Michael Fox, Star of Spin City, Family Ties and many movies, suffers from Parkinson's Disease and once asked how a 30 year old man would get this old man's disease. Michael Fox has also been a Diet Pepsi spokesman and informants say he is addicted drinking many a day. Aspartame/NutraSweet that is in Diet Pepsi is a neurotoxin that triggers neurodegenerative diseases, and can precipitate Parkinson's. Fox has been going downhill because of the wild movements and writhing he's been suffering. He is unable to control his body. Aspartame, in reality a drug, also interacts with other drugs and changes the dopamine of the brain. There is no way for Michael to improve until someone gets him off the Diet Pepsi.

Dr. James Bowen says: "Many NutraSweet victims report parkinsonian symptoms. This should be no surprise because every biochemical component of the aspartame molecule is implicated in producing Parkinsonian structural damage and creating a biochemical basis for parkinsonian symptoms. Aspartame is a source of methanol alcohol. Experts in neurodegenerative disease from alcoholism recognize that methyl alcohol is the component of beverage alcohol that causes neurodegenerative disease in Parkinson's Disease in Parkinson's Disease in alcoholics. Beverage alcohol is grain alcohol or methyl alcohol. However, methyl alcohol is also present in very small amounts, although present only in trace amounts in alcoholic beverages. It is the factor that produces the neurodegeneration. Methyl alcohol accomplishes this even though the ethyl alcohol serves as a protective factor. Aspartame on the other hand affords no such protection and the structural components of the molecule are so arranged that the methyl alcohol from aspartame is probably 500 to 5000 times more active in producing toxicity than it would be alone.

The structural damage in the basal areas of the brain where Parkinson Disease structural damage occurs from the dicarboxylic amino acid neuroexcitotoxins is a problem long recognized. So aspartic acid even in and by itself is a recognized source of the damage to the basal ganglia where Parkinson's Disease degeneration occurs. As in the casae with methyl alcohol the molecular structure of the aspartame molecule probably makes the aspartic acid damage from aspartame 5000 times more potent than from free aspartic acid on a mg. per mg. basis. The brain with loss of neural tissue to produce the dopamine, a neurotransmitter necessary to let the brain circuitry function normally is no longer producing dopamine in sufficient amounts in these structures. The metabolic impact of the phenylalanine isolate from aspartame is to remarkably decrease dopamine production thus making Parkinson symptoms much worse.

The phenylalanine isolate out competes all other amino acids at enzyme sites in the brain. This includes the decarboxylase enzyme sites. Therefore, the amino acid tyrosine is not decarboxylated to tramine which is the first step in producing dopamine in the brain. Therefore, the brain dopamine levels plummet remarkably.

Michael Fox has reportedly used L-Dopa to try and increase his dopamine levels. The use of aspartame completely defeats this therapeutic endeavor. Not to mention the fact that it caused the degenerative disease called Parkinson's Disease in the first place. The destructive process will continue as long as he uses it. " James Bowen, M.D. _____

Somebody please get this message to Michael Fox. There are doctors in another country who have produced a product that could give you 90% improvement in Parkinson's Disease once you're off NutraSweet.

Betty Martini, Mission Possible International www.dorway.com

Pop is bad because it contains too much phosphorus and that pulls calcium out of YOU. Whether the regularly sweetened or the one you're talking about

Please tell Michael Fox to NEVER go outside the USA for any treatment or medication. In fact it is more probably another chemical anyway not aspartame in pop (like they blamed for the 'gulf war syndrome' vets' ailments) that causes such. You know what I think

Methyl glycol is bad; ethyl glycol is worse; diethylene glycol monobutyl ether is worser
CH3OCH2CH2OH
CH3(CH2)2CH2OCH2CH2OH
CH2(CH2)3OCH2CH2OCH2CH2OH

I suspect the first 2 on this list as contributing to the death of this soldier who didn't die until last month, but exposures would have been in the 80s

The ethylene glycol butyl ethers should be suspect for the primary cause of Parkinson's, for MS, for ALS, for 'mad cow disease' on the worst end of the scale. But of course, lots of other things get blamed for what EGBE or 2-butoxyethanol does.

Don't worry there are lots of prominent people affected by the chemical I'm talking about. Pres FDR, the Pope, and Hitler if you check more closely, you can see that pattern of this chemical harm.

I would suspect it in the cause of Richard Pryor's death yesterday. Well, they blamed it on a 'heart attack' Yeah, many people collapse from the advance fatigue of 2-butoxyethanol poisoning ... and they call it a heart attack because you collapse. They don't know. About the only thing that might give a clue is red blood cells that are small-sized & blood in urine (for those who have their own direct exposure & it's not a birth defect showing up from parents who have been chemically poisoned)

Drinking? Some people 'self medicate' because they are in very bad condition; doctors don't help with their add on drugs (medications) - chemicals ... and the ethanol (Oxygen-Hydrogen) in it is a double whammy, when that is the chemical component of harm in the first place... simply put.

Margaret Diann

aspartame but Snopes does a good job with some urban myths but not when it comes to chemical hazards. They rely upon government agencies and industry front groups to debunk. We all know how agencies can be influenced and the ACSH is nothing but a bunch of people who have never met a chemical they did not like to inflict on the public if it makes money.

As in the case of so many products, chemical companies hide information if it will interfere with their ability to make money off of their products. New information is developed all the time because knowledge is generally limited at the time a toxic chemical is accepted for the marketplace.

As far as Parkinson's goes pesticides have been identified as a cause.  KT2000

The chemical I suspect is labeled as a pesticide (maybe the methyl ethers might be, too, don't know)

The two worst versions are 2-butoxyethanol (EGBE) and diethylene glycol monobutyl ether. They should be the most suspect for the epidemic we are finding in a lot of our autoimmune issues and syndromes and cancers and birth defects ... because the US Citizenry (& military through the decades) have a lot of exposure to them.

Out of 100 endocrine disrupters studied by EPA ... these are both on the list. Didn't check for methyl ether - but it would probably be on the list, too

12-11-05