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To: CatLady who wrote (1717)8/25/1998 9:57:00 PM
From: KCsunshine  Respond to of 26163
 
CatLady -

RE: stevia & FDA

Questions and Answers about Stevia
David Richard

Q) What is the FDA's position on Stevia?

A) The FDA's position on Stevia is somewhat ambiguous. In 1991, citing a preliminary mutagenicity study, the FDA issued an import alert which effectively blocked the importation and sale of Stevia in this country. Ironically, this was the year that a follow-up study found flaws in the first study and seriously questioned its results.

In September of 1995, the FDA revised its import alert to allow Stevia and its extracts to be imported as a food supplement but not as a sweetener. Yet, it defines Stevia as an unapproved food additive, not affirmed as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) in the United States. The following is a portion of this revised alert:

"If Stevia is to be used in a dietary supplement for a technical effect, such as use as a sweetener or flavoring agent, and is
labeled as such, it is considered an unsafe food additive. However, in the absence of labeling specifying that stevia is being or will be used for technical effect, use of stevia as a dietary ingredient in a dietary supplement is not subject to the food additive provisions of FD & C ACT."


In my opinion, this revision represents a political compromise between the artificial sweetener and sugar lobbyists and the Natural Food Industry and its representatives, as mediated by the FDA.

healthy.net

Many other passages are informative from there as well,

KC