10
University Daily Kansan
Nation/World
Wednesday, Nov. 13, 1985
Sweetener may cause seizures
The Associated Press
Then Colburn. In a letter in the latest issue of the British medical journal Lancet, Dr. Richard J. Wurtman described three cases in which people had their first epileptic seizures after drinking large amounts of soft drinks that contained NutraSweet.
that contained Nattasewer.
Wurtman theorizes that the sweetener, known generically as aspartame, lowers levels of chemicals in the brain that protect against seizures.
In his letter, Wirtman said the three cases "can only suggest an association between aspartame and seizures." But he added that they are "compatible with evidence that high aspartame doses may produce neurochemical changes that, in laboratory animals, are associated with depressed seizure thresholds."
Officials of G.D. Searle & Co., which makes Nutrasweet, said that Wurtman's research was not scientifically controlled, and that the apparent link could well have been due to chance.
"and we have been due to such
"We have every confidence in (NutraSweet's) safe
ty, and our confidence is based on the research," Dr. John Heybach, Searle's director of medical and scientific affairs. He said Nutweet was tested more extensively before its approval than any other food additive in history.
drive in history.
Wurtman, a physician at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been a frequent critic of aspartame since it was introduced in 1981 as the sweetener Equal. Now it is used in dozens of products, including pudding, chewing gum and diet soft drinks.
using *clewings*, I agreed that the apparent association he reported could have been coincidental. But he said doctors should question patients with unexplained seizures about their use of aspartame.
"It may turn out that when enough doctors ask enough questions, there'll be no correlation," he said.
ought questions, there'll be no correlation," he said. One of the main ingredients of aspartame is the amino acid phenylalanine. Wurtman suggests in consuming lots of aspartame that levels of phenylalanine can interfere with the body's production of other chemicals, known as neurotransmitters, that protect against seizures.
needed for assistance.
"I think, but I can't prove it, that this will only happen in people who have a propensity toward having seizures," Wurtman said.
United Press International
LONDON — The archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy will fly to Lebanon today in a bid to secure the release of American hostages who had appealed for new efforts to win their freedom, the Church of England said yesterday.
Envoy seeks hostages' release
Terry Waite, Archbishop Robert Runcie's secretary for Anglican Communion Affairs, decided to make the trip to Beirut "after having had further contact during the past three days with the group holding the hostages," a church statement said.
"Mr. Waite has received a message from the group which encourages him to believe that a visit to Beirut will be worthwhile at this time," the statement said.
Waite helped secure the release in September of the Rev. Benjamin Weir, 61, a U. s. clergyman who spent 16 months in captivity in Lebanon.
In Washington, a State Department official said the administration would
welcome any effort that would result in the release of the hostages. But the official, noting previous unsuccessful bids, said he would wait to see what happened before becoming optimistic.
Waite, a skilled negotiator, has been involved in the hostage crisis for more than a year, and the church statement appealed to news organizations to allow him to work outside the media spotlight because of the dangerous nature of his mission.
A church spokeswoman said Waite's trip was in direct response to an appeal from four American hostages but that his mission did not rule out possible talks to secure the release of seven other Western captives, including at least two other Americans, three Frenchmen, a Briton and an Italian.
Most of the captives are thought held by the Islamic Jihad organization, a fundamentalist pro-iranian group. The group claimed last month
to have killed one American, U.S.
Embassy officer William Buckley,
but U.S. officials could not confirm
that assertion.
The spokeswoman said Waite had contacts with the group holding four of the Americans after Runcie received a letter from the captives on Saturday.
The letter, one of several in a packet thrown from a speeding car; was signed by Terry Anderson, the Associated Press bureau chief in Beirut; the Rev. Martin Jenco, a Roman Catholic priest; and two American University officials, David Jacobsen, hospital administrator, and Thomas Sutherland, dean.
A similar letter addressed to the White House appealed for President Reagan to negotiate in the hostages' behalf but the administration ruled, out any talks with terrorists.
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