FDA ORDERS BOOKS ABOUT HERB DESTROYED

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 James Lahar of the Dallas district office of
the FDA, faxed a letter to Oscar Rodes, president of the Stevita Co. in
Arlington, Texas, 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."

Big Brother's eyes

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: James Kirkland's "Cooking with
Stevia: The Naturally Sweet & Calorie-Free Herb," David Richard's "Stevia
Rebaudiana: Nature's Sweet Secret," and Linda Bonvie, et al.'s "The Stevia
Story: A tale of incredible sweetness & intrigue."

In an interview Friday, Mr. Rodes said that when he received the FDA fax, he
called his attorney in Washington. The local FDA officers arrived a few
hours later. According to Mr. Rodes, he said that he would not destroy the
books unless his attorney advised him to do so.

However, Mr. 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.

Mr. Rodes also claims that the FDA officials told him that they wanted Mr.
Rodes to recall all the copies of the books he had already sold. According
to Mr. Rodes, that amounts to more than 4,000 copies.

Mr. 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, Mr. Lahar
said he wouldn't answer. He said, "I've been asked to refer calls to our
press office in Washington. . . . We all have a boss."

Mr. Lahar referred me to FDA Associate Chief Counsel for Enforcement
Annamarie Kempic in Washington. Ms. Kempic did not return calls.

The FDA's public affairs officer Judith Foulke said she couldn't answer any
questions because the matter was still under investigation. She couldn't
even comment on the destroy-the-books letter.

Another wrinkle popped up. Dr. Julian Whitaker asked Mr. Rodes if he could
purchase the three stevia books in question for research purposes. Mr.
Rodes, thinking he might violate FDA orders by selling the books to the
doctor, refused -- and explained why.

First Amendment offense

The doctor called First Amendment attorney Jonathan W. Emord in Washington
to see what he could do. Mr. Emord called the FDA to advise the agency that
he planned to initiate legal action to free the hostage books.

Ms. Kempic then faxed a letter, dated June 5, to Mr. Emord in which she says
that Mr. Rodes can sell the books to Mr. Emord's client and states: ". . .
we have contacted Mr. Rhodes 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 sent to Mr. Emord
three days later, Ms. 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 Mr. Rodes, emphatically. Why, after all, would he want to
destroy thousands of dollars worth of inventory?

Mr. 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.

Mr. Rodes' company is one of the nation's major distributors of stevia. The
FDA confiscated two shipments of the herb that belong to Mr. Rodes. Those
shipments have yet to be released. This action is costing Mr. 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.

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.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett