If there was a food or drink with an ingredient linked to obesity, blindness, seizures, insanity, headaches, cancer and neurological problems, it's safe to say that the item wouldn't be very popular. In all likelihood, it would be banned from store shelves. But believe it or not, this ingredient is not banned. In fact, the ingredient is found in the number one selling item on grocery store shelves today: soft drinks.

The culprit is aspartame, an artificial sweetener that's found in nearly every diet soft drink. In 1981, the Food and Drug Administration approved aspartame to be safe for consumption, after 16 years of rejecting its approval due to a number of tests on animals that showed a linkage to brain tumors.

Since then, the FDA has reported 92 different symptoms linked to aspartame poisoning with death and cardiovascular problems being among them. And if this wasn't evidence enough that the FDA's approval of the drug was misguided'to say the least'80 percent of consumer complaints the FDA receives each year is in regards to adverse reactions caused by aspartame.

How it was that the FDA allowed aspartame to be used in the 7,000 foods, drinks and medications on the market today is puzzling, if not infuriating. But thanks to the consumer rights advocacy group Mission Possible and their poring over stacks of documents, it's now much clearer.

According to their research, G.D. Searle and Co., made several attempts to convince the FDA to approve aspartame, despite test after test that showed rats with high amounts of aspartame in their system formed brain tumors. This finding, of course, is why the FDA refused to allow aspartame up until 1980. But by 1981, a shake-up in the FDA was put into motion. The previous commissioner's authority was suspended and a new man stepped in to head the FDA. The very same year, aspartame was approved and the once financially struggling Searle Co. started making significant profits. In other words, political clout trumped health concerns.

Today, Mission Possible is filing a product liability lawsuit in New York and New Jersey due to several of the states? residents claims that their brain tumors are linked to aspartame consumption.

?Litigation is the only way to spare consumers the misery of aspartame poisoning,? said Betty Martini, founder of Mission Possible International.

Recent findings by The Cancer Research Center of the European Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Studies in Bologna, Italy on aspartame's linkage to leukemia and lymphoma in female rats will be presented at an international scientific conference in September.

Russell Blaylock, a leading authority on aspartame and neurotoxicity had this to say about the study:

?The new study released?should terrify mothers and all those consuming aspartame sweetened products. This was a carefully done study which clearly demonstrated a statistically significant increase in several types of lymphomas and leukemias in rats. Both of these malignancies have increased significantly in this country since the widespread use of aspartame.?

Folks, so much for the FDA's interest in the safety of the consumer. I highly recommend that you avoid aspartame at all costs and replace ALL beverages containing this toxic substance with pure water.

Copyright 2006 Frank Mangano