FDA Destroying Books

[Guest guest]

Thought this was interesting... As usual, I see parallels to vaccines.

FDA Officials Order Books Destroyed

[On Stevia--Natural Herbal Alternative to Aspartame]

By CHARLES LEVENDOSKY

Attention: Assignments Editors & Producers

Contact: Stoddard 214-352-4268 or email: <A

HREF= " mailto:marystod@... " >marystod@...</A>

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Levendosky, editorial page editor of the Casper

(Wyo.) Star-Tribune, has a national reputation for First Amendment

commentary. His e-mail address is <A

HREF= " mailto:levendos@... " >levendos@...</A>.)

c. 1998 Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune

Last month, U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials ordered the

destruction of three books about an herb and its use. Never mind the First

Amendment. Never mind upholding the U.S. Constitution.

The herb at the center of this controversy is Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni,

better known as stevia or " honey leaf. " Under the law, stevia can be marketed

as a dietary supplement like a vitamin but not as a food additive.

The herb is said to benefit the health of those who take it. The FDA

considers stevia safe to simply swallow as a supplement (powder or liquid),

but unsafe when added to food or drink.

The FDA goes ballistic when it thinks a company is selling stevia as a

natural sweetener -- a property for which the herb is well-known in Paraguay

and Brazil where it grows.

On May 19, Compliance Officer Lahar of the Dallas, Texas district

office of the FDA, faxed a letter to Rodes, president of the Stevita

Company in Arlington which sells the herb. The letter states, in part: " ... a

current inventory must be taken by an investigator of this office, who will

also be available to witness the destruction of the cookbooks, literature,

and other publications for the purpose of verifying compliance. " Click here

to read the letter

The books in question address stevia's sweetening property --- a big no-no,

in the eyes of the FDA. Stevia could be a major economic threat to

established companies that manufacture artificial sweeteners. It's calorie

free.

So the federal agency targeted the books: Kirkland's " Cooking with

Stevia: The Naturally Sweet & Calorie-Free Herb, " 's " Stevia

Rebaudiana: Nature's Sweet Secret, " and Bonvie, et al.'s " The Stevia

Story: A tale of incredible sweetness & intrigue. "

In an interview Friday, Rodes said that when he received the FDA fax, he

called his attorney in Washington, D.C. The local FDA officers arrived a few

hours later. According to Rodes, he said that he would not destroy the books

unless his attorney advised him to do so. However, Rodes told them, if the

FDA officers wanted to destroy them, he would merely use his video camera to

record the event. The FDA officers left.

Rodes also claims that the FDA officials told him that they wanted Rodes to

recall all the copies of the books he had already sold. According to Rodes,

that amounts to more than 4,000 copies.

Lahar now claims he never ordered the books destroyed. In an interview, he

said, " The sentence reads to the effect that if books are going to be

destroyed, we'd like to observe it. "

When asked then where the idea for destroying books came from, Lahar said he

wouldn't answer.

He responded, " I've have been asked to refer calls to our press office in

Washington. ... We all have a boss. "

Asked who made the decision to silence him, Lahar referred to FDA Associate

Chief Counsel for Enforcement marie Kempic in D.C. Kempic did not return

calls.

When the D.C. press office was called, press officer Judith Foulke said she

couldn't answer any questions about this case because the matter was still

under investigation --- a convenient Catch 22. She couldn't even comment on

the destroy-the-books letter.

Another wrinkle popped up. n Whitaker, a physician, asked Rodes if he

could purchase the three stevia books in question for research purposes.

Rodes, thinking he might violate FDA orders by selling the books to the

doctor, refused -- and explained why.

The doctor called renown First Amendment attorney in W. Emord in

Washington, D.C., to see what he could do. Emord called the FDA to advise the

agency that he planned to initiate legal action to free the hostage books.

Kempic then faxed a letter, dated June 5, to Emord in which she says that

Rodes can sell the books to Emord's client and states: " ... we have contacted

Mr. (sic) and advised him not to destroy the books at this time. " The

" at this time " tells it all.

But pressure on the FDA had begun to mount. In a letter faxed to Emord three

days later, Kempic changed her tune. She writes: " The FDA Dallas District

Office informs me that it was Mr. Rodes who chose the option of destroying

the books. "

Not so, says Rodes, emphatically. Why, after all, would he want to destroy

thousands of dollars worth of inventory?

Rodes changed the labels on his stevia products so that they conform to the

strictest FDA regulations. They no longer suggest any other use for stevia. A

label that said " tabletop ready " was replaced because this implies that

stevia in these packages could be used as a flavoring ingredient.

Apparently, however, the presence of the books remains a critical issue for

FDA officials.

Rodes' company is one of the nation's major distributors of stevia. The FDA

confiscated two shipments of the herb that belong to Rodes. Those shipments

have yet to be released. This action is costing Rodes business and money.

The FDA oversees the sale and distribution of food and drug products for the

safety and health of the nation. The agency sometimes acts overly cautious.

Although stevia has been used as a food additive without ill effects in Japan

for more than 25 years, the herb has not, according to the FDA, undergone

sufficient testing in this country to assure that it isn't harmful if used as

an additive.

According to FDA officials, the herb stevia can be " adulterated " merely by

being in the presence of information that reveals its sweetening property.

Dallas FDA agents even went so far as to mark up copies of the offending

books so that they couldn't be sold. Clearly these agents violated the law.

The FDA has no legal authority to destroy books. None whatsoever --- no

matter whose economic interests are at stake.