While aimed principally at replacing sugar in flavored milks served to school children, the petition also asks for the right to put hidden artificial sweeteners in a host of dairy products including nonfat dried milk (always added to reduced-fat milks), yogurt, cream, half-and-half, sour cream, eggnog and whipping cream. Truly, no conventional dairy product will be safe if the petitioners get their way.  

Read FDA's Request, and comment by May 21, 2013. 

 ACTIONS TO TAKE 

1) Submit a comment at regulations.gov

for Docket ID: FDA-2009-P-0147-0012.  

You may use the talking points below.  

Even if your comment is very short, we need thousands of people letting the government know that granting this petition would be a disaster to our food supply, especially for children. It's best to compose your comments before submitting them. Comments 2,000 words or less can be copied and pasted into the comment box. Longer comments can be attached as a letter.

• For the required field "Organization Name," please enter "Citizen".
• For "Category," you can use "Individual Consumer".
• Remember to hit "submit comment" when you are done. You should be taken to another screen that includes a confirmation number for your comment, which is how you know your comment was successfully submitted.   

The comment period ends on May 21, 2013.  

2) Sign the online petition by the consumer group, SumOfUs.org, which has gathered almost 100,000 signers to oppose this move.

3) Circulate this Action Alert through social media and direct emails to others. Ask friends to Subscribe to our mailing list to stay informed or "Like" us on Facebook.

TALKING POINTS   

1) Adding hidden artificial sweeteners to dairy products would hurt the dairy industry by further reducing the number of people who could safely consume dairy products.

2) Adding hidden artificial sweeteners to dairy products would generate severe consumer backlash to all conventional dairy products.

3) The FDA lists more than ninety documented symptoms of aspartame toxicity, including abdominal pain, anxiety attacks, brain cancer, breathing difficulties, chronic fatigue, depression, headaches, migraines, dizziness, marked personality changes, memory loss, panic attacks, rapid heartbeat, vision loss and weight gain.

4) Aspartame releases methanol upon digestion, and methanol poisoning causes headaches, behavioral disturbances and inflammation of the nerves. Another breakdown product of aspartame is poisonous formaldehyde.

5) Thousands of adverse reactions to aspartame have been reported to the FDA, mostly concerned with abnormal brain function, brain tumors, epilepsy and Parkinson's.

6) Children's brains are four times more susceptible to damage from excitotoxins like aspartame than those of adults and react with ADD- and ADHD-type symptoms, impaired learning, depression and nausea.

7) People who are sensitive to aspartame can have life-threatening reactions to it.

8) Sucralose side effects include rashes, panic attacks, dizziness, numbness, diarrhea, swelling, headaches, cramping and stomach pain.

The proposed regulations restrict our freedom of choice. Industry players who oppose consumers' ability to choose raw milk are now trying to force consumers to consume artificial additives without their knowledge or consent.  

 Know Your Food Podcast - Episode #25   

Listen to the Know Your Food Podcast episode 25, "They Want to Hide Toxic Sweeteners in Your Child's School Milk" (KYF#25).

FTCLDF, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, protects and expands consumer access to nutrient-dense foods by protecting farmers, artisan food producers and food buying clubs. More About Us