Stevia - Herbal Sweetner
If you want to minimize your sugar intake and are interested in a safer alternative than aspartame (Nutrasweet), please read about Stevia.
The following information are excerpts from the petition that was once on the internet. Links to it are now gone.
In 1997, the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes aired a report revealing a conflict of interest between FDA and one manufacturer of artificial sweeteners. This manufacturer had "influenced" the director of the FDA to get the approval of aspartame as a food additive during the 1980s when there were many questionable reports on its safety. Today the FDA receives more complaints about aspartame than about any other product. It is believed that the cozy relationship between FDA and the artificial sweetener industry is why STEVIA has largely been kept out of reach of the American consumer.
While other nations are able to use this wonderful herb as a sugar substitute, Americans are limited to using it as a "dietary supplement". Why is this? STEVIA is approved for use as a food and food ingredient in countries around the world--because it is all-natural, non-toxic, non-caloric, helpful to the environment, a valuable cash crop and safe for diabetics, hence completely safe for human use--but FDA restricts its use by Americans. Effectively banned within the United States, STEVIA plants are not even grown by American farmers.
The FDA has done everything within it's power to try to prevent the importation and distribution of STEVIA in the United States. Petitions to have STEVIA receive GRAS (Generally Accepted as Safe) status were denied by the FDA. FDA employs delay tactics, such as requesting unreasonable amounts of statistical data about this plant's agricultural and commercial history prior to 1958.
Is STEVIA safe? Absolutely. Research proves this--research the FDA ignores. Moreover, STEVIA has been used extensively around the world as an ingredient in foods WITHOUT A SINGLE CASE OF UNDESIRABLE EFFECTS. This fact alone should qualify as proof that the product is safe for use as an all-natural sweetener.
Do the American people want STEVIA? Count on it. Americans are more and more averse to the use of artificial substances in their diets. The herb STEVIA is especially beneficial for people who suffer from diabetes, hypoglycemia, candida and other ailments where regular use of sugar and artificial sweeteners is ill-advised.
Information from Carol Sieverling
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