NutraSweet is a company that makes an sells aspartame, an artificial sugar substitute. NutraSweet is also the brand name for the sweetener aspartame, which was discovered in 1965 by James M. Schlatter, a chemist working for G.D. Searle & Company. After initial rejection by the FDA due to studies linking it to brain cancer, FDA commissioner Arthur Hayes approved aspartame for human consumption in 1981. In 1983, Hayes quit the FDA under allegations of accepting corporate gifts and joined Searle's public-relations firm as senior medical advisor. 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.