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1980: September 30, FDA Board of Inquiry comprised of 3
independent scientists, confirmed that aspartame "might induce
brain tumors". The Public Board of Inquiry concludes NutraSweet
should not be approved pending further investigations of brain
tumors in animals. The board states it "has NOT been presented
with proof of reasonable certainty that aspartame is safe for use as a food
additive." The FDA had actually banned aspartame based on
this finding, only to have Searle Chairman Donald Rumsfeld
(Ford's Secretary of Defense 1975-1977, Bush's Secretary of Defense 2001-2006)
vow to "call in his markers," to get it approved in 1981.
1980: Monsanto established the Edgar Monsanto Queeny safety award in honor
of its former CEO (1928–1960), to encourage accident prevention.
January 1981: Donald Rumsfeld, CEO of Searle,
states in a sales meeting that he is going to make a big push to get aspartame
approved within the year. Rumsfeld says he will use his political pull in
Washington, rather than scientific means, to make sure it gets approved.
May 19, 1981: 3 of 6 in-house FDA scientists who were responsible for
reviewing the brain tumor issues, Dr. Robert Condon, Dr. Satya Dubey, and Dr.
Douglas Park, advise against approval of NutraSweet, stating
on the record that the Searle tests are unreliable and not adequate to
determine the safety of aspartame.
1981: Ronald Reagan is sworn in as President of the United States.
Reagan's transition team, which includes Donald Rumsfeld, CEO
of G. D. Searle, hand picks Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes Jr. to be
the new FDA Commissioner. On January 21, the day after Ronald Reagan's
inauguration, GD Searle re-applied to the FDA for approval to use aspartame
in food sweetener, and Reagan's new FDA commissioner, Arthur
Hayes Hull, Jr., appointed a 5-person Scientific Commission to review
the board of inquiry's decision. It soon became clear that the panel would
uphold the ban by a 3-2 decision, but Hull then installed a 6th member on the
commission, and the vote became deadlocked. He then personally broke
the tie in aspartame's favor. Hull later left the FDA under allegations
of impropriety, served briefly as Provost at New York Medical College,
and then took a position with Burston-Marsteller, the chief
public relations firm for both Monsanto and GD Searle. Since
that time Hull has never spoken publicly about aspartame.
July 15, 1981: In one of his first official acts, Dr. Arthur Hayes
Jr., the new FDA commissioner, overrules the Public
Board of Inquiry, ignores the recommendations of his own internal FDA team and approves
NutraSweet for dry products. Hayes says that aspartame has been shown
to be safe for its' proposed uses and says few compounds have withstood such
detailed testing and repeated close scrutiny. G.D. Searle gets FDA
approval for aspartame (NutraSweet). Monsanto
completes its acquisition of Searle in 1985.
1982: Monsanto GMO scientists genetically
modify a plant cell for the first time!
1982: Some 2,000 people are relocated from Times Beach, Missouri, which was
found to be so thoroughly contaminated with dioxin, a by-product
of PCB manufacturing, that the government ordered it evacuated. Dioxins are
endocrine and immune system disruptors, cause congenital birth defects,
reproductive and developmental problems, and increase the incidence of cancer,
heart disease and diabetes in laboratory animals. Critics say a St. Louis-area
Monsanto chemical plant was a source but Monsanto denies any connection.
October 15, 1982: The FDA announces that GD Searle has filed a petition that
aspartame be approved as a sweetener in carbonated beverages
and other liquids.
July 1, 1983: The National Soft Drink Association (NSDA)
urges the FDA to delay approval of aspartame for carbonated beverages pending
further testing because aspartame is very unstable in liquid form. When liquid
aspartame is stored in temperatures above 85°F degrees Fahrenheit, aspartame
breaks down into known toxins Diketopiperazines (DKP), methyl (wood) alcohol,
and formaldehyde.
July 8, 1983: The National Soft Drink Association drafts an
objection to the final ruling which permits the use of aspartame in
carbonated beverages and syrup bases and requests a hearing on the objections.
The association says that Searle has not provided responsible certainty that
aspartame and its' degradation products are safe for use in soft drinks.
August 8, 1983: Consumer Attorney, Jim Turner of the Community Nutrition
Institute and Dr. Woodrow Monte, Arizona State University's Director of Food
Science and Nutritional Laboratories, file suit with the FDA objecting to
aspartame approval based on unresolved safety issues.
September, 1983: FDA Commissioner Hayes resigns under a
cloud of controversy about his taking unauthorized rides aboard a General
Foods jet. (General foods is a major customer of NutraSweet)
Burson-Marsteller, Searle's public relation
firm (which also represented several of NutraSweet's major users), immediately
hires Hayes as senior scientific consultant.
Fall 1983: The first carbonated beverages containing aspartame
are sold for public consumption.
1983: Diet Coke was sweetened with aspartame
after the sweetener became available in the United States.
November 1984: Center for Disease Control (CDC)
"Evaluation of consumer complaints related to aspartame
use." (summary by B. Mullarkey)
1985: Monsanto
purchased G.D. Searle, the chemical company that held the patent to aspartame,
the active ingredient in NutraSweet. Monsanto was apparently untroubled by
aspartame's clouded past, including a 1980 FDA Board of Inquiry, comprised of
three independent scientists, which confirmed that it "might induce brain
tumors". The aspartame business became a separate
Monsanto subsidiary, the NutraSweet Company.
1986: Monsanto found guilty of negligently exposing a
worker to benzene at its Chocolate Bayou Plant in Texas. It is
forced to pay $100 million to the family of Wilbur Jack Skeen, a worker who died
of leukemia after repeated exposures.
1986: At a congressional hearing, medical specialists denounce a National
Cancer Institute study disputing that formaldehyde causes
cancer. Monsanto and DuPont
scientists helped with the study, whose author provided results to the Formaldehyde
Institute industry representatives nearly six months before releasing
the study to the EPA, labor unions, and the public.
1986: Monsanto spends $50,000 against California's anti-toxics
initiative, Proposition 65. The initiative prohibits the
discharge of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects into drinking
water supplies.
1987: Monsanto conducted the first field tests of
genetically engineered (GMO)
crops.
1987: Monsanto is one of the companies named in an $180 million settlement
for Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange.
1987: Monsanto consolidated its AstroTurf management, marketing, and
technical activities in Dalton, Georgia, as AstroTurf Industries, Inc.
November 3, 1987: U.S. hearing, "NutraSweet: Health and Safety
Concerns," Committee on Labor and Human Resources, Senator Howard
Metzenbaum, chairman.
1988: A federal jury finds Monsanto Co.'s subsidiary, G.D.
Searle & Co., negligent in testing and marketing of its Copper 7
intrauterine birth control device (IUD). The verdict followed
the unsealing of internal documents regarding safety concerns about the IUD,
which was used by nearly 10 million women between 1974 and
1986.
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