Well, first things first:
[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%]HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK!![/move]
A year or two ago, Joe and I saw the divine Elvira (aka Cassandra Peterson) on the Home and Garden Channel, giving a tour of her house. She is actually a sweet, petite blonde lady, a wife and mother, and you would never identify her as her Persona.
Aspertame: Thanks, Jose. This really sent me into a loop of Googling down the facts. The fascinating part is Donald Rumsfeld's rôle in suddenly reversing the FDA's oppostion to aspertame and the high number of FDA commissioners who were suddenly offered high-paying jobs at Monsanto.
The news is particularly meaningful to me, since my Joe has suffered from the debilitating neuro-muscular disease EMS for the last fifteen years, and it was caused by L-Tryptophan, a "diet suplement", which, like the "food additive" aspertame, requires much less stringent testing and no inspections to be on the market.
And--to totally make my day--Joe has been drinking iced coffee with Equal (actually NatraTaste, since it is cheaper) in it most of the day, every day for about ten years, in large quantity, since some of his medications cause dehydration. EMS has many symptoms similar to Parkinson's Disease, which has been shown to be aggravated by aspertame. And Michael J. Fox is the company spokesman for Diet Coke! Oy!
Thank you, Donald Rumsfeld.