FDA Warns About Natural Sweetener

Friday, December 07, 2007 by: Tyler Mittan
Tags: stevia, health news, Natural News

(NewsTarget) The FDA is protecting Americans from a natural sweetener, Stevia, because of unnamed, unspecific health concerns. The FDA issued a warning to Hain Celestial Group Inc. for using Stevia, an herbal sweetener, in it's herbal tea. It was a letter to Hain that said, "data and information necessary to support the safe use have been lacking.” The FDA did not cite any specific literature but did say the literature that was attained warned, "about control of blood sugar, and the effects on the reproductive, cardiovascular and renal systems.” Coincidentally, Coca-Cola and Pepsi have both been having a fond interest of stevia, and have yet to receive a letter from the FDA about using it.

The FDA has been known to give into big business corporate interests, as shown with FDA approval of G.D. Searle's Nutrasweet in 1981, in which G.D. Searle omitted negative experiments of Nutrasweet. After Nutrasweet was approved for limited use in 1974, the FDA was pressured to create a task force on Nutrasweet after Dr. John Olney conducted an experiment in which he fed asparic acid (Nutrasweet) to mice and found that holes began to grow in the brains of the mice that were fed it. The task force found an experiment in which 7 baby monkey's were fed aspartame mixed with milk. The results were, not only, the monkey's having seizures and one dying, but the negative data was omitted. G.D. Searle's integrity had not only been tested just this once but one time before with a grand jury investigation of 2 drugs in which falsified data was given.

In 1977, after a smaller task force that had been set up for aspartame found falsified data about aspartame, G.D. Searle was once again under investigation of a grand jury which time ran out and didn't go anywhere. Once again the FDA was at a standstill, 3 FDA scientist did not say it was safe, 3 did say it was safe. At this time the FDA commissioner, Dr. Goyan, decided not to approve aspartame. The public health decision was overturned in 1981, a new FDA commissioner took Goyan's place. Aspartame was allowed on the shelves (for dry food, then in 1983 was approved for soft drinks). Coincidentally, the new FDA commissioner at the time, Dr. Arthur Hayes, went to work for G.D. Searle's marketing company, Burson-Marsteller.

Will the FDA give into the larger corporate interests and unfairly attack smaller companies? Or will it allow a ban on a natural sweetener and keep allowing artificial, unsafe sweeteners? Only time will tell.

<b>News Story:</b>

<a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20836014/">Th... FDA issues warning to Hain</a>

<b>For more information on aspartame:</b>

<a href="http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/fda.... Mercola</a>

<a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-566... Misery: The Taste That Kills (documentary</a>

<a href="http://www.newstarget.com/rr-blaylock.html"&... Advocate Mike Adams interview with Dr. Russell Blaylock on Aspartame & MSG</a>

<b>For more information on stevia:</b>

<a href="http://www.janethull.com/askdrhull/article.p.... Janet Hull</a>

<a href="http://www.cookingwithstevia.com/stevia_faq.... About Stevia</a>

<a href="http://www.cspinet.org/nah/4_00/stevia.html"... of the Current Research on Stevia</a>

About the author

As an author, Tyler is just trying to help inform the public. I consider this the alternative to what people are constantly bombarded with. It's time for more health freedom and less big business influence on the FDA. Check out http://www.ronpaul2008.com if you want more freedom, that includes Health Freedom, too.
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