To the editor: Certain food product companies in America are showing bad judgment for the public consumers. To get to the point, a product named aspartame is being pushed on our children in many ways. This product, aspartame, is replacing natural sugars in diet soft drinks. Also, about 95 percent of chewing gum is called “sugarless,” with the sugar being replaced by aspartame, also known as NutraSweet.

In a 1997 book called “Nutritional Healing” by James F. Balch, M.D., aspartame is said to have caused ill effects due to consumption. A publication called “Aspartame (NutraSweet): Is It Safe?” by H.J. Roberts, reported reactions from consumption, including headaches, mood swings, change in vision, nausea, diarrhea, sleep disorders, memory loss and convulsions. He also states that it is especially dangerous for our children.

Another publication, “The Complete Encyclopedia of Natural Healing,” by Gary Null, Ph.D., in 2003, stated that aspartame has reports of neurological reactions such as hallucinations, dizziness and even epilepsy. Studies on rats have linked the product to brain tumors.

If you have time, check aspartame on your computer. You will be surprised. Is this stuff poison?

Doesn’t anyone in the Food and Drug Administration care about us? Maybe they “just don’t give a darn, Scarlett.”
Larry Erard
Oregon

An inspiration
To the editor: After there was a political boundary change, Fred Deering took Barney Quilter’s place as Oregon’s state representative. I remember saying to Barney, “Why have you abandoned us?” and he said Fred Deering was a great man and would serve us well.

Barney was right. The two of them and their long list of accomplishments in our area are a good reason not to have term limits.

Fred came to my house in the 1980s when I was cleaning the oven and asked about the Millard Avenue project. I stopped and took him over to explain the project. Fred helped with that project for many years. Tragically, the day after there was a celebration on the Millard Avenue project completion, which Fred and his wife attended, his wife was killed while crossing the road at their farm to get the mail.

Fred and I also worked on Envirosafe and tipping fees. It was Fred Deering who wrote the legislation (and let me help) that established the state tipping fee of $9 per ton on hazardous waste landfilled in Ohio. He helped then Sen. Linda Furney and I get and keep the $.90 per ton additional allotment to the City of Oregon. The fee is still collected and placed in the Oregon hazardous waste fund.

Fred Deering died March 15, 2010. I learned in his obituary that he established the Ohio Sea Grant Program. How I wish he were in the legislature to help with Lake Erie issues today. After his retirement from the legislature, Fred served on the Erie County Park Board and was forever trying to improve the quality of life for all of us.

Fred and I will no longer exchange Christmas cards and summaries of our year’s work, but Fred’s hardworking nature and his dedication to improving our quality of life by working with and talking to people, will forever be inspirational to me. 
Sandy Bihn
Oregon

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