Page 4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, July 19, 1985
Aspartame is sae or most
people, says medieal assOClation
FN Br IntEl
From United Press International
4
CHICAGO (UP!i - Aspartame. the artificial sweetner
rapidly replacing saccharin as a low-calorie sugar sub-
stitute. is safe for use by most people. the American
Medical Association reported today.
Only those who are sensitive to the amino acid
phenylalanine. one of aspartame's components, need
regulate their intake of the popular sweetener, concluded
the AMA's Council on Scientific Affairs.
TOUTED AS a more palatable alternative to saccharin,
aspartame has gained rapid acceptance by the public and
is now found in more than 70 products, including car-
bonated beverages, chewing gum, and reduced calorie
desserts. It is available in tapletop form under the name
Equal.
Marketed in the United States as NutraSweet by G.D.
Searle & Co. of Skokie. Ill.. the product was approved by
the Food and Drug Administration for commercial use in
1981. Its use has boomed and Searle reports worldwide
sales of $585 million in 1984, compared to $336 million in
1983, the first year it was approved for use in carbonated
beverages.
Despite approval by the FDA, questions have arisen
about its safety and it has been blamed for everything
from severe headaches to brain tumors.
IN WASHINGTON Wednesday. a group calling itself
Aspartame Victims and Their Friends asked the FDA to
take the product off the market. One member. Sharon
Roth. 36, a professional artist. claims she is blind in her
left eye because she used Nutra Sweet.
Dr. Harold Lubin, director of Food and Nutrition for the
AMA's Personal Health Program. said an extensive
review of the ,'edical literature does not support the
group's concerns.
"Those present issues and the most pertinent questions
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that society and physicians should ask have been an-
sered. but we certainly need and want to know nore'
he said.
"iiLE TE issue is not completely resolved, aspar-
tame appears to be safe for most people. Lubin said. He
said the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control had
determined most complaints were mild in nature and not
widely spread.
Lubin said a review of safety issues, published today in-
the Journal of the American Medical Association. sup-
ports the FDA contention that the maximum projected in-
take of aspartame by most children or adults is "far, far
below any level even suspected of being toxic.'
"This report is important to consumers because it
represents yet another authoritative, independent con-
firmation of the safety of aspartame,'' said Robert F.
Shapiro, president of Searle's NutraSweet group.
THE AMA report said, however. that because it is par-
tially composed of phenylalanine, aspartame cannot be
taken in large quantities by those suffering from a rare'
disease called plhenylketonuria. or PKU. PKU sufferers
are intolerant of amino acid, which is also found in many
sources of protein, and risk retardation if exposed to ex-
cessive amounts.
At present, products containing aspartame bear the
table "Phenylketonurics: contains phenylalanine."
Critics of aspartame have pointed out that since most of
the estimated 4 million people who are PKU carriers do
not know they are, pregnant women who consume the
product could be endangering a phenylketonuric fetus.
The report dismissed the notion, citing evidence that a
pregnant woman would have to consume 600 aspartame
tablets, or more than six gallons of a carbonated beverage
in one sitting. to risk her child.
NCH? Sute wzelfare
rolls shrink
M APART-
LANSING (tPI) - Michigan's
welfare caseload declined again last
g. Room to month, bucking a rise in unem-
ployment. it was announced yester-
day.
A spokesman for the Department of
Social Services said officials believe
economic improvements are respon-
sible for shrinkage in the welfare
rolls. He said they are at a loss tor
explain why the shrinkage has con-
tinued in the face of rising or stagnant
unemployment.
THE MAJOR Aid to Dependent
Children program recorded a 1 per-
cent drop to 223,300 cases in June. its
lowest level since April 1980.
The portion of ADC serving families
of the unemployed showed a 3.5 per-
cent drop to 33,060 cases, the fewest
since December 1980.
The caseload for general assistan-
ce. a program serving mostly single
adults, fell 2.8 percent to 127.940. its
lowest count since January 1983.
"AHOUT 12.198) families have been
able to leave welfare in the past three
months. said Welfare Directorr
Agnes Mansour. "It is our hope that as
many as 13(5) more families will be
able to leave the rolls this summer.
Unemployment rose from 10.1 per-
cents to 10. percent in June.
Itsas about steady in May. aftsr
rising nearly a full percentags'psint
Apis il.
"It s hard for us to put our finger
onb" the reason for the disparity in the
welfare and jobless statistics. said
Charlei Peler of the DSS.
Reagan recovers,
meets with advisers
WASHINGTON - President
Reagan, "feeling great," met with
his national security adviser
yesterday for the first time since
his hospitalization and continued
on a near-flawless road to
recovery, the White House said.
Reagan, his activities still
limited to ensure full recuperation
from cancer surgery last Satur-
day, held meetings with his chief
of staff Donald Regan and national
security adviser Robert Mc-
Farlane after a good night's sleep.
He also sent a letter to Capitol
Hill urging passage of a bill that
would allow him to veto specific
items in appropriations bills.
Israel rejects list
of Palestinians
JERUSALEM - Israel rejected
a list of Palestinians proposed for
a joint Palestinian-Jordanian
peace delegation because some
people on it were active members
of the Palestine Liberation
Organization, sources said yester-
day.
Prime Minister Shimon Peres,
who received a copy of the list
Wednesday from the U.S. Em-
bassy, said it was unacceptable to
Israel.
The list of Palestinians for the
joint delegation had been tran-
smitted to the State Department
by Jordan after its approval by
King Hussein and PLO leader
Yasser Arafat.
Official sees hope
for budget cuts
WASHINGTON - Presidential
assistant Donald Regan, pounding
his podium in anger, called on
Congress yesterday to get back to
work on the budget, and House
Budget Committee Chairman
William Gray said there may still
be hope for more cuts.
But Gray said the House's
willingness to reduce federal
spending further depended on
whether Senate bargainers would
return tn the negotiating table.
Budget talks broke off
acrimoniously Wednesday night,
with both Senate and House
negotiators trading charges that
the other was torpedoing efforts to
get a budget agreement. Many
barbs also were aimed at the
White House budget framework
formulated last week in an attem-
pt to bring the parties together.
GNP grows 1.7%
WASHINGTON - The nation's
gross national product grew at
only a 1.7 percent annual rate in
the second quarter, making the
predicted 4 percent growth in the
economy unlikely this year, the
Commerce Department said
yesterday.
The April-June growth figure
fell far short of the 3.1 percent
"flash" projection issued late last
month, slipping below even the 2.5
percent that most leading
forecasters had anticipated.
"The economy's performance
during the first half of this year
obviously was below our earlier
expectation, making the 4 percent
target for growth during 1985
unlikely," 'Commerce Secretary
Malcolm Baldridge told reporters.
Tax reform still
'on schedule'
WASHINGTON - Whitaniouse
chief of staff Donalorsegan
promised yesterday President
Reagan will launch a "vigorous"
campaign for his tax reform plan
in the fall and complained the
proposal has become tangled in
the conrgressional budget fight.
Regan, architect of the Treasury
Department's original tax
overhaul proposal when he was
Treasury secretary, also told a
meeting of the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce that the administration
would consider business changes
in the plan, but any alterations
must not significantly raise or
lower government tax revenue.
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Vol. XI - 'No.34-S
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