Aspartame Kills -- Where the executives of Nutrasweet are likened to Adolf Hitler's Nazis and "world-wide aspartame poisoning" is considered akin to the Holocaust of World War II.

On the Aspartame Kills (AK for short) website, it is stated that:

"All skeptics seem to have the notion that we are supposed to do their homework for them and provide them with hundreds of pages of double-blind studies and pay for the privilege as well. All the information is out there, on our sister sites (http://dorway.com and http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame) and the National Medical Library in Bethesda, MD that lists 167 citations for studies done called "adverse effects of aspartame"."

Well, perhaps the people who are making the outrageous allegations should do their homework; what's wrong with demanding proof? The burden of proof is on the accuser, remember? Oh, by the way, guess where my brother and I did much of our medical research on this topic? You guessed it; we did it at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland -- this is the same place Jon Baum (the AK webmaster) and the Aspartame Kills supporters claim to have done their own research. But something here doesn't add up. You see, just because there are 167 citations (many more by now) listed for studies done called "adverse affects of aspartame", some digging yields that this does not mean the same as "aspartame kills". The research was checking for adverse reactions, it doesn't mean the research found adverse reactions. Quite the contrary, the majority of the NLM research has found no adverse reactions to aspartame.

Try going to PubMed-Medline on the Internet and enter "aspartame" into the search field. Look for yourself at the last few years' worth of research on aspartame by reading the abstracts. The majority of this research absolves aspartame of the claims of Aspartame Kills, none supports their more outlandish claims (like aspartame causing Gulf War Syndrome or cancer), and I can guarantee that Aspartame Kills WON'T show you this research. They'd rather stick with the old, flawed studies that fit with their conspiracy mongering agenda.

But why would they want to ignore the clinical research that contradicts their claims? I have an idea... Jon Baum, the Aspartame Kills webmaster, runs his own company called CSL Marketing, which sells "healthy living" blenders and juicers, nutrition guides, etc. He even provides contact information for CSL Marketing straight from the Aspartame Kills website! In addition, both CSL Marketing and Baum's supposed not-for-profit organization Mission Possible Nations Capitol (represented by Aspartame Kills) share exactly the same mailing address:

Look at the bottom of both the Aspartame Kills and the CSL Marketing websites and you'll see this connection. Funny that Jon Baum doesn't use his own name on the CSL Marketing website, isn't it?

In my opinion, much of what is on the Aspartame Kills webpage is a marketing tactic, as this is by no means the first time my brother and I have found a suspicious marketing connection between hardcore anti-aspartame advocates and alternative health businesses. The way I see it, the more Jon Baum and his anti-aspartame buddies bash conventional medicine (which they claim is "on the Monsanto take"), the more credibility they hope to give themselves by slinging mud. Aspartame Kills often complains loudly about there being a vast conspiracy to cover up the truth, when all along they appear to be the ones with the conflict-of-interest. Jon Baum and many other anti-aspartamers also have links to people who sell Stevia (which isn't approved by the FDA) and more homeopathic stuff from someplace called "The Emperor's Herbologist".

These conflicts-of-interest may or may not be intentional, but nevertheless, how can these people be trusted when they apply such a double standard? Here is a link to why the alternative medicine market is worth eyeing with scrutiny.

DORway to Discovery -- This is a website where the author bashes aspartame and tells visitors that if they have cancer to:

"... dump all milk & dairy from their diet and downshift that sucker [the cancer] into low gear like I [the webmaster] did!"

Needless to say, if Dave Reitz (the DORway webmaster) lacks any proper medical training, then he is unqualified to prescribe any sort of treatment for any disease, much less cancer. Unfortunately, I think that Dave's feelings that "he was a victim" of milk and aspartame provides him all the justification he needs to deliver these crackpot diagnoses.

In addition, in one of his two emails to me, Dave Reitz said the following:

"Hey... guess what! You are just the type of person who SHOULD consume all the aspartame and MSG (preferably together and in large amounts) and top it off with all manner of dairy. Enjoy your self imposed ignorance... and DO keep your health insurance in full force, with all the options, paid in full... because you will be needing it sooner than later.

Bon appetite... Regards...

@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!

