ASPARTAME AND BLINDNESS
Subject: Dr. Morgan Raiford/methanol toxicity/blindness/aspartame
In interviewing the husband of Joyce Wilson who went blind and diedfromNutraSweet I was given many of her records. She ran ASPARTAMEVICTIMSAND THEIR FRIENDS until her death from this poison. The lateDr. MorganRaiford was a specialist in methanol toxicity and many of the patientswho went blind on NutraSweet were brought to Atlanta for his diagnosis.He was an ophthalmologist and founder of the Atlanta Eye Clinic.
Many people today say their ophthalmologists have said they were goingblind but don’t know why, and diabetics in particular are thought to havesimple diabetic retinopathy. The methanol in aspartame converts toformaldehyde in the retina of the eye. It causes retinal detachments,blurring of the vision, double vision, floaters, flashes, black spots,optic neuritis, tunnel vision, etc. Dr. H. J. Roberts on a radio programrecently said aspartame destroys the optic nerve. The widespread use of aspartame has led to concerns about its potential impact on vision, with some patients seeking help at facilities like methadone clinic Louisville KY for related health issues. As awareness grows, some medical professionals are advocating for drug testing to screen for aspartame-related vision problems in patients experiencing unexplained eye issues. Fortunately, with proper diagnosis and treatment, many individuals have reported significant recovery from aspartame-induced vision problems after eliminating the substance from their diets.
Since we have had a hard time finding ophthalmologists that know andcan identify the problem I am providing Dr. Morgan Raiford’s fact sheet.For every physician or ophthalmologist who has this information hecansave the lives of thousands. Many times if patients had beenwarned offaspartame when they were first seen they would not be blind today. Evenif you don’t use aspartame (marketed as NutraSweet/Equal/EqualMeasure/Spoonful, and no telling what since the patent has expired)please print this out and give it to your eye doctor and physician. WhenDr. Raiford wrote this NutraSweet was only in a few hundred products-today its in 7000 products and climbing with an expired patent – in90countries of the world!
May 20, 1987: FACTS ABOUT ASPARTAME
The above product is also manufactured as NutraSweet. This pharmologicalspin-off is as highly profitable item, with a growing market. Theseproducts are used as a sweetener, some 200 times as sweet as regularcanesugar.
This product has some highly toxic reactions in the human visual pathwayand we are beginning to observe the tragic damage to the OPTIC NERVE,such as blindness, partial to total OPTIC NERVE ATROPHY. Oncethisdestructive process has developed there is no return of visualrestoration. We are beginning to see and observe another toxic reactionwhich affects the central nervous system which is related to PHENYLALANINELEVELS IN THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. These observations aremore vague,however, it stimulates the damaging to the brain and the central nervoussystem, having the manifestations as PKU NEURO DAMAGE. Over 3000caseshave been reported and the FDA to date has ignored this existence.(Writers Note: Now over 10,000)
HUMAN VISUAL PATHWAY DAMAGE
The human visual pathway admits ninety percent of our intellectual inputto the brain and central nervous system. All of the learningprocessesare centered during ones life time. The mechanism of this tragicdamageto the human visual system from this product is and has been knownforover a decade that visual loss takes place. When this drug enters thedigestive tract, largely the upper portion, this ASPARTAME moleculespinsoff a by product known as METHANOL or METHYL-ALCOHOL. This productentersthe blood stream and when these portions reach the highly metabolicregion of the OPTIC NERVE AND RETINA, PARTIAL ATROPHY CAN AND DOESTAKEPLACE. The vision can not do without oxygen and nutrition formore thanninety seconds without revealing some damage. Total loss of visionispresent and there is no return. In the very early stages in whichisreferred to as the “wet stage”, treatment can be given and will reservethe destructive pathology to the OPTIC NERVE and RETINA. Thismust be inthe mind of the physician and he must understand the chemical ongoingprocess. The writer has seen many cases where the patent wasallowed togo to the degrees of blindness, as this diagnosis of OPTIC NEURITISwasrendered, as the term IDIOPATHIC NEURITIS OF OPTIC NERVE was given,usually steroids until systemic gross body and facial moon developed.This therapy has demonstrated the total lack of understanding of thebasic lack of BIO-CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY AT THE MOLECULAR LEVEL.
The variability or onset of the OPTIC NERVE ATROPHY is of a type thatonemust first think of this pathology, and it requires a certain amountoflistening to the patient. The quantity of symptoms vary witheach patient.
Over the past year the writer has observed the fact that any portionofthe central nervous system can and is affected. Since the chemicalPHENYLALANINE is mixed up with some metabolic mess, we have seen symptomsof varying hue in the extremities, sensations of dullness of theintellect, visual shadows, evidence of word structure reversing andsomehearing impairment is noted by the individual. This can and willin timecause problems in learning. The medical community must alertitself thatwe have a problem that has surfaced due to the factor of the drugindustry. Parents must be alerted to the side reactions of thistoxicproduct and its reactions.
Sincerely,Morgan B. Raiford, M.D. D.Sc (Med) OPHTHALMOLOGY
We hope all reading this will take it very seriously. Almost 10yearshave past since Dr. Raiford wrote it and now we have an epidemic ofASPARTAME DISEASE! The EPA, Dr. Gaylord, has already announcedanepidemic of MS at the World Environmental Conference where I lectured.She said they didn’t know the toxic causing it. I explained itsnot MSbut methanol toxicity from aspartame which mimics MS and we realizeit isnow epidemic.
