His successful company was nearly crippled by the Food and Drug Administration, and the America he called home resembled the dictatorship of his native Brazil. Rodes and his family have owned and operated the Stevita Corporation in Arlington, Texas, since 1996. His business involves importing extract of the stevia plant, an herb 300 to 500 times sweeter than sugar, with no calories, fat, or known adverse effects.
Stevia is used all over the world as a sweetener for soda, candy and other foods.
All over, that is, except in the United States. Still, Rodes and others can sell stevia just as long as they don't refer to its sweetening properties in any literature or labels. If you ask James Kirkland, it's because the aspartame industry is worried about competition. And that's where Rodes' trouble began. Along with stevia products, Stevita offered three books about stevia, all extolling the plant's sweet properties and one, a cookbook, calling for Stevita's brand of stevia .