Ah-ha! I see that you are a graduate (cum ridiculous) from the "Jerry Springer school of Internet journalism"

@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!@*&%#!"

(end quote)

Well, that is certainly a fair and objective treatment of the matter, now isn't it? Seeing as how Dave Reitz is of the opinion that aspartame and dairy products are a lethal combination, then I find his comments to be particularly venomous and threatening to me personally. And I get all this simply because I question the validity of his claims and demand solid, conclusive proof for them.

In addition, take a look at this post by Dave Reitz to the anti-aspartame mailing list about how the online Encyclopedia Brittanica has "sold out to industry":

"It is obvious you have sold out the human race, because you now tout the NSDA, professional liars since they did a flip job on their original 30 page protest against the use of aspartame in beverages...

... Now the NSDA *and* Dr. Wurtman are turncoats against the human race... for \\$$$. Is that to be YOUR legacy, too?

... Shame on your aiding and abetting genocide for fun and profit!!!"

One of Dave Reitz's e-terrorist tactics is to hound and flame journalists, medical organizations, celebrities, independent investigators, the federal government, etc etc whenever he gets wind of any research or investigation that does not substantiate his views (which are practically all investigations and scientific studies). As you can tell, he is often quite bullyish and rude in the manner in which he addresses The Enemy.

Does this guy really sound like a voice of reason and sanity? How can he possibly expect to be taken seriously?

Aspartame Victims Support Group -- Where people who think they have "aspartame disease" are encouraged to share their anecdotal horror stories and join an anti-aspartame activist email list.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: As of March 21st, 2005, I have discovered a curious fracture within the anti-aspartame movement. It appears that the authors of the Aspartame Victims Support Group, such as nutwad Edward Bryant Holman (see below), are attempting to distance themselves from their one-time leader and guru, Betty Martini!

Holman claims in their disclaimer that "We are not associated with her, and we will be re-doing this website in the future to clearly reflect that. We are aware that she has certain alleged credibility problems, and we do not want our efforts to be tied to the negative publicity that she has received."

Well, well... so Holman and his email list are now trying to claim that their one-time super-activist and leader has "credibility problems." And on top of it sounds just like they're saying, "Well, you know, we were really never associated with her, she's just nutty." You've got to be kidding me - what a gas.

Sorry Holman, you can't dance with the Devil, get burned, and then complain about it later. There is a plethora of evidence showing that you not only worked with Betty in the past, but that you took your lead from her in many cases. And no amount of backtracking or disclaimers can get you out of that mess. You made your bed, so sleep in it pal.

Check out some of the messages on the anti-aspartame email list referencing this fissure in the anti-aspartame community; Betty is even threatening lawsuits against her one-time allies...

As for the list in general, in the past the moderators of this support group email list have been responsible for whipping up some members of that list into a frenzy about the questions my brother and I are asking about their claims. As such, my brother Mark (who makes a much better target than me since he is an "evil doctor" -- he's actually a pediatrician at a hospital) has received harassing emails, hang-up phonecalls at home, and has had his superiors contacted "educating" them about what an awful doctor he is; I have also received harassing emails, and I've had to contact the ISP of certain individuals in order to stop the harassment. In addition, I found out by visiting their email list, at one point some members were trying to track down my father (I have no idea why). Do these sound like reasonable people to you?

Edward Bryant Holman, the email list moderator and webmaster of the Aspartame Victims Support Group website, has also placed an "anti-Lowry" page up on the Internet. He did this in retaliation to our (mine and Mark's) practice of emailing posters to the anti-aspartame guestbooks in order to provide them with a more reasonable and balanced view of the issue. On this page, Holman does a thorough job of twisting our words. For instance, he states that:

"If you have signed a guest book on this site, or on any other aspartame website, you may have been the recipient of a copy-pasted "form letter" from a mysterious "Mark Lowry III, MD", or from his equally mysterious brother, Matt Lowry, a self-described "physics & mathematics teacher". These two gentlemen use these "credentials" in order to try and establish some air of authority and legitimacy for themselves as they try and convince aspartame victims to not stop the use of aspartame in hopes that some of their previously untreatable symptoms might clear up. Their unsolicited advice is to keep using it.

