Radio New Zealand: Dr. Ken Stoller tells Parliamentary Committee, aspartame is poison

July 23, 2008

An American paediatrician who gave evidence on

Wednesday to a parliamentary committee on the

artificial sweetener aspartame says it is a

poison that should not be used in food.

Earlier, the Food Safety Authority told the

health select committee it was confident the

chemical was safe and the studies on which it

based its decision showed no adverse effects.

But Ken Stoller, who has been lobbying against

aspartame since it was approved in the United

States in 1981, says he cannot understand why

government health officials in both countries

always quote what he calls " industry-sponsored propaganda " .

Dr Stoller says he is extremely concerned that

many women drinking diet drinks during pregnancy

are unwittingly affecting future generations.

The Food Safety Authority's comments followed a

call from the Safe Food Campaign, which presented

an 8000-signature petition to the committee on

Wednesday morning, for all soft drinks containing

the sweetener to be banned from schools.

The group's spokesperson, Alison White, told the

committee many independent studies have linked

the chemical, also known as artificial sweetener

951, to serious health problems.

But the Food Safety Authority's principal advisor

of toxicology, John Reed, said controlled studies

show no ill effects and much of the sweetener's stigma was anecdotal.

Radio New Zealand

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