain on the shelves of your grocery store.
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