Source
Inhalation of vapors produces irritation to the eyes, nose, and throat and
frequently results in upper respiratory tract irritation, coughing, and
bronchitis. Asthma may occur in sensitive individuals. Severe exposure to fumes
may lead to chemical pneumonia. Skin reactions after exposure to formaldehyde
are very common because the chemical can be both irritating and allergy-causing.
In addition, formaldehyde is involved in DNA damage and inhibits its repair.
Formaldehyde is a suspected human carcinogen and has been shown to produce
mutations and abnormal organisms in bacterial studies. Formaldehyde fumes are
liberated from plywood, particleboard, and chipboard, as well as urea
formaldehyde foam insulation. Symptoms associated with exposure to formaldehyde
fumes include mucous membrane irritation, upper respiratory tract irritation,
eye irritation, skin rashes, itching, nausea, stuffy nose, headaches, dizziness,
and general fatigue.

Source..
Autumn 1967

GD Searle approaches eminent biochemist Dr Harry Waisman, director of the University of Wisconsin's Joseph P Kennedy Jr Memorial Laboratory of Mental Retardation Research and a respected expert in the toxicity of phenylalanine (which comprises 50 percent of the aspartame formula), to conduct a study of the effects of aspartame on primates. Of seven monkeys fed aspartame mixed with milk, one dies and five others have grand mal epileptic seizures.


Spring 1971

Dr John Olney, professor of neuropathology and psychiatry at Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine, whose research into the neurotoxic food additive monosodium glutamate (MSG, a chemical cousin of aspartame) was responsible for having it removed from baby foods, informs Searle that his studies show that aspartic acid, one of the main constituents of aspartame, causes holes in the brains of infant mice. One of Searle's researchers, Ann Reynolds, confirms Olney's findings in a similar study.


February 1973

Searle applies for FDA approval and submits over 100 studies it claims support aspartame's safety. Neither the dead monkeys nor the mice with holes in their brains are included in the submission.

.....

The Bressler Report is released. It focuses on three key aspartame studies conducted by Searle. The report finds that in one study 98 of the 196 animals died but weren't autopsied until later dates, making it impossible to ascertain the actual cause of death.

Tumors were removed from live animals and the animals placed back in the study. Many other errors and inconsistencies are noted. For example, a rat was reported alive, then dead, then alive, then dead again. Bressler comments: 'The question you have got to ask yourself is: why wasn't greater care taken? Why didn't Searle, with their scientists, closely evaluate this, knowing full well that the whole society, from the youngest to the elderly, from the sick to the unsick? will have access to this product.'

The FDA creates yet another task force to review the Bressler Report. The review is carried out by a team at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and headed by senior scientist Jacqueline Verrett.


September 28, 1977

The FDA publishes a report exonerating Searle of any wrongdoing in its testing procedures. Jacqueline Verrett will later testify to the U.S. Senate that her team was pressured into validating data from experiments that were clearly a 'disaster'.

Source #2


Sometimes, the manufacturer points to the fact that aspartame has been approved in many countries. But none of these countries even tested aspartame. They relied on the manufacturer's pre-approved "research" which was aptly described by an FDA Investigator:


"They [manufacturer] lied and they didn't submit the real nature of their observations because had they done that it is more than likely that a great number of these studies would have been rejected simply for adequacy. What [the manufacturer] did, they took great pains to camouflage these shortcomings of the study. As I say filter and just present to the FDA what they wished the FDA to know and they did other terrible things for instance animals would develop tumors while they were under study. Well they would remove these tumors from the animals."
[US Congressional Record, Volume 131, No. 106, August 1, 1985, pages S10826-S10827]

Source #3
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"It was a very interesting paper, that demonstrates that formaldehyde formation from aspartame ingestion is very common and does indeed accumulate within the cell, reacting with cellular proteins (mostly enzymes) and DNA (both mitochondrial and nuclear). The fact that it accumulates with each dose, indicates grave consequences among those who consume diet drinks and foodstuffs on a daily basis." (Blaylock 1998)