We have bills to ban Aspartame in both houses in Honolulu; the one in
the Senate, SB576, sponsored by Senator Kalani English, has 13 more
cosponsors, or 56% of the 25 member Hawaii Senate.
There is also a Hawaii Senate Resolution sponsored by Senator Suzanne Chun Oakland which directly requests the as-yet-unappointed new FDA Commissioner as well as Health and Human Services Secretary-designee, Tom Daschle, to rescind the approval for
aspartame. Because we have concentrated on the Senate and are in good shape
there at the moment, I believe, where we must concentrate is the Hawaii
House Health Committee.
The corporate lobbyists and retail merchants' association will be fierce
opponents of this legislation and will fight it tooth and nail, like
bringing in really sick diabetics to testify, who cry around about what they
would have to do to sweeten their food with an artificial sweetener,
neurotoxin and carcinogen like aspartame?
Count on this, for sure: the world's largest Aspartame manufacturer,
Ajinomoto, will bring in a bunch of very expensive high power lobbying
muscle, like they did in New Mexico when an almost identical Senate Bill to
ban aspartame was eviscerated by lobbyists and corporate attorneys for the
manufacturers.
Thus, we need real grassroots connections in Hawaii. People who can give up an hour or two to send emails to Hawaii lawmakers and asking friends and family there to get involved, please do, so the corporate lobbyists for the world's largest food poisoner won't stop this important consumer protection bill.
Stephen Fox is the Managing Editor, Santa Fe Sun News and Founder, New Millennium Fine Art. More at mailto:stephen@santafefineart.com
This is a guest editorial. Send editorials to mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com
