Has Southwest Airlines banned aspartame from the cockpit?

For someone who didn't want to start a debate, they did a pretty good job of
it!~)

I particularly like the "Methanol poisoning" allegation. They conveniently
ignore that the body produces far more methanol after consuming fruit juice,
than "diet" drinks...



"Roger Halstead" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 00:33:01 GMT, r5
wrote:

Deirdre Saoirse Moen wrote:
I was hospitalized three times, suffering from near-drowning in my own
saliva, before I put two and two together and realized that it was

And you are 1 data point out of 100,000,000 or so, and you
haven't really documented beyond doubt that it was the
aspartame. This is hardly a reason to ban such a benign

Ask most any GP and they'll tell you there are quite a few people who
react to aspartame, but OTOH I don't think it's a very large percent.

substance from airline cockpits. After all, if aspartame
were such a danger, automobile crash rates would reflect
this problem,

Not unless they were looking for it. It's normally one of those
things they'd never see unless they were looking for it specifically.
Driver got sick, lost control. Only if a regular pattern turned up
would they look for it.

It's a given that some percentage of accidents are ... well... not
accidents, but they are the most difficult of all to prove.

and I'm willing to bet there is **NOT*** a
single case supporting this.

Add one more, although most who are affected by it become readily
aware of it so I see no need to ban it as long as any thing containing
it is labeled. All foods and beverages containing it are so required.
The only thing I really have to worry about are prepared deserts. If
they don't know, I don't eat it. If it has a label that doesn't list
sugar I don't eat it, but I recently purchased one of those pies that
are prepared, but not baked. Sugar was on the label. My wife baked
it, I ate it and two hours later... At any rate I dug the labeled out
of the trash and although it listed sugar in the ingredients, it also
listed aspartame down near the bottom. Now I read the whole label.

Peanuts I can eat. Soybean products do not bother me, but if I drank
or ate something containing Aspartame on a flight, it would get
diverted unless we were close to the destination although it affects
me differently and I do get a warning.

When I'm doing the flying I make certain I do not eat or drink
anything containing the stuff at least two hours prior to flying and
during the flight. Of course I avoid the stuff like the plague
anyway, but I believe the figure is something like 1 out of 100,000
has some kind of reaction to it. There are those on here who should
know the correct figure. That is not to say all have the same
symptoms, or severity. Like any allergy or drug reaction, different
people seem to react differently. For me it's like a very bad case of
flu. Painful, but without the nausea.

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

Well said!

We can't buy MSG in Australia any more, because some people are allergic to
it. I'm becoming allergic to people's allergies, and the decisions they make
for the vast majority of them...


"Olivers" wrote in message
...
G.R. Patterson III extrapolated from data available...



Jim Baker wrote:

My wife's college roommate's 12 year old son was allergic to peanuts.
He died from it. No bull. There's one.

The Knoxville News Sentinel has a columnist named Sam Venable. His son
is violently allergic to them. That's two.


Let's begin the head count, then....

One, two.......and at what number do you want the world to stop serving
peanuts? Do you want the airlines to be barred from serving an
inexpensive
and at least filling snack beloved by many?

Millions of folks, any number of them legitimately, but a vast number of
them mostly in their imaginations, are at risk from reactions to a variety
of substances from every corner of the natural and laboratory spectrum.
Aside from those items which bear potential harm to a vast majority of
folks who may encounter them, it's simply ridiculous to attempt to
quarantine the "world" from substances which may endanger a few.

The positive contribution of peanuts to nutrition, the relief of hunger,
or
the world's economies certainly outweighs the risk to the relatively small
population segment allergic to them.

.....Unless you subscribe to the sort of world-view which favors
exterminating cobras, fer de lance and rattlesnakes because of the bad
reactions displayed by those bitten. S

hucks, I want to ban California Reds because they make me sneeze...but
since I certainly can't drink French Reds these days, wouldn't drink
German
reds short of desperation, and am faced by shelves stocked with less than
the optimal choices of Italian reds, I guess I'll have to switch to the
oligarchic, nearly slave-labor produced right wing wines of Chile, accept
the narrow spectrum of somewhat over-priced but drinkable local Texas
reds,
or do as I do, just keep on sneezing.

TMO

Well said!

We can't buy MSG in Australia any more, because some people are allergic to
it. I'm becoming allergic to people's allergies, and the decisions they make
for the vast majority of them...


"Olivers" wrote in message
...
G.R. Patterson III extrapolated from data available...



Jim Baker wrote:

My wife's college roommate's 12 year old son was allergic to peanuts.
He died from it. No bull. There's one.

The Knoxville News Sentinel has a columnist named Sam Venable. His son
is violently allergic to them. That's two.


Let's begin the head count, then....

One, two.......and at what number do you want the world to stop serving
peanuts? Do you want the airlines to be barred from serving an
inexpensive
and at least filling snack beloved by many?

Millions of folks, any number of them legitimately, but a vast number of
them mostly in their imaginations, are at risk from reactions to a variety
of substances from every corner of the natural and laboratory spectrum.
Aside from those items which bear potential harm to a vast majority of
folks who may encounter them, it's simply ridiculous to attempt to
quarantine the "world" from substances which may endanger a few.

The positive contribution of peanuts to nutrition, the relief of hunger,
or
the world's economies certainly outweighs the risk to the relatively small
population segment allergic to them.

.....Unless you subscribe to the sort of world-view which favors
exterminating cobras, fer de lance and rattlesnakes because of the bad
reactions displayed by those bitten. S

hucks, I want to ban California Reds because they make me sneeze...but
since I certainly can't drink French Reds these days, wouldn't drink
German
reds short of desperation, and am faced by shelves stocked with less than
the optimal choices of Italian reds, I guess I'll have to switch to the
oligarchic, nearly slave-labor produced right wing wines of Chile, accept
the narrow spectrum of somewhat over-priced but drinkable local Texas
reds,
or do as I do, just keep on sneezing.

TMO

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
____________________

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