The American Diabetes Foundation, for example, considers aspartame almost sacramental for persons with the disease they battle, one that makes consumption of sugar very dangerous. To hear their lobbyists tell it, aspartame is the modern scientific equivalent of Lourdes water for diabetics: "If you take away my soft drinks with aspartame, what am I supposed to drink, then, huh? " (On each occasion that sentiment is expressed to me, I have to bite my tongue not to gently, but sarcastically, suggest cold water, unsugared ice tea or skim milk all perfectly drinkable alternatives, but not acceptable solutions for carbonation-crazed Coke or Pepsi devotees.)

Aspartame is currently used in over 6,000 processed foods in this country, practically everything that passes itself off as a "lite" or "nonfat" food or drink. Banning it, I am scolded, will create a massive economic depression, leading to factory closures, layoffs of thousands of workers, bank failures and rioting in the streets.

Even the Coca-Cola corporation, which looks at a casual glance like a fairly prosperous company even an incredibly profitable one, I would think will be, I am assured, destroyed by such a ban a very heavy burden to lay on my shoulders.

Meanwhile, dozens of corporate lobbyists (the world's second-oldest profession) are praying that I introduce the measure again, as it would occasion a windfall profit of extravagant expenditures for their services when every soda pop manufacturer in the country rushes to hire clever mouthpieces to protect their interests from our attack. It is a veritable full-employment-for-lobbyists initiative.

To be candid, the chances of our efforts succeeding in the face of the phalanx of three-piece suits and slick leather briefcases that will be arrayed against our tiny cadre of concerned health advocates is extremely slim. Still, it is absolutely worth doing, I am convinced, if it furthers the awareness-expanding process and builds on the excellent work that is being done by the aspartame whistle-blowers like Santa Feans Stephen Fox and Dr. Kenneth Stoller, and the remarkable Dr. Betty Martini from Atlanta whose tireless advocacy is slowly turning the tide of public opinion against this absolutely worthless and extremely dangerous substance. It is even worth risking the destruction of the Coca- Cola empire, apparently much more fragile than any of us ever imagined.

For those wishing to become more familiar with the aspartame menace, a good starting point would be the two hour-long documentary films (available as DVDs) produced by Cori Brackett: Sweet Misery and Sweet Remedy, available through Sound and Fury Productions at www.soundandfury.tv. What you see in these two films is a frightening case study of how corporate greed can completely overwhelm the supposed protections of our governmental watchdogs, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency, and the state and federal departments of Health.

It is worth taking a moment here to review the history of how a true poison like this might be passed on to us as "food" over the protests of the scientists who tried to say "No!" but who were, and who continue to be, subverted by corporate money spent to influence politicians. And it may be instructional to consider as well how this same process of erosion in public protections could actually be going on with ever-growing sophistication and success in many other public health areas of concern, such as mad cow disease and E. coli outbreaks at meatpacking plants.

Coca-Cola has changed 180 degrees from its position on aspartame in 1980. At that time it testified in opposition to aspartame 's approval at FDA hearings looking into the safety of it. Now they help finance its defense. Of course, the FDA itself has flipped. Its initial denial was reversed a few years later in 1983, when Donald Rumsfeld (ring a bell?) persuaded the Reagan administration that denial was not bad chemistry but bad politics. At that time Rumsfeld headed Searle, the pharmaceutical firm that helped develop aspartame.

When concerns over the product's safety seemed likely to produce lawsuits, Searle sold the manufacturing rights to Monsanto, which in turn peddled them to its current primary producer, the Japanese chemical giant Ajinomoto. That outfit has made billions on the production of this artificial sweetener, a significant percentage of which has gone into shoring up the political fortunes of the company 's reputation with American congressional figures.

Brilliantly too, the company has consistently made the American Diabetes Foundation one of the chief beneficiaries of its charitable giving largesse that has created vast gratitude and easy acceptance of whatever "scientific" rationales the company chooses to feed the diabetes advocacy community.

Many more studies of the medical effects of aspartame consumption have been undertaken with financing from the industry than by independent researchers. Their findings that the formaldehyde-laced artificial sweetener is perfectly safe are, therefore, of questionable objectivity.

Last year, however, a truly independent assessment was published by an Italian academic researcher, Dr. Morando Soffritti. His findings substantiate the links between aspartame and cancer, calling it a "neurotoxin" with serious other health consequences and concluding it has major negative impacts on those who ingest it. Soffitti 's study has been repeatedly attacked by industry spokespeople and their paid researchers, but its conclusions stand substantially intact. In Europe and in India, its impact is already producing governmental action to restrict or remove aspartame.

Efforts to act similarly in this country have been solely at state levels so far, though the recent congressional changes may open the door to much more active oversight by the Feds than was possible under the previous leadership. Nevertheless, I would like to proceed with our state initiative. It will, win or lose, further the effort to draw attention to the serious medical dangers that aspartame represents. It would serve as a precaution and could save lives.

Jerry Ortiz y Pino is a New Mexico Senator.

HawaiiReporter.com reports the real news, and prints all editorials submitted, even if they do not represent the viewpoint of the editors, as long as they are written clearly. Send editorials to mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com

Guest Commentary...