I guess the artificial sweetner companies are more $powerful$.
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While good people in the FDA attempted to block aspartame approval, attorney James Turner and former Searle scientist Dr. Robert Olney filed suit against Searle. In 1977, Searle hired Donald Rumsfeld to see to it that aspartame was approved. During his interview with Brackett, Turner describes Rumsfeld's role in the aspartame approval process. "Rumsfeld is a 'fixer.' Someone gives him a job and he does it," Turner explained.

Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World

http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20040708.htm

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While the American public has waited in vain for a safe artificial sweetener to be developed, citizens of certain other countries have for years -- in some cases, for centuries -- enjoyed a safe, natural sweetener that is virtually calorie-free and to which many other health benefits have been attributed. This miracle sweetener is a South American herb called Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni -- commonly known simply as stevia, estimated to be some 150 to 400 times sweeter than sugar.

If you've ever tasted stevia, you know it's extremely sweet. In fact, this remarkable noncaloric herb, native to Paraguay, has been used as a sweetener and flavor enhancer for centuries. But this innocuous-looking plant has also been a focal point of intrigue in the United States in recent years because of actions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The subject of searches and seizures, trade complaints and embargoes on importation, stevia has been handled at times by the FDA as if it were an illegal drug.

Since the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), stevia can be sold legally in the United States, but only as a "dietary supplement." Even so, it can be found in many forms in most health-food stores, and is also incorporated into drinks, teas and other items (all labeled as "dietary supplements"). It cannot, however, be called a "sweetener" or even referred to as "sweet." To do so would render the product "adulterated," according to the FDA, and make it again subject to seizure.

http://www.stevia.net/