Yep, you left your comments on 6/08 and you were the only one who could see them until 6/09 when I had a chance after the weekend to approve comments so they never disappeared, they weren’t live until 6/09.

Re: your concern with organochlorines – I appreciate that you have a background in science of which I do not nor have I ever claimed to have.

I am merely a person who has passed along the information that Dr. Mercola and his team spent 2 years researching to present in his book Sweet Deception and on his website http://www.mercola.com.

I do not claim in any of my articles to have created the research material that I pass along to my readers and I always suggest that they read the books and other sources I suggest to make up their own mind.

I do not change my stance that Splenda is an organochlorine after reading the material that Dr. Mercola has presented especially since it is the only organochlorine approved for human consumption while other organochlorines are mustard gas and DDT to name a few.

I will not recommend that my readers ingest Splenda as it is an organochlorine and I do not believe that chlorine is good for the Earth. Chloride is a different matter, which I have already covered in my article and several other comments.

I understand you wish to get your point across however I think you would do better by going to the source, Dr. Mercola at his website http://www.mercola.com since again, I am passing on the information to my readers that I strongly believe is relevant from Dr. Mercola’s book, Sweet Deception.

It would be another matter if I were presenting my own research and standings on organochlorines but I am not – again though I am not recommending organochlorines to my readers. I am interested in helping my readers to achieve the highest level of health possible and Splenda is not included in that equation, nor is any other organochlorine.

Whole, real foods are what I always recommend but that topic is covered 100’s of my other posts and Splenda is not a whole food, it’s not even a food.

Regarding chlorine, chloride, etc. I still contend that organochlorine substances are not inherently dangerous. I assure you, and would gladly prove it if I could in this context, that I do NOT work for any company even remotely related to Splenda or its manufacturer. As a step toward this proof, I DO NOT recommend any artificial sweetener whatsoever – Splenda, NutraSweet, SweetNLow, any of them. Ever. Stick with the natural stuff, 100%. (That’s as close as I can come to proof, I suppose.) I am a trained scientist with degrees in Human Nutrition, Human Physiology and Pharmacology, if that garners any additional benefit.

Returning to the topic of organocholine compounds – yes, there are a number of organochlorine’s that are detrimental. Pesticides, herbicides, fire-retardants, and insulating materials represent a vast collection of those, and I’m sure that compounds such as PCBs (poly-chlorinated biphenyls) are tops on the list. DDT falls in this category as well. Most PCBs were manufactured in the 1960s and 1970s by Monsanto and they have been subsequently banned. This ban only came after it was found that these substances accumulated in the environment and have had significant impact on the endocrine systems of many animals and potentially humans.

Regardless, I would urge you and your readers to accept that the toxicity of these compounds arises from their overall 3-dimensional chemical structure as well as their chemical electronic qualities. The mere presence of chlorine in the chemically bonded structure does not impart toxicity. This is an extreme oversimplification of the biochemical nature of our physiologies.

I found this very interesting article, which I hope you find interesting as well: http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/02/0218/

I agree 100% that the vast majority of man-made organochlorines (as per my list above) have shown to be toxic, but that is strongly related to their overall structures. In fact, many of the organochlorines have very similar structures and thus similar activities.

Regarding Splenda, is is safe? I have no idea. It certainly is NOT natural, but I don’t know about its safety. I personally would rather err on the side of safety and avoid it (and all artificial sweeteners), but not because they do or do not contain chlorine.

All comments at The Fit Shack are moderated due to spam. I apologize that I did not immediately check in to approve the recent comments, sometimes I get behind.

Re: all of your other comments -

The 14 points that I have listed for reasons to avoid Splenda are only 14 out of the book Sweet Deception that caught my eye – as I wrote in my post above I highly recommend that my smart readers of The Fit Shack (who are also public consumers who deserve to know when their health may be in danger) read the full book Sweet Deception.

Dr. Mercola, the author of Sweet Deception, spent 2 years researching the dangers of Splenda and other artificial sweeteners for his book and included an abundance of references to back up his claims that I have passed onto my readers in my above article.

In fact here’s even more information on the fraud and deception being perpetrated on the public re: Splenda the only organochlorine approved for consumption by humans:

Do the Makers of Splenda Know Something They Aren’t Telling You?

Splenda is Not a “Healthy” Sweetener

(Note for my readers: when you click those links you may need to enter an email address to enter Dr. Mercola’s site (I had to do the same) but it’s well worth it.)

In regards to the issue of chlorine, chlorine and chloride are 2 entirely separate materials and the pdf document you recommend contains many inconsistencies, jumping back and forth between chloride and chlorine, the former (Chloride) being the substance that does occur naturally and is not a danger to humans and the latter (Chlorine) being hugely detrimental to human health.

It is interesting however, that the pdf doc is served by a company that manufacturers chlorine, so of course they are trying to create a doc that will put chlorine in a favorable light.

In fact, I would not be surprised if the manufacturers of Splenda or any of the companies involved downline in the manufacture of it would send people to comment on posts such as mine, posts that are passing along the recommendation to read Sweet Deception. I have already seen this occur on other posts both here and on my friends’ blogs re: corn sugar products, so why would it be any different with the topic of Splenda?

I garner that Dr. Mercola is not going to be popular for putting 2 years of research into his book because he could potentially help to bring down the manufacture of Splenda.

I will not recommend either Splenda or any other chlorine or organochlorine to my readers. I do not recommend that they use chlorine as it is a danger to human health and the environment.

I also do not recommend refined sugar to my readers who are food addicts since the refined sugar will only keep them in the cycle of addiction.

I will continue to recommend Stevia to my readers and I also highly recommend that my readers read the book Sweet Deception and learn all about Splenda and the other artificial sweeteners that Dr. Mercola has written about. After becoming fully educated it is still up to each individual as to what they wish to eat and drink and if one doesn’t even want to read the material and references in Sweet Deception that I recommend, all one has to do is totally eliminate Splenda for 2 weeks and listen to their own body. Your body will tell you what is unhealthy if you listen.