NutraSweet is the company that makes and sells aspartame, an artificial sugar substitute. NutraSweet® is also the brand name for the sweetener aspartame, which was approved by the FDA for consumption in 1981.

Aspartame is currently under fire from researchers and organizations declaring it a causal link to a wide variety of conditions, including retinal degeneration, brain tumors, birth defects, behavioral changes, cancer and heart disease.

Originally, the patent for aspartame was owned by G.D. Searle & Company. In 1985, G.D. Searle & Company was purchased by Monsanto. In this merger, Searle's aspartame business became a separate Monsanto subsidiary, the NutraSweet Company. The U.S. patent on aspartame expired in 1992, and the aspartame market is now hotly contested between the NutraSweet Company and other manufacturers, chiefly the Holland Sweetener Company. In 2000, Monsanto sold its artificial sweetener division (including NutraSweet) to Merisant.

In September of 2004, it was widely publicized that a RICO lawsuit had been filed in the State of California by an organisation calling itself the "National Justice League," against the NutraSweet Corporation, the American Diabetes Association and others for manufacturing and promoting the use of aspartame. The World Natural Health Organization, a high profile critic of many food additives including aspartame, was instrumental in gaining publicity and marshalling public support for this effort. A subsequent investigation by the WNHO, however, found that the National Justice League did not exist as any form of legal entity, and that the attorney claiming to represent the group was not a member of the California bar.

Other aspartame-contaning products by NutraSweet

• Canderel - Sold in Mexico, EMEA, Asia
• Equal - Sold in India
• EqualSweet - Sold in Argentina

External links

• NutraSweet official Web site
• Aspartame criticism at the WNHO