Did Monsanto’s Aspartame Cause This Teenager’s Brain Tumors and Inevitable Death?

Perhaps the most tragic story concerning the artificial sweetener, aspartame, has come to light in the UK with a teenager’s recent death.

Many people are not aware, but aspartame is an artificial (and genetically modified) sweetener created by altering bacteria. Some research and numerous reports suggest that along with flavoring, it also comes with some unwanted health consequences, including headaches, moodiness, and more. Dr. Mercola has called it “by far the most dangerous food additive on the market” accounting for an inordinate amount of reported adverse health reactions to food.

G.D. Searle Company created aspartame more than 50 years ago, but it was approved to be added to food in the 1980s. You may also recognize aspartame by other names, like NutraSweet, Equal, and Equal Measure.

In 1985, biotechnology company Monsanto purchased G.D. Searle and divided up Searle Pharmaceuticals and The NutraSweet Company into separate subsidiaries. Though Monsanto hasn’t directly sold aspartame for more than ten years, the company was key in making sure it was passed through for regulatory approval. Donald Rumsfeld was Monsanto’s helper in making sure this toxic GM substance was unleashed on an unsuspecting public.

Dr. John Olney, founder of the field of neuroscience, pointed out aspartame’s excitotoxicity, and attempted to stop the approval of the chemical additive with Attorney James Turner back in 1996. The FDA’s own toxicologist, Dr. Adrian Gross told Congress that without a shadow of a doubt, aspartame can cause brain tumors and brain cancer and that it violated the Delaney Amendment, which forbids putting anything in food that is known to cause cancer.

Read: How is Aspartame Made?

Teenager ‘Dies from Ingesting Aspartame’

This warning has likely come to fruition sadly, with the death of Samantha Jenkins of the UK, who died several years ago after exhibiting violent fits and complaining to her family of intense headaches.

Samantha was a 19-year-old, described by her mother as vivacious and bubbly, but she also had a habit of chewing up to 14 pieces of aspartame-filled chewing gum daily.

When she suffered from brain swelling that eventually caused brain stem death, doctors could not explain the reasons for her sudden illness and subsequent demise to her family.

Her mother went through her room shortly after her death and found sugarless chewing gum wrappers stuffed into drawers, and receipts in her backpack and drawers for Trident.

Samantha’s mother, Maria Morgan, is bringing the case before a Coronor’s Court in Swansea attempting to discover if the gum her daughter consumed may have played a role in her mysterious death.

At first, the idea seemed ridiculous, but doctors told her that Samantha may have been ‘poisoned.’

She explains:

“From the time Sam went into hospital on the Friday evening till they turned her machines off Monday evening, the doctors, neurosurgeons and numerous consultants were baffled as to what had caused all her salts to be so dangerously low, and convinced she had been poisoned.”

An autopsy also found wads of gum in her stomach, but doctors simply say that this could have impeded proper absorption of nutrients.

A pathologist also told the court he had never seen such a severe adverse reaction to gum, but that the idea it may have caused Samantha’s death is not entirely unfounded.

The warnings against aspartame were so grave that the FDA took 20 years to approve it.

More research into Samantha’s case is ongoing as the family wants closure for their beloved daughter who had her whole life ahead of her. But in the meantime, if you have a habit of chewing cancer-gum, it might be time to kick that habit.