ASPARTAME: It’s the world’s best ant poison

Those nice people who produce aspartame, the sweetener in diet drinks, have taken quite a hammering of late. So it's great to be able to report on a practical application of the sweetener that puts it in a more positive light.

According to Jan Jenson of Mooresville, North Carolina, it's the world's greatest ant poison. "It works better than the most deadly poisons I have tried. Any time those ants show up again, I simply dump another package of NutraSweet in a corner, and they will be gone for a year or so again," she reports.

She made the discovery after carpenter ants, which were resistant to even the deadliest ant poisons such as Orkin, plagued her home. At her wit's end, she remembered reading that aspartame had first been developed as an ant poison until the manufacturer discovered its more lucrative role as a sweetener. She bought two packets of NutraSweet, put one in a corner of her two bathrooms, and she didn't see another ant for nearly a year.

As with any poison, Jan recommends that you wear gloves and wash your skin afterwards should you come into direct contact with the poison. Of course, you must avoid swallowing it (oh, yes, of course, you are supposed to swallow it).