Thomas Jefferson, 1786 "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."

On May 19, 1998, stevia marketer Oscar Rodes, president of the Stevita Company in Arlington, Texas, was directed by the Dallas district office of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to destroy certain "offending" literature, saying his stevia products are "adulterated" by virtue of association with three books he distributes on stevia.

"A current inventory," the letter said, "must be taken by an investigator of this office who will also be available to witness destruction of the cookbooks, literature, and other publications for the purpose of verifying compliance."

One of the three stevia books referred to as "offending" by the FDA is The Stevia Story: a tale of incredible sweetness and intrigue by Linda and Bill Bonvie and Donna Gates.

Incredible as it may sound, an agency of the U.S. government -- whose constitution guarantees citizens freedom of expression -- has threatened to take "regulatory action" against a legitimate company for making legitimate literature of a purely informational nature available to its customers.

The stevia issue, which we first reported on in January of 1996 for New Age Journal, is one filled with contradictions and intrigue, secret "trade complaints," searches and seizures, and generally intimidating FDA visits to companies marketing stevia or using it in their products -- actions which, in the minds of many knowledgable individuals, smack of a conspiracy between regulators and certain powerful commercial interests to keep this centuries-old sweet herb, which is used throughout the world, away from American consumers.

Before the passage of the Dietary Suppliment Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) there was an all-out "import alert," banning all stevia from entering this country. (For more information go to Sinfully Sweet?, New Age Journal, 1996 posted here online). Now that stevia can be legally sold as a dietary supplement, FDA officials are testing new ground by advocating book burning in their attempt to keep America stevia-free.

Given stevia's record as a completely safe (and beneficial) herbal product, and given that it now may be purchased legally in this country, just what is the FDA afraid of? That Americans will learn about stevia -- that it's actually both sweet and noncaloric? 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 on 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.

In its latest move the FDA has brought to fruition a statement by John F. Kennedy over 35 years ago that "...a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is afraid of its people."