Public television runs devious aspartame video as ‘news’ for teens
It’s the television channel that gave us Big Bird and the Cookie Monster. And it’s used its programming and website to help educate millions of children.
But no matter what PBS would have us believe, it’s not raking in all its cash from taxpayers and telethons.
For years PBS has been accepting millions from private corporations and industry trade groups looking to push their agendas on our children — and on us.
And with the help of a shady group representing the world’s largest chemical companies, PBS has just launched a shocking campaign that’s a health threat to millions of Americans.
One designed to sell us the most dangerous artificial sweetener ever invented.
But probably the craftiest is under the guise of education. And especially when it’s coming from a well-respected organization like PBS.
So when the PBS NewsHour ran a story with the headline, “Chemistry debunks the biggest aspartame health myths,” it probably looked legitimate to a lot of people.
However, it’s anything but.
The story turned out to be a four-minute infomercial claiming that all the research on the artificial sweetener aspartame… and all its links to blindness, heart disease, seizures, and brain tumors… was based on “anecdotal evidence or flawed studies.”
It’s bad enough that the network has allowed this industry PR spiel to be featured on its flagship news program — but these lies are also being pitched directly to kids!
PBS posted the same story on a resource page on its website for students in grades 7-12, along with a list of questions under the headline “Why aspartame might not be so bad after all — Class Activity.”
The most important question on that list, however, is the last one.
“Does this study change your opinion of foods and drinks that contain aspartame?”
Of course, the creators of this con job are sure hoping it does. They really need to convince a new generation of kids of both the bogus benefits and safety of diet soda.
So how does PBS justify using industry hype as an educational resource? Well, it claims it worked on the pro-aspartame story with “a congressionally chartered, independent organization of chemists.”
But we know them better as the American Chemical Society.
And “independent” isn’t a word that most people would use to describe ACS. The organization’s board is filled with executives connected to some of the world’s largest chemical companies, like DuPont and Occidental.
And ACS has a long history of making sure you never find out about the dangers behind the products its members produce. A reporter for one of its publications was reportedly fired for doing research that would have harmed industry interests.
The ACS is also very fond of filing lawsuits — actions to protect its business interests while slamming the lid shut on freedom of information and scientific knowledge. It even lobbied Congress to try to shut down a government-run, open access database called PubChem that helps people access independent research on chemicals.
Chemicals like aspartame.
But despite all its efforts, the bad news about aspartame has been leaking out year after year. In fact, about 75 percent of adverse health reactions caused by food additives and reported to the FDA have been linked to aspartame.
It’s the most dangerous food additive ever invented. But don’t expect to hear about that on PBS any time soon — not unless someone else pays them to tell the real story.
Sources:
“Chemistry debunks the biggest aspartame health myths” Catherine Woods, June 16, 2015, PBS, pbs.org
