WHEN STEVITA  STEVIA WAS BANNED BY THE FDA...

In 1988, Oscar Rodes, the President and  founder of Stevita Co. Inc., introduced to the US market the pure stevia extract (Steviol-glycosides) and teas sweetened with  ground stevia  leaves, harvested and extracted in Brazil..

Even though stevia logically  should be classified as a GRAS substance (  a natural product in use prior to 1958 by a large population without any report of adverse health effect) and automatically safe as a food ingredient, FDA did not agree with this logical classification and in 1991, with a court order, directed  US Marshalls to Oscar Rodes' warehouse  in Texas to  confiscate and burn  all his inventory of  teas sweetened with stevia.  A few  months later FDA  issued order to ban the importation of all stevia products.

  After  Congress passed the  Dietary Supplement and Education Act  of 1994 (DSHEA)which allowed stevia products to be imported and sold  as dietary supplements,  Oscar Rodes attempted to   reintroduce the pure stevia extract in the  US  market in 1996, properly labeled as a dietary supplement. with the trade name "SteviaSweet".   However, on the very first  shipment ,  FDA customs inspectors  detained the entire shipment because the word  "sweet" in the trade name.  According to the inspectors , the word "sweet"  rendered the product "adulterated" thus unfit for human consumption.  Later on, Oscar reintroduced the same product in the US market, properly relabeled as dietary supplement,  with  the "Stevita" which has been used in Brazil since 1988.

In late 1997 FDA agents inspected  Stevita's warehouse in Arlington and  subsequently issued "warning letters". The main issue was that  Stevita Co. was selling third parties books about stevia. Some of the books mentioned the history, chemistry, and uses of stevia around the world, and that  the primary  use of stevia in some countries was as a sweetener. According to  FDA 's interpretation, these books rendered  all the stevia products in Stevita Co's  warehouse as adulterated because stevia was not approved as a sweetener.  Stevita Co's attorneys contested this interpretation with FDA officials , but  during this time of dispute FDA"s agents were  confiscating  all Stevita's stevia shipments.

Finally, on May 1998, with his stevia inventory almost depleted,  Oscar  decided to make a deal with FDA by promising to stop selling the books  in exchange for  the  release of his inventory by the FDA, so that Stevita could continue in business.  On May  19th,  Oscar received a fax from FDA with the following order:  " The agency appreciates Stevita Co. express intention to comply with the Law. However, 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.." Also,  Oscar was ordered to recall all the books he had sold and destroy them.  He  refused to destroy the books - he had agreed to stop selling but not destroy them - and the dispute continued with Stevita Co practically shutting down because of  the lack of inventory.  Finally, thanks to intervention by the press and  assistance from some  members of Congress, on June 29,  FDA advised Stevita Co's ' attorney that he could continue selling the books with the exception of a cookbook which named  Stevita stevia as one ingredient in some of the  recipes.

The books that were ordered to be destroyed:

The Stevia Story by Linda and Bill Bonvie and Donna Gates,

Cooking with Stevia by James and Tanya Kirkland,

Nature's Sweet Secret by David Richards

Since 1977  Stevita has faced  an uphill struggle to expand its market penetration because of  FDA's incessant  persecution  with many inspections, warning letters  and threats  of confiscation or law suites at the  slightest  hint that we were using the word "sweet" in our labels,  web site or other promotion material., even when some of our competitors were openly selling  stevia in the market as a sweetener. word

Evidently this  persecution has been the biggest obstacle for Stevita's expansion in the  market during the last  13 years. Extremely impossible to sell a sweetener without been allowed to say that it is sweet!

For more info on the Stevia  book burning issue go to:

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