Coca-Cola touts 'safe, high-quality' 'carcinogen'

Coca-Cola touts 'safe, high-quality' 'carcinogen'

Health pros horrified by ad campaign promoting aspartame

http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/coca-cola-touts-safe-high-quality-carcinogen

Health professionals are horrified by a new ad campaign by Coca-Cola promoting its use of artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, because ingredients the iconic company calls “safe” and “high-quality” allegedly cause cancer and other diseases.

“Twenty years ago I wasn’t sure, but now there’s little doubt in my mind that artificial sweeteners can be far worse for you than sugar and fructose, and there is plenty of scientific evidence to back up that conclusion,” wrote Dr. Joseph Mercola in his online blog Mercola.com.

The Weston A. Price Foundation had expressed alarm when aspartame was proposed to be used in flavored milks for children without any notice to consumers.

“Numerous scientific studies point to toxic effects of aspartame, including cancer, digestive issues and memory impairment,” the organization said. “In spite of this evidence, the International Dairy Foods Association and the National Milk Producers Federation recently submitted a petition to the FDA to hide the chemical sweetener without declaring it on the front of the packaging.”

The organization said 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 susceptible to damage from excitotoxins like aspartame than those of adults and react with ADD ADHD type symptoms, impaired learning, depression and nausea,” the Price Foundation said.

The federal government, through the FDA itself, also has commented on aspartame.

In a 2002 report by Mark D. Gold of the Aspartame Toxicity Information Center, an epidemiological survey from the Journal of Applied Nutrition asked questions of nearly 600 people who had reported reactions to aspartame.

“The adverse effects found cover a subset of reported actual and chronic toxicity effects from aspartame, [including] blindness, convulsions, severe depression, diarrhea, aggravated hypoglycemia, and susceptibility to infection,” the report said.

“Frequently, aspartame toxicity is misdiagnosed as a specific disease. This has yet to be reported in the scientific literature, yet it has been reported countless times to independent organizations and scientists … In other cases, it has been reported that chronic aspartame ingestion has triggered or worsened certain chronic illnesses.”

According to a report in Adweek, Coca-Cola’s big campaign is defending “sugar alternatives like aspartame.”

The promotions were lined up for USA Today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Chicago Tribune.

“It’s Coca-Cola’s first ad explicitly defending its use of artificial sweeteners in an ad,” the report said.

Coca-Cola said “people have always been able to trust the quality of our products and everything that goes into them.”

“That’s something that will never change.”

Then Coca-Cola answers concerns “about the use of low- and no-calorie sweeteners.”

“Our use of high-quality, low- and no-calorie sweeteners, including aspartame, allows us to give people great-tasting options they can feel good about. Time and again, these low- and no-calorie sweeteners have shown to be safe, high-quality alternatives to sugar.”

Coca-Cola

Howard G. Buffett is a director at the Coca-Cola Company, and Warren E. Buffett’s son.

Note: Warren E. Buffett is Howard G. Buffett’s father, a director at the Coca-Cola Company, an adviser for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), a life trustee at the Urban Institute (think tank), and a friend of Byron D. Trott.

Margaret A. Hamburg is the VP for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and the commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Urban Institute (think tank), the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the Aspen Institute (think tank).

George Soros is the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Sam Nunn is the co-chairman & CEO for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and a director at the Coca-Cola Company.

Donald F. McHenry is a director at the Coca-Cola Company, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

James D. Robinson III is a director at the Coca-Cola Company, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).

Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Valerie B. Jarrett is Vernon E. Jordan Jr’s great niece, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the senior adviser for the Barack Obama administration, was Mayor Richard M. Daley’s deputy chief of staff, and a friend of Michelle Obama.

Richard M. Daley is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a director at the Coca-Cola Company, was the Chicago (IL) mayor, Valerie B. Jarrett was his deputy chief of staff, and Michelle Obama was his staffer.

Michelle Obama was Mayor Richard M. Daley’s staffer, and a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.

Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.

R. Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

David D. Hiller is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was the publisher & president & CEO for the Chicago Tribune.

Byron D. Trott is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a friend of Warren E. Buffett.

James S. Crown is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).

Lester Crown is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).

Tarun Das was a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and is the international advisory board member for the Coca-Cola Company.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think tank), the International Rescue Committee, and the Millennium Promise.

George Soros is the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and a board member for the International Crisis Group.

Sheila Coronel is a board member for the International Crisis Group, and a director at the Center for Public Integrity.

Bill Kovach is a director at the Center for Public Integrity, and was an editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Ernesto Zedillo was a board member for the International Crisis Group, and is an international advisory board member for the Coca-Cola Company.

Evan G. Greenberg is an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, and a director at the Coca-Cola Company.

Donald R. Keough was a director at the Millennium Promise, and is a director at the Coca-Cola Company.

Cathleen P. Black is a director at the Coca-Cola Company, and the publisher for USA Today.