NZFSA and New Zealand Nutrition Foundation Short on Credibility.

"It is time people retired or were fired from the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) so New Zealanders might be given independent and reliable information about food safety," said Soil & Health spokesperson Steffan Browning today, adding that, "the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation was also a food industry mouthpiece lacking credibility."

"The information coming to the public from these two organisations is consistently big food industry based, while the real independent and credible research, that damns artificial sweetener aspartame's safety, is consistently ignored or crudely glossed over."

"Yesterday both agencies effectively used the Washington based food industry mouthpiece, the International Food Information Council (IFIC) for their media release wording and spin, while attempting to defend the use of the neurotoxin aspartame as a sweetener. However they failed to mention who is funding IFIC."

Examples of IFIC supporters in 2002 were:

Archer Daniels Midland Company
Aventis CropScience
BASF
Burger King Corporation
Cargill, Incorporated
The Coca-Cola Company
Dow AgroSciences, LLC
DuPont Agricultural Products
Frito-Lay, Inc.
General Mills, Inc.
Gerber Products Company
Hershey Foods Corporation
H. J. Heinz Company
Kellogg USA, Inc.
Kraft Foods
McDonald Corporation
Monsanto Company
The Pepsi-Cola Company
Nestle USA, Inc.
Taco Bell Corporation
The Procter & Gamble Company
Syngenta
Unilever Bestfoods

"Soil & Health challenges NZFSA and the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation to a public debate on the issue. Overwhelming evidence of corruption of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when it approved aspartame for the food chain, and the well documented deceit by then aspartame manufacturer, drug company G.D. Searle, is at odds with significant independent research showing serious health risks from aspartame use, and a public forum is warranted."

"It is dismaying that organisations that should have the publics trust, are, despite what they say, not actually assessing the weight of sound, scientific evidence that surrounds aspartame," said Browning. "Does the Deputy Chief Executive of NZFSA want the agony suffered by many New Zealanders from this poison to reach even greater proportions?
The protection of food industry aspartame pedlars makes the NZFSA and New Zealand Nutrition Foundation culpable for the harm that aspartame sufferers endure here."

"Thanks to the research and the support of visiting international anti-aspartame expert Betty Martini, Soil & Health has further significant evidence to support its call for a ban on aspartame in New Zealand."

"NZFSA refused to meet with Betty Martini, yet following publicity of Wellington woman Abby Cormack's aspartame poisoning symptoms, and the information provided through public meetings and the media by Betty Martini, people already have benefited significantly by removing aspartame from their lives."

"In the very first instance NZFSA and school boards should be removing aspartame from schools, as is happening in other parts of the world where the harm of aspartame is recognised. The majority of health professionals do not recommend the taking of aspartame when they become aware of the recognizable symptoms in affected patients."

Soil & Health is grateful for the knowledge and enthusiasm that Betty Martini has contributed.

ends

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