Please get off this poison. It is triggering neurological diseasesbecause it changes the brain chemistry. It changes the dopaminelevel ofthe brain. The phenylalanine lowers the seizure threshold inthe brainand blocks serotonin, so now we have epidemic manic depression, panicattacks, etc. Seizures are rampant.
For more information on aspartame you can use our auto-responder. Simplyemail me and put sendme help in the subject line like this:
Subject: sendme help
When you get a directory simply put sendme help in the subject lineagainand whatever file you want to access typed exactly as written in thelefthand side of the directory. Example:
Subject: sendme diabetes-aspartame
Please also print out Dr. Roberts position paper on aspartame and theeye.His tapes and books on the subject are available at 1 800 – 814-9800.Dr.H. J. Roberts is a Board Certified Internist, endocrinologist and hasbeenwarning diabetics, and the rest of the world off aspartame since itwasapproved. He has recently published DEFENSE AGAINST ALZHEIMERSDISEASEwhich has been nominated for a Pulitzer. He explains how thetwoamino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid, isolated from the otheramino acids in protein go past the blood brain barrier and deterioratethe neurons of the brain. This is escalating Alzheimers Disease!
You can also get EXCITOTOXINS; THE TASTE THAT KILLS by Neurosurgeon,Dr.Russell Blaylock. (1 800-643-2665)
Both Dr. Roberts and Dr. Blaylock explain that aspartame actuallyprecipitates diabetes!
Also you can check out Mark Gold’s web page on aspartame:
http://www.tiac.net/users/mgold/health.html
We are revising our warning flyer that we distribute worldwide and itwill be added to the responder at a later date but if you want it aswehave it now we will be happy to email it.
Betty Martini MISSION POSSIBLE (thepeople warning the world to get this poison off the planet)
Date: Sun, 9 Jul 1995 12:18:20 -0400From: [email protected]To: [email protected]Subject: NUTRASWEET/BLINDNESS, Chi-Sun Times
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, Friday, October 17, 1986
Consumer group links NutraSweet to blindnessBy William HinesChief, Washington BureauChicago Sun-Times
Ban artificial sweetener, FDA is urged
WASHINGTON – Charging that aspartame – the widely used artificial sweetenermarketed as NutraSweet – causes blindness, a consumer group yesterdaypetitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban it.
The petition was another step in a long andso far fruitless campaign bythe Washington based Community Nutrition Institute against aspartame,whichalso is sold in stores under the name Equal.
Three women who said their eyesight was seriouslydamaged or destroyedjoined in the citizens’ petition to the FDA, which they asked “toexpeditiously remove [the] product from the market without an administrativehearing.”
At a press conference called by the instituteto announce theimminent-hazard petition, two of the women told of heavy use ofaspartame-sweetened products and said their doctors had advised themthesugar substitute was the cause of their sight loss.
The NutraSweet Co., of Skokie, Ill., a subsidiaryof Searle & Co.,brushed off the institute’s complaint as “simply another round in theirrepeated efforts to gain publicity for their thoroughly discreditedviews onaspartame.”
A Washington-based group called the InternationalFood InformationCouncil said through its executive director, Thomas E. Stenzel, theallegations “that aspartame causes various side effects are not basedon anyscientific data or controlled clinical studies.”
James S. Turner, a Washington lawyer representingthe CommunityNutrition Institute in the petition, said the eye damage to the womennamedin the complaint was “a direct, causally related event to their consumptionof NutraSweet.”
Both heavy users
Both women, Dana Cozad of St. Petersburg, Fla.,and Joyce Wilson ofStockbridge, Ga., described themselves as heavy users of the sweetener.
Wilson, a real estate agent, said she no longercan take sales prospectsto see property because her vision does not permit her to drive.
“It has cost me a lot, and I really want thepublic to know what adangerous product it is,” Wilson said.
Cozad said that vision loss struck her suddenlyin the right eye whileshe was driving home and that lengthy surgery and other sight-savingeffortsfollowed.
She said vision is gone in that eye, and -after she has spent 13 monthson an aspartame-free diet – the condition of the left eye “remainsrelativelystable.”
Both women said their physicians had ruledout causes other thanaspartame for their sight loss.
Methyl alcohol blamed
Dr. H. J. Roberts of West Palm Beach, Fla.,said methyl alcohol is acomponent of aspartame and is responsible for vision damage, whichhe termed”the most serious complication” of those arising from aspartame use.
Aspartame, which is described as a “natural”product, contains two aminoacids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid, which are components of protein. Under certain storage conditions, the sweetener breaks down inpart andmethyl alcohol is a byproduct.
Roberts said the visual reaction to methylalcohol in heavy users ofaspartame is the same as in drinkers of moonshine whiskey in Prohibitiondays: “They go blind.”
Of 360 patients he has diagnosed as havingaspartame-related problems,Roberts said, about one-fourth had decreased vision or blindness, nearlyhalfhad severe headaches and substantial numbers had epileptic seizures,confusion or memory loss, extreme depression and marked personalitychange.
At FDA headquarters in Rockville, Md., spokesmanWilliam Grigg said thepetition had been received but not yet studied.
Grigg recalled that Turner filed several interventionsagainst aspartamein the past, none of which received favorable FDA action.