Has Southwest Airlines banned aspartame from the cockpit?

In article , Paul G wrote:
Let's keep out of the debate over aspartame's safety. This is an
exercise in getting some primary source evidence. I just want to find
out if SWA does indeed have such a policy. Are there any crew out
there who can confirm or deny?

It sounds pretty silly on the face of it. Aspartame is consumed in vast
quantities - if it was dangerous, it'd have shown up by now.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

In article ,
(Paul G) wrote:

A friend of mine who is on a bit of an anti aspartame crusade, tells
me that SWA no longer allows pilots to be served diet coke for fear of
some dire medical consequences.

I doubt it, but if you and your friend are really curious, try
contacting some Southwest Airlines employees to ask them.

"Shawn Hearn" wrote in message


A friend of mine who is on a bit of an anti aspartame crusade, tells
me that SWA no longer allows pilots to be served diet coke for fear
of some dire medical consequences.

It sounds like an attempt to start an urban legend. Others have come
befo

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartame.asp

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/TknoFlyer
http://www.pocketgear.com/products_s...veloperid=4415
____________________

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 08:24:19 -0400, "John T" wrote:

"Shawn Hearn" wrote in message


A friend of mine who is on a bit of an anti aspartame crusade, tells
me that SWA no longer allows pilots to be served diet coke for fear
of some dire medical consequences.

It sounds like an attempt to start an urban legend. Others have come
befo

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartame.asp

I don't place a lot of credibility in snopes either, but the only
thing aspertame does ot me is a bad headache and a hearty case of
stomach cramps and the ... ahem... green apple two step. Only lasts a
couple of hours.

I'd hate to cough or sneeze during a bout though.
Ever been in a dairy barn after the cows have been turned out in the
fields right after the corn was picked? Don't stand behind them and
if you hear one cough... "Duck!"

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

EXactly, you have it right there. If they really wanted to find out
something regarding SW's policy, a quick phone call could have sorted it
out...

""""I've got a mate, who heard that all insert airline here employees
aren't allowed to have sex for two days before they fly... It's something to
do with studies about how it affects your concentration...""""

"John T" wrote in message
...
"Shawn Hearn" wrote in message


A friend of mine who is on a bit of an anti aspartame crusade, tells
me that SWA no longer allows pilots to be served diet coke for fear
of some dire medical consequences.

It sounds like an attempt to start an urban legend. Others have come
befo

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartame.asp

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/TknoFlyer
http://www.pocketgear.com/products_s...veloperid=4415
____________________

"AC" wrote in message ...
EXactly, you have it right there. If they really wanted to find out
something regarding SW's policy, a quick phone call could have sorted it
out...

Yeh, I won't be so stupid as to post a question on a newsgroup anymore
:-) It looks like the last place to get any useful information. No one
from Southwest whether flight or cabin crew or with access to such a
person must read or post anything on these groups.

I'll just have to wait until next time I fly Southwest.

"Paul G" wrote in message
om...
"AC" wrote in message
...
EXactly, you have it right there. If they really wanted to find out
something regarding SW's policy, a quick phone call could have sorted it
out...

Yeh, I won't be so stupid as to post a question on a newsgroup anymore
:-) It looks like the last place to get any useful information. No one
from Southwest whether flight or cabin crew or with access to such a
person must read or post anything on these groups.

I'll just have to wait until next time I fly Southwest.

And offer the pilot a Diet Coke?

Paul

Dylan Smith wrote in message ...
In article , Paul G wrote:
Let's keep out of the debate over aspartame's safety. This is an
exercise in getting some primary source evidence. I just want to find
out if SWA does indeed have such a policy. Are there any crew out
there who can confirm or deny?

It sounds pretty silly on the face of it. Aspartame is consumed in vast
quantities - if it was dangerous, it'd have shown up by now.

Peanuts have been consumed in vast quantities for a long time too.
I've *never* personally known or even heard of anyone having having
any peanut allergy problems, yet we see all kinds of warnings labels
on products containing peanuts these days.

Aspartame metabolizes into 10% methyl alchohol, a potent neurotoxin,
in the human body. Methanol, as we know, then metabolizes into
formaldehyde. Nice stuff.

Here's just one of thousands of references:

TI: Neuropsychological and biochemical investigations in
heterozygotes for
phenylketonuria during ingestion of high dose aspartame (a sweetener
containing
phenylalanine).
AU: Trefz-F; de-Sonneville-L; Matthis-P; Benninger-C; Lanz-Englert-B;
Bickel-
H
SO: Hum-Genet. 1994 Apr; 93(4): 369-74
JN: HUMAN-GENETICS

"Upon ingestion, aspartame is completely metabolized to two amino
acids and
methanol (approximately 50% phenylalanine, 40% aspartic acid, and 10%
methanol)."


In the body, virtually all of the Aspartame gets metabolized thru the
liver too, it doesn't pass thru and get excreted unmetabolized like
many other chemical substances.

When Aspartame-sweetened diet sodas first became popular in the
mid-late 1980's, I drank them like crazy, until I began getting bad
"eye socket" headaches with a strange toxic feeling to them, a
hangover-like feeling a lot like after breathing lacquer thinner fumes
in a paint booth, then the bad news stories about aspartame started
emerging and I began reading all I could about it. Sure enough, I
drink two cans of diet soda, and within an hour or two... bad headache
with that characteristic toxic feeling to it. I ceased drinking these
diet sodas after learning about the methanol problem and never had
that kind of headache again, and it's been almost 15 years since I
ceased drinking diet sodas. However, I can still consume small amounts
of candy or chewing gum sweetened with aspartame and it doesn't bother
me, but I dare not drink a can of diet soda.

"Rutger" wrote in message
om...
It sounds pretty silly on the face of it. Aspartame is consumed in vast
quantities - if it was dangerous, it'd have shown up by now.

Peanuts have been consumed in vast quantities for a long time too.
I've *never* personally known or even heard of anyone having having
any peanut allergy problems, yet we see all kinds of warnings labels
on products containing peanuts these days.

They haven't banned them from the cockpit though.

Aspartame has some very real, well-documented medical issues with it. But
only for a relatively small segment of the population. The issues should be
used to educate potentially susceptible people, but it wouldn't make sense
to base a global ban on aspartame on those issues.

Pete

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message ...
"Rutger" wrote in message
om...

Aspartame has some very real, well-documented medical issues with it. But
only for a relatively small segment of the population. The issues should be
used to educate potentially susceptible people, but it wouldn't make sense
to base a global ban on aspartame on those issues.

True. But how do we determine if we are part of that small segment? As
a pilot, I don't want to put my medical in jeprody by taking a chance
on having an unexplained seizure.
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.