MVR> Lanaken, Belgium   Wednesday, March 11 1998 - 22:48
 MVR> Friday, March 06 1998 kl.20:11 Marilyn Boissoneault said to:
 MVR> Sandra Peake ... because she said to:
MB>> ... Is Stevia part of the scientific name?
 MVR> The full name should be Stevia Beroudiana Bertoni.
 MVR> ...known by the Guarany indians  in Paraguay and Brazil since
 MVR> centuries. The Spainish sailors brought it in the 16th century to
 MVR> Europe, but only arount 1930, something has been done with
 MVR> that plant.
 MVR>  ... in Japan, it is the most used sweetner.
 MVR> Stevioside should be known in the USA as a diethelp
 MVR> but it is not really recognized as a sweetner, which
 MVR> is the same as here in Belgium. I just got all this
 MVR> information in my diabetic information brochure.
Maria, it *should* be "known in the USA", but here, in America,
we have something *else*... known as *lobbiests* whose power
is unheard of in most of the rest of the civilized world!  The sugar
lobby is one of the most powerful... add to that, the Lobbiests of
the Chemical & Pharmaceutical Industries... so Stevia has had a
tough time with it's availability. There are afew of us, who have
had to use sweeteners other than refined sugar for health reasons,
who have (or wanted) knowledge of it, but, by-and-large,  all those
with a  vested interest in it's *not* being available, have been able
to protect the American public (from this herb that is beneficial for
more than just it's sweetening properties).  There have been many
stories put out about it, tho.  I use it and like it just fine... in fact, it
is far superior, IMHO, to "the little blue packet", and the other
chemicals that many would have us believe is  *so* much better ...
("safe"!  )
cheers,
WL Sakowski
MVR> ... All great discoveries are made by mistake.
How true this often seems.
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