Читать книгу Sweet Poison - Janet Starr Hull - Страница 11

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Sweet Poison has undergone many transformations. Initially, I was simply keeping a journal about a strange disease that appeared out of nowhere. No one knew the cause of my life-threatening case of Graves’ disease, and I was concerned that the proposed drastic solutions might not be the right ones for me. Before I agreed to them, I wanted to know why I was sick. I thought writing down my experiences would help me decide my fate. Indeed, it has done just that!

When I discovered the chemical sweetener aspartame caused my illness, my personal journal shaped Sweet Poison. As I became more involved in the aspartame issue, however, I uncovered hundreds of documents contradicting the NutraSweet Company’s claim of product safety. I unearthed research showing marked danger to pregnant women, to unborn fetuses, and to children. I was outraged to learn that as early as the 1960s, FDA and government officials were aware of this research and the challenges to the safety and long term effects of aspartame.

Sweet Poison transformed into a quest to help others with similar experiences conquer the deadly effects of chemical sweeteners.

I believe it’s time to step back and re-evaluate the FDA approval process; to acknowledge the power behind advertising dollars and media sponsorship vs. responsible journalism; to monitor sincerity within the American Medical Association information networks; to critique the quality of contemporary nutrition offered at American medical schools (or lack of); to challenge the bullying behind the approval of other alternative sweeteners; to reexamine the safety of saccharin; and to expose the media’s “information blackout” concerning topics such as aspartame safety.

The Aspartame Consumer Safety Network (ACSN), along with many journalists, pilots, lawyers, and independent researchers, has tried to reach the public with the truth behind aspartame. It has been a long struggle.

Thanks to my pioneering literary agents, Jeff and Deborah Herman, and my enterprising publisher, Dr. Joan Dunphy, readers around the world now have the opportunity to know the truth about aspartame.

The lack of available information exposing the dangerous side effects of aspartame forced me to dig for hidden truths while I was recovering from a deadly disease. I not only stood firmly against my doctor’s advice, but wearily breached the unknown and stood my ground against the threat of death. All I endured can be sourced to one thing, the lack of information about aspartame—the absence of truth.

If telling of my experience helps others, it will give meaning to the suffering I have endured.