NutraSweet
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NutraSweet is the company that makes and sells aspartame, an artificial sugar substitute. NutraSweet® is also the brand name for the sweetener aspartame.
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 September of 2004, a RICO lawsuit was filed against the NutraSweet Corporation and the American Diabetes Association for manufacturing and promoting the use of aspartame.