The two following references were presented as proof of the dangers of
BHT/BHA and aspartame:
 
1) "Loyola University scientists reported on April 14, 1972 that pregnant
mice fed a diet consisting of one half of one percent of BHT (or BHA,
butylated hydroxyanisole) gave birth to offspring that frequently had
chemical changes in the brain and subsequent abmornal behaviour problems.".
(Excerpt from "A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives" by Ruth Winter,
M.S.)
 
2) "The chronic treatment of a series of rats with 200 mg/kg of
non-labelled aspartame..."
(Excerpt from "Formaldehyde derived from dietary aspartame binds to
tissue components in vivo." by Trocho C; Pardo R; Rafecas I; Virgili J;
Remesar X; Fernandez-Lopez JA; Alemany M)
 
(Personally I avoid both, but.....)
I'm a little alarmed by the way scientific references are being presented
to this group.  I am sure the two articles above have invaluable
information when taken in context.  But, as readers we must also remember
that to achieve a toxic result, MASSIVE dosages of the drugs may have been
used.  I always find it useful to translate a dosage to a human equivalent.
 
So calculating on the back of an envelope... I weigh 85kg and will eat
about 2300grams of food per day (I'm rather active).
 
"One half of one percent" of 2300g of food equals 11.5grams of BHT/BHA
every day.  (Holy ferrets Batman!  Thats a lot!)
 
"chronic treatment...200 mg/kg" for 85kg human equals 17000mg or 17grams
of aspartame.  I think there is 35mg/packet of aspartame.  Therefore the
chronic dosage is 485 packets of nutrasweet (Put that in a cup of coffee!).
 
Just as a comparison, the LD50 (dosage required to kill 50% of the time)
for caffeine is 192mg/kg (rat) or 16.3grams for my body mass (assuming I
were a rat).  And that isn't even chronic usage.  Please remember that the
dosages used in research labs are typically 500 to 10,000 times as high as
those found in food (natural or additive).  Yes, ferrets weigh a lot less
than I do, but their actual dosages when looking at the mg/kg will be much
more similar to the dosages us humans encounter in the wild than rats do in
the lab.
 
In case anyone feels the need to know, I worked for four years doing
similar research on humans and animals at the US Army Research Institute
of Environmental Medicine for both the Neuroscience and the Nutrition
divisions.
 
Bryan Coffey
Boston, MA
 
"Uranium is all natural, Ebola Virus is 100% organically grown, oxygen is
toxic, and salt contains explosives!  It's all in the marketing." - me
[Posted in FML issue 2617]