Really?! According to Holman, we are encouraging people to keep using aspartame! This is blatantly false, as I have stated in all of my letters to those whom I email:

"Note, we've got no problem with people wanting to take the 60-day No Aspartame Test, more power to you."

However, Holman and his peers would have everyone on the support group email list believe that we are telling people to keep using aspartame products no matter what. Thus begins the twisting and conspiracy mongering.

In addition to his comments on the "anti-Lowry" page, Holman also has some interesting (to say the least) views about his personal anti-aspartame "mission". These are shown in this post to the support group email list:

"There are at least some people clamoring for our being prosecuted for"giving out unauthorized medical advice" or something to that effect. In short, we are experiencing persecution. Personally, I am willing to suffer persecution for a noble cause. That would do honor to my name and help ensure a place for me in the afterlife, and honor my higher power and my ancestors. After all, life is eternal and this life here is short and always in need of adding meaning to it. But, my wife and my baby are hardly ready to watch me being persecuted, so I cannot be selfish and start seeking glory and their expense. I am, nevertheless, being smeared on a certain cheap, free hosting web site that gets top billing by some of the search engines."

It is quite apparent to me that Holman takes this "mission" of his on as if it is some form of holy quest. The "persecution" by search engines he complains about refers to the fact that on some search engines, Alan Raetz's Aspartame Truth Information Site and my own site get better billing. Thus, Holman goes on to conclude that the vast aspartame conspiracy has grown to corrupt various Internet search engine companies against he and his peers. For example, Holman recently sent this message to the aspartame egroups list. In it he goes on to lament about how he is becoming more and more the victim of a conspiracy between search engines and The Industry:

"The 'human editor' for search engines has not seen fit to include my site www.aspartametruth.com in the search engines, but he has a bunch of pro-aspartame sites up there. I sent him this note:

'I have submitted a URL to you, aspartametruth.com, and yet it has not shown up in any searches now, and this has been a good long time. It has been alleged that you favor pro-industry sites over those of consumers and aspartame victims. Is this true? Becase the evidence seems to point to that. When one purchases a domain name, and publishes a site, and submits it to search engines, one assumes that sooner or later, by typing the domain name, minus the .com, at least it will be mentioned in a list of possible hits on a search. It seems that only by the mechanism of deliberate ommission onthe part of an editor will process not take place. Is this not a reasonble conjecture? Do you actually have an editorial policy that allows you to conduct this type of censorship?' "

This is just another example of the lunatic thinking employed by many of these anti-aspartame advocates. Last, but not least, the website that Edward Bryant Holman refers to in his post above is his own illegal copy of the Aspartame Truth Information Site. Gee whiz, Bryant, I wonder why search engines won't list your illegal copy of another website? Duh!

Is this loonie someone YOU would trust? Not me...

Aspartame Survivors International -- Note: shortly after we put up this exspose about the Aspartame Survivors International website, it moved. I'm unsure if the "outed" abuse of its .org status (see below) had anything to do with this or not.

Another website where so-called survivors of "aspartame poisoning" are encouraged to band together against the evil Nutrasweet empire.

The owner of this website, Sherry Molteni, is also a representative of MannaTech, Inc. MannaTech bills itself as "A Nutraceutical Research and Development Company", selling a wide variety of nutritional supplements. Not that supplements are bad, but until recently, Ms. Molteni included a banner ad to her own Mannatech website, directly from her Aspartame-Survivors webpage. Again, just like Jon Baum and Aspartame Kills, this shows an abuse of "not-for-profit" status and exposes a glaring conflict-of-interest.

When threatened with the loss of her ".org" status (which is supposed to be reserved for non-profit organizations) for the aspartame-survivors.org site, she quickly removed the direct link to her own alternative "medicine" business.

Mannatech is what is commonly referred to as a multi-level marketing (MLM) company. Beware of MLMs! Here is a very interesting & revealing look at the illustrious MLM schemes of companies like Mannatech. Sort of puts things in a new light, eh?

So let me get this straight... these people scream and froth about how horrible Nutrasweet, the government, the medical community, etc. are and then they turn around and try to sell you untested, unregulated alternative "remedies"?! Hmmmm, is that snake-oil and flim-flam I smell?