Monsanto, one of the corporate juggernauts responsible for bringing us the things that now pass for food, is back with something new. With their patent running out on Aspertame (see our News to Make You Furious article “Nothing Sweet about AminoSweet”), they added a molecule to AminoSweet/Aspartame to create Neotame. Neotame is an artificial sweetener that is 7,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar. Sounds good, but let’s think about it.
Aspartame, which has been linked to multiple cancers, lupus, multiple sclerosis, memory loss, and more, was only tested by in-house Monsanto labs before being approved by the FDA. Virtually every independent analysis of aspartame not conducted by Monsanto partners has revealed a long list of disturbing side effects. While critics say neotame is even more toxic than aspartame, Monsanto has a great argument: It’s less toxic because you need to use so much less to sweeten things, and less poison is less toxic.
Neotame is already jumping into our food supply. With so much less needed to achieve the same sweetness it is cheaper than existing sweeteners, so food producers are already including it in their production. In fact, Neotame has even been approved for use in certified organic foods!
There’s way too much info to give you in just a short article, so if you’re interested in the details of this wonderful new chemical here’s just a few places to find out more…
FDA approval for Neotame- http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/02/08/neotame-receives-fda-approval-but-is-not-widely-used-yet.aspx
Neotame approved for organic foods- http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/monsantos-neotame-molecule-allowed-in-usda-certified-organic-foods/question-1434861/
Aspartame safety network- http://www.aspartamesafety.com/web/press-releases/july-2002/
Neotame website- http://www.neotame.com/
Neotame toxicity information center- http://www.holisticmed.com/neotame/
Neotame abstract- http://www.feingold.org/PF/neotame.html
Dangers of Neotame http://www.karinya.com/neotame.htm
