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

FEBRUARY 1973

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

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.

September 12, 1973

In a memorandum, Dr. Martha M. Freeman of the FDA Division of Metabolic and Endocrine Drug Products criticizes the inadequacy of the information submitted by Searle with particular regard to one of the compound's toxic breakdown products, diketopiperazine (DKP). She recommends that marketing of aspartame be contingent upon the sweetener's proven clinical safety.

August 1974

Before aspartame can reach the marketplace, Dr. John Olney, James Turner (attorney, consumer advocate and former 'Nader's Raider' who was instrumental in removing the artificial sweetener cyclamate from the U.S. market), and the group Label Inc. (Legal Action for Buyers' Education and Labeling) file a formal objection to aspartame's approval with the FDA, citing evidence that it could cause brain damage, particularly in children.

July 26, 1974

FDA commissioner Dr. Alexander Schmidt grants aspartame its first approval as a 'food additive' for restricted use in dry foods. This approval comes despite the fact that his own scientists found serious deficiencies in the data submitted by Searle.