Why have a "Members Only" recipe area? The recipe database is a place for people to find, share, and even rate recipes using stevia. By making it for members only I can monitor the content and contributors to ensure that no offensive or off topic information is being shared. Furthermore, by becoming a member of the Stevia Web Cookbook we will e-mail you a few times a year - yes, year. These occasional e-mails will contain stevia recipes, news, and tips. We will NEVER sell your e-mail address. Good Reading and Healthy Eating, Tanya Kirkland

The Controversy and the Ban

Stevia has been used for centuries in South America and is the most popular non-caloric sweetener in Japan. In 1980, aspartame was approved for use as an artificial sweetener.....around the same time that saccharin was pulled off the market after studies showed potential cancer risks - coincidence? Stevia's own relationship with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is controversial at best. In the late 1980's, health food stores began selling stevia as a natural sugar substitute. When the FDA received an anonymous complaint about stevia, all imports and sales of the herb were banned in the US. After years of pressure from consumers and the health food industry, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement & Health Education Act in November 1994. This act permitted the purchase and sale of stevia as a dietary supplement - not as a food or food additive. The Act also set forth rigorous guidelines for the labeling, sales and marketing of the herb. Simply suggesting that the stevia be mixed with water could be construed as mislabeling and force a recall of the products. These burdensome regulations eventually led to the FDA's order to ban this book. For more information about the stevia/FDA controversy, read The Stevia Story, A Tale Of Incredible Sweetness And Intrigue by Linda & Bill Bonvie and Donna Gates.

The FDA Destruction Order

On May 19,1998, the president of Stevita Company (a distributor of Stevia in Arlington, Texas) received a fax from the Dallas District Office of the FDA - it ordered the seizure and destruction of cookbooks and other literature. The fax read: ??a current inventory must be taken by an investigator of this office, who will also be available to witness destruction of the cookbooks, literature, and other publications? Additionally, your stevia products currently in distributor and retail channels with the offending cookbooks, literature, and other publication continue to be in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. These products are unapproved food additives in violation of Section 409, and adulterated within the meaning of Section 402(a)(2)(c) of the Act.? (Italics added for emphasis.)
What is the real reason these publications were singled out for destruction? Mary Nash Stoddard sums it up in an article she wrote in June of 1998:

?Do these books tell people how to commit terrorist acts? No. Do they contain pornography of any kind? No. Do they instruct potential criminals on how to set up a lab to produce LSD or Crack Cocaine: No. The FDA ordered the drastic action because the books contain general information that includes: history, usages and scientific studies regarding stevia – a naturally sweet non-caloric herb with an impeccable history of safe use – and because current federal law requires that stevia herbal products be marketed as dietary supplements without being labeled as sweeteners.?

According to the FDA regulations, Stevita Company?s sale of stevia-related publications was illegal. Allegedly, the FDA even raided local health food stores looking for my offensive cookbook. It is legal to sell literature about the stevia herb, but you may not place the publications next to the supplements. The FDA took this regulation a step further by implying that Stevita Company?s distribution of Cooking With Stevia somehow violated the stringent labeling regulations imposed on stevia. Regulations like these continue to frustrate everyone in the health food industry.

Cooking With Stevia - Marked for Destruction by the FDA
That same day, two agents of the FDA arrived at Stevita Co. to inventory all of the company?s stevia supplements, books and promotional literature. Then they met with the company president to discuss the recall and destruction order of Cooking with Stevia. Just as their conversation began, a crew from a local news station arrived. The mood changed quickly as the FDA agents questioned why the reporter was there.

The president's reply: ?To record the burning of the books!?
FDA agents: "Oh no, we are not going to burn the books, YOU are!"
President (after a brief pause): ?I?m sorry, I can?t do that. I don?t have a permit from the local fire department. You?ll have to do it.?

The two agents whispered back and forth before deciding to call their office for further instructions. They were told to mark all of the remaining Cooking with Stevia books by initialing and dating the inside covers of each book. Supposedly, these marks would help keep track of the cookbooks until they were officially destroyed. In reality, once marked, these books were no longer 'new' and could not be sold in the stores. This action was taken by the FDA without a court order authorizing the destruction of private property.

As it ended up, my books were not officially destroyed that day. However, during the following months, the FDA seized all of Stevita?s inventory – forcing the company to comply with the recall and destruction order. This action practically put Stevita Company out of business. Only after lengthy litigation was the company was allowed to resume distribution of some publications, but not Cooking With Stevia.

You Can Help

The authors of The Stevia Story, A Tale Of Incredible Sweetness And Intrigue, Linda and Bill Bonvie, posted the following on their internet website:
?Given stevia?s record as a completely safe (and beneficial) herbal product, and given that it now may be purchased legally in the country, just what is the FDA afraid of? That Americans will learn about stevia – that it?s actually both sweet and non-caloric? Try it? Want to use it? The FDA?s prior attempts to control stevia as if it were a dangerous drug had the appearance to many of being a restraint of trade; now that it can be legally sold and used, the agency has gone further and is apparently trying to restrain ideas, information and criticism of its own behavior – trying, in essence, to act as a sort of ?thought police.? This is a very important issue, which should be carefully followed by everyone – whether you like stevia or not – even if you?ve never tasted it.?

Gather more information. Decide how you can get involved to stop the government from railroading this wonderful herb.

Stevia is a natural sweetener used internationally by millions- except in the United States. In the land of the free and the brave this herb is being discriminated against by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). You can fight the injustice of the FDA by contacting your government representatives today!

Photocopy this petition, fill it out and mail it to your Congressional Representative and your two Senate Representatives. With your help, we will win this battle.

This petition is also available on-line at www.steviapetition.org.

NAME
ADDRESS
CITY, STATE, ZIP
COUNTRY
HOME PHONE
E-MAIL ADDRESS
DATE
REPRESENTATIVE?S NAME
REPRESENTATIVE?S ADDRESS

Dear ___________________________:

I am writing to express my outrage at the Food and Drug Administration's mishandling of the herb STEVIA in the United States. 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.

With the passage of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), Congress rightly gave the power back to the people concerning whether or not to improve their health with the use of natural products previously kept out of reach. DSHEA also permitted Americans to use STEVIA but only as a dietary supplement. Despite this legal protection, 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.

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.

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.

As my elected representative, you ought to review the entire controversy surrounding the herb STEVIA. FDA's unconscionable withholding of this natural substance from the American people must be answered, once and for all.

Make good on DSHEA. Give STEVIA full legal status.

Yours truly,