Searle was founded in Nebraska in 1888 by Gideon Daniel Searle, and it's rise to fame happened in 1965 when one of their chemists, James Schlatter, was testing an anti-ulcer drug and discovered aspartame. Aspartame, also known as NutraSweet, is listed as a 'chemical poison' in the book Prescription for Nutritional Healing, consisting of aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol.
Aspartate and glutamate act as neurotransmitters in the brain by facilitating the transmission of information from neuron to neuron. Too much aspartate or glutamate in the brain kills certain neurons by allowing the influx of too much calcium into the cells. This influx triggers excessive amounts of free radicals, which kill the cells. The neural cell damage that can be caused by excessive aspartate and glutamate is why they are referred to as "excitotoxins." They "excite" or stimulate the neural cells to death.
Aspartic acid is an amino acid. Taken in its free form (unbound to proteins) it significantly raises the blood plasma level of aspartate and glutamate. The excess aspartate and glutamate in the blood plasma shortly after ingesting aspartame or products with free glutamic acid (glutamate precursor) leads to a high level of those neurotransmitters in certain areas of the brain.
Multiple illnesses can be caused by long-term exposure to excitatory amino acids include multiple sclerosis, ALS, epilepsy, alzheimer's, and many other hormonal and brain disorders.
Another ingrident of aspartame, methanol, is another deadly poison. Inside the human body it breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde, a known carcinogen and neurotoxin.
Source - Aspartame: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You
In 1977, after helping build up the military industrial complex due to the "Soviet threat" through Team B in the Ford Administration, Donald Rumsfeld joined G.D. Searle, first as executive chief officer, then President, and finally Chairman. Rumsfeld would become part of President Reagan's transition team after Jimmy Carter, and was put in the position of FDA commissioner. These events led to the approval of aspartame by the FDA. Talk about a conflict of interest!
In 1985 Rumsfeld was the architect of the acquisition of Searle by Monsanto. He reportedly made $12 million from this sale. Perhaps the connection between Rumsfeld and Monsanto via Searle explains the connections between Monsanto and the Bush administration, which we will look at now. It's a bit of a stretch, but it might be noteworthy to consider this small fact about George W.'s grandfather, Prescott Bush:
While there is no suggestion that Prescott Bush was sympathetic to the Nazi cause, the documents reveal that the firm he worked for, Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH), acted as a US base for the German industrialist, Fritz Thyssen, who helped finance Hitler in the 1930s before falling out with him at the end of the decade. The Guardian has seen evidence that shows Bush was the director of the New York-based Union Banking Corporation (UBC) that represented Thyssen's US interests and he continued to work for the bank after America entered the war.
How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power
The industrial build up in Germany prior to WW2 rubs shoulders with IG Farben.
The connections between Monsanto and the Bush administration are numerous, starting with their large campaign contributions to his campaign. We've already seen the Rumsfeld connection, and it is most certaintly interesting to note that Clarence Thomas, who Bush Sr. elected to the Supreme Court, was a Monsanto lawyer who would be essential in Bush Jr.'s selection by the Republican party to run for president. Bush Jr. appointed Linda J. Fisher, a former Vice President of Monsanto and Monsanto lobbyist, to second in command of the EPA. Bush's Secretery of Agriculture, Anne Veneman, was a Monsanto employee.
The connections also run deeper. George Poste, appointed to head of the bioterrorism division of the Department of Homeland Security by Bush, sat on the Board of Directors of Monsanto. Another DHS employee is Michael Friedman, who became a Monsanto employee in June of 1999.
Back in 1996 when Dr. John Olney (founded the field of neuroscience called excitotoxicity, and attempted to stop the approval of aspartame with Attorney James Turner) made world news on the aspartame/brain tumor connection he was on 60 Minutes. Michael Friedman knowing full well the main reason the FDA [had] refused to allow aspartame on the market for 16 years was the brain tumors, got on 60 Minutes and defended Monsanto by saying aspartame did not cause brain tumor
-quoted from a letter written by Betty Martini, an anti-aspartame activist, to Joseph Biden. Aspartame Gate: When Donald Rumsfeld was CEO of Searle
In 2000, Monsanto was merged with the company known as Pharmacia. Sitting on the board of directors of Pharmacia, overseeing the merger, was one Frank Carlucci, a chairman of the RAND corporation and affiliated with the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), whose other members include Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. He was President Reagan's National Security Advisor in 1987 and Secretery of Defense from 1987-1988. He is also a member of the Carlyle Group.
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