Nutrition Non-profit Leads Protest of Dairy Adulteration Proposal

 NASDAQ GLOBENEWSWIRE–Washington, DC—March, 13, 2013—According to the Weston A. Price Foundation, American consumers are crying foul over a dairy industry petition to add unlabeled artificial sweeteners to flavored milks served to school children and to many other classes of dairy products.

Numerous scientific studies point to toxic effects of aspartame, including cancer, digestive issues and memory impairment. In spite of this evidence, the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) recently submitted a petition to the FDA to hide the chemical sweetener without declaring it on ingredients labels.

The Weston A. Price Foundation and other groups are urging consumers to file comments in protest of the petition on the FDA  The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nonprofit nutrition education organization.

A petition against the move, http://action.sumofus.org/a/aspartame-milk/?sub=homepage, has gathered almost 100,000 signatures.

“The integrity of our food supply is poised for another blow. By asking the FDA to alter the definition of “milk” to include chemical sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose without full disclosure will only lead to further distrust among consumers. This is a bad idea for consumers and not a smart idea for the industry either,” explains Sally Fallon Morell, president and founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

While aimed principally at replacing sugar in flavored milks served to school children, the petition also asks for the right to put hidden artificial sweeteners in a host of dairy products including nonfat dried milk (always added to reduced-fat milks), yogurt, cream, half-and-half, sour cream, eggnog and whipping cream.

Researchers and holistic health advocates have warned about the toxicity of artificial sweeteners for many years:

• Thousands of adverse reactions to aspartame have been reported to the FDA, mostly concerned with abnormal brain function, brain tumors, epilepsy and Parkinson’s.
• Children’s brains are four times more are more susceptible to damage from excitotoxins like aspartame than those of adults and react with ADD ADHD type symptoms, impaired learning, depression and nausea.
• People who are sensitive to aspartame can have life-threatening reactions to it.

Scientific evidence for the precautionary principle can be found on PubMed.com, a respected scientific database. Here a just a few of the representative studies:

A scientific study published in the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences. 2012 Dec;16(15):2092-101, Studies on the effects of aspartame on memory and oxidative stress in brain of mice, found impaired memory performance and increased brain oxidative stress by repeated aspartame administration.

In May, 2010, The International Journal of Genomics published a study In Vivo Cytogenetic Studies on Aspartame where scientists observed significant chromosomal aberrations in the bone marrow cells of mice following exposure to aspartame. Because of the genotoxicity they found, scientists advised caution when using aspartame in food and beverages as a sweetener.

A Swiss study with mice and rats, published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine in December 2010 found Aspartame (APM) exposure is especially harmful for pre-term fetus, rats of both genders, and male mice. Scientists found APM to be a carcinogenic agent in multiple sites (liver and lung) in mice and rats and that its effects are increased when exposure starts from prenatal life.

How to Register Public Comments:

http://www.westonaprice.org/2013-action-alerts/dairy-industry-petitions-fda-to-approve-aspartame

URL for Public Comments:

http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FDA-2009-P-0147-0012

Dairy Industry FDA Petition:

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/02/20/2013-03835/flavored-milk-petition-to-amend-the-standard-of-identity-for-milk-and-17-additional-dairy-products

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nutrition education foundation with the mission of disseminating accurate, science-based information on diet and health. Named after nutrition pioneer Weston A. Price, DDS, author of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, the Washington, DC-based Foundation publishes a quarterly journal for its 15,000+ members, supports 572 local chapters worldwide and hosts a yearly international conference. The Foundation phone number is (202) 363-4394, www.westonaprice.org, [email protected].

Media Contact:  Kimberly Hartke, 703-860-2711, cell 703-675-5557, [email protected]