Originally published February 19 2006
New Mexico's ban on aspartame is still possible in spite of heavy resistance
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, has sponsored a bill that would ban the sale of food containing aspartame, a popular sweetener that some claim is a toxin that poses serious health risks.
Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, is sponsoring a bill that would ban the sale of food products containing aspartame.
The popular sweetener, sold under the brand names of NutraSweet and Equal, is found in thousands of products, including diet sodas, but the bill calls it a poison.
The measure cannot be heard in the 30-day legislative session beginning Tuesday unless it is put on the governor's call, but Ortiz y Pino is hoping for that.
Under the draft bill, no food containing any amount of the sweetener could be manufactured, sold or delivered in New Mexico, starting July 1.
Fox's hope for a hearing on the issue was thwarted this month when the state Environmental Improvement Board postponed a hearing it had scheduled for next July on his request to ban aspartame products or put a warning label on them.
At its first meeting in the new year, the board postponed the hearing for six months until next January to wait for legal advice.
"I'd be thrilled if the legislature wants to take this on," Gregory Green, a board member and environmental activist in Albuquerque, said in an interview Friday.
The EIB said in October that it had the necessary power to handle Fox's petition.
Then on Nov. 9, the board asked in writing for Attorney General Patricia Madrid's opinion on whether state law gives it the authority to regulate aspartame and whether the board could carry out Fox's request to outlaw or put warning labels on products that contain the sweetener.
Green said he later realized that the EIB had left an important question out of its request to Madrid: Does federal law allow this?
Because of his concern, the board requested legal advice from the AG's office this month on whether states have the authority to override the Food and Drug Administration as well as interstate-commerce laws.
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