22 members of Hawaii House of Representatives Sign Resolution asking FDA to Rescind Approval for Neurotoxic Aspartame

HAWAII HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 128, 2009

For those of your readers who might sometimes be concerned about their own health and about Consumer Protection in general, the Hawaii House of Representatives has moved forward an extraordinary Resolution asking the FDA to rescind the approval for Aspartame.

This Resolution is particularly auspicious and significant because both the Chair and the Vice Chair of the House Health Committee, as well as the Vice Chair of the Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee, have signed on as cosponsors. This means the measure will receive a scheduled hearing in the House Health Committee, something that was denied last year by Senate Health Chairman David Ige for the Senate Resolution, as well as the Senate Bill to ban aspartame outright. It will go to House Finance Committee after the Health Committee referral.

The text of the Resolution follows, and although perhaps tedious and precise to some, clearly indicates the reasons that such a recinding of aspartame's approval by the FDA is appropriate and long overdue, an approval which to its credit, the FDA rejected for many years before it was forced in 1981 by then President of G.D. Searle, Donald Rumsfeld.

[You personally could write in support of this long overdue and obvious imperative to  Margaret Hamburg, M.D., FDA Commissioner, 5400 Fisher's Lane, Rockville Md., or to commissioner@fda.gov, and to her Deputy, Joshua Sharfstein, M.D., as well as to the Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius; you should also ask your US Senators and Representatives to also do this]

Measure Title:   REQUESTING REVIEW OF EXISTING REPORTS AND STUDIES RELATED TO ASPARTAME AND RECISSION OF APPROVAL OF ASPARTAME FOR UNITED STATES MARKETS.
 
Report Title:   Aspartame, Approval, Food and Drug Administration 
 
Introducer(s):   CARROLL, MCKELVEY, SHIMABUKURO, Awana, Belatti, Brower, Chang, Ching, Coffman, Evans, Hanohano, Har, Ito, Magaoay, Manahan, Morita, Nakashima, Nishimoto, Sagum, Takumi, Wakai, Yamane

The Prime Sponsor is Representative Mele Carroll, Chairman of Hawaiian Affairs, representing East Maui (from Paia and Haiku to Hana and Kaupo), Lana'i, Moloka'i, Kalaupapa, and Kaho'olawe.
 
These are the leadership positions held by the cosponsors:

Angus McKelvey:  Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs (Chair)
Maile Shimabukuoro: Hawaiian Affairs (Vice-Chair)
Karen Awana: Transportation (Vice-Chair)
Della Au Belatti, J.D.: Member Health, Judiciary
Tom Brower: Human Services (Vice-Chair)
Jerry Chang: Higher Education (Chair)
Corrine Ching: Member, Environmental Protection, Higher Education
Denny Coffman: Energy & Environmental Protection (Vice-Chair)
Cindy Evans: Member, Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs
Faye Hanohano: Public Safety (Chair)
Sharon Har: Interim Task Force on Smart Growth (Chair)
Ken Ito: Water, Land, & Ocean Resources (Chair)
Michael Y. Magaoay: Member, Interim Task Force on Standards of Conduct
Joey Manahan: Tourism, Culture, & International Affairs (Chair)
Hermina Morita: Energy & Environmental Protection (Chair)
Mark Nakashima: Higher Education (Vice-Chair)
Scott Nishimoto: Health (Vice-Chair)
Roland Sagum III: Member, Finance
Roy Takumi: Education (Chair)
Glenn Wakai Consumer Protection & Commerce (Vice-Chair)
Ryan Yamane: Health (Chair)

The text is not yet posted on the Hawaii Legislature website, but this is the identical text from Senate Concurrent Resolution 191 from 2008:

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES TO REVIEW EXISTING REPORTS AND STUDIES RELATED TO ASPARTAME, AND REQUESTING THE UNITED STATES FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION TO RESCIND APPROVAL OF ASPARTAME FOR UNITED STATES MARKETS.

     WHEREAS, aspartame was originally developed as a drug to treat peptic ulcers; and

     WHEREAS, manufacturers state that aspartame is made up of forty per cent aspartic acid, fifty per cent phenylalanine, and ten per cent methanol; and

     WHEREAS, aspartic acid is a nonessential amino acid that is used by the body to initiate apoptosis or cell death in aging cells, and that excess aspartic acid from aspartame consumption causes apoptosis in healthy cells that can destroy healthy tissue, especially in the brain; and

     WHEREAS, phenylalanine is an essential amino acid found naturally in protein but when isolated becomes neurotoxic, lowers the seizure threshold, depletes serotonin triggering psychiatric and behavioral problems, and interacts with antidepressants and other drugs; and

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