The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum
whiskey conflict and, 168–69
Root, Elihu, 78, 187
Rosaline Berliner, 68–69
Rusby, Henry Hurd, 238, 247–48, 252
Rusk, Jeremiah, 35, 39
Russell, Charles Edward, 127
saccharin, 3, 81, 181, 244–47
Alsberg’s case against, 274, 277–78
listed as ingredient on product label requirement, 280
Remsen Board’s report on, 244–46
second Monsanto trail again ends in mistrial, 279–80
USDA drops attempts to regulate, 280
Wiley’s opinion on, 183–85
Wilson meets with industry and delays ban on, 246–47
salicylic acid, 3, 32–34, 66, 103, 116–17, 134–36
salmonella poisoning, from peanut butter (2008-2009), 288
Sandburg, Carl, 59
Sanford, Edward T., 243–44
Schmitt, Rudolf, 33
Scientific American, 204
scientific review board, 188–90
attorney general memo on legality of, 211–12, 253
compensation of members, 252–53
members of, 188–89
Roosevelt announces appointment of, 185
saccharin report of, 244–46
sodium benzoate report of, 204–5
Seely, Fred L., 223–24
Seventeenth Amendment to U.S. Constitution, 236
Shaw, George Bernard, 142–43
Shepard, James, 83–84, 155–56, 198, 199
Sherley Amendment, 269
Sherman, J. S., 182
Shredded Wheat Company, 253
Silent Spring (Carson), 290
Sinclair, Upton
Appeal to Reason’s serializing of The Jungle, 120, 136
background of, 119–20
Doubleday publishes The Jungle, 129–31, 136
leaks Neill-Reynolds report details to New York Times, 149
Macmillan cancels contract with, 126
meatpacking interests’ attacks on, 143
Roosevelt and, 144–45, 146
self publishes The Jungle, 126
slack-fill bill, 278–79
“Slaughter of Americans, The” (What to Eat), 129
Smith, Francis Marion, 69
smoking, 22
Society of Chemical Engineers, 189
sodium acetate, 212–13
sodium benzoate, 174, 178–79, 204–7, 214–16, 217–18
sodium borate (borax). See borax (sodium borate)
sodium sulfite, 161–62, 174–75
soft drinks
Coca-Cola, 107, 220–25, 236–44, 274–75
counter soft drinks, 220–25
medicated soft drinks, 219–20
Some Forms of Food Adulteration and Simple Methods for Their Detection (Bulletin 100), 111–13
“Song of the Poison Squad” (Gillilan), 96–97
Spanish-American War, 51
spices and condiments, adulteration of, 30–32, 112
Stand-Patters, 163
Stanley, Arthur, 225–26
Steffens, Lincoln, 126, 164
strawberry jam, 2, 67
suffrage movement, 74, 228, 275–76, 277
sugar, 78–79
sulfites, 161–62, 174–75
sulfur dioxide, 161, 174–75
sulfuric acid, 161
sulfurous acid, 160–62, 174–75
Sullivan, Mark, 116, 124, 133, 150
Supreme Court
Lexington Mill case, decision in, 270–71
overturns Coca-Cola decision, 274
Swift, Augustus, 58
Swift, Gustavus, 24
Swift, Louis, 148
swill milk, 23
synthetic compounds, 2, 4, 81
Table Talk, 44
Taft, William Howard, 200
alienation between Roosevelt and, 208–9
attorney general memo on legality of Remsen Board, 211–12, 253
defrauding government charges against Wiley and, 249–50, 253–54, 255, 257
election of, 208
final ruling on whiskey definitions by, 225–26
Rusby case ruling by, 257
whiskey conflict reviewed under, 209–11
on Wiley’s resignation, 263
Tawney, James A., 163
Tawney Amendment, 163–65
Taylor, Alonzo E., 188, 189. See also scientific review board
Taylor, Edmund Haynes, Jr., 49–50, 122, 210, 268
Taylor, Zachary, 11
tea, 28, 29–30, 36
Teasdale, B. J., 93
temperance beverages, 74–75
temperance movement, 105
Thompson, Helen Louise, 44
three-month rule, 212
“Treason of the Senate, The” (Phillips), 145, 151
Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons, A (Accum), 14
Treaty of Versailles, 276
Trump, Donald J., 289, 290
“Truth About Food Adulteration, The” (Dodge), 127–28
Twain, Mark, 24–25, 164
Tyrode, Maurice, 239
United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola, 224–25, 236–44
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 288
USDA. See Department of Agriculture (USDA)
vanilla, 2
Vaughn, Victor, 241–42
vegetables, canned, 41, 67–68
Von Hofmann, August Wilhelm, 13, 18
Wadsworth, James, 147–49, 151
Wallace, Henry, 279
Wall Street Journal, 77, 255
Washington Post, 87, 92–94, 95–96, 97
Washington Star, 137–38, 256, 265
Wayland, Julius, 120
Wedderburn, Alex, 36, 41–42
Wells, John D., 77
Wharton, Charles, 148
What to Eat (magazine), 110, 114, 122, 129, 204
What We Eat (Hoskins), 110
whiskey/whiskey industry, 49–51, 67, 118, 139
adulterated and counterfeit, complaints about, 49–51
bonded period, 49
Bottled-in-Bond Act and, 50
conflict between rectifiers (blended whiskies) and distillers, 49–51, 165–69, 209–11, 225–26
labeling conflict under Pure Food and Drug Act, 165–69
opposition to Hepburn-McCumber legislation, 104
pure food exhibit at St. Louis world’s fair and, 118, 122
review of whiskey conflict under Taft, 209–11
Roosevelt rules on whiskey definitions, 168–69
Taft’s decision on whiskey definitions, 225–26
White, William Allen, 164
Wickersham, George W., 247, 249, 255
Wiley, Anna Kelton, 48–49, 72, 228, 234–36, 275–76, 284
Wiley, Harvey Washington, 5–7, 122
advises Paddock on food safety, 39
alcohol and wine, report on, 32–34
American Philosophical Society, speech and attendance at, 191–92
attacks on by Harris writing as H. H. Langdon, 203–4
autobiography or, 284
on caffeine in Coca-Cola and other soft drinks, 222–24
canned goods, metal poisoning from, 59–60
canners’ conference, speech at, 139–41
chemistry degree of, 13
Civil War service of, 12
coffee, tea and cocoa investigated by, 36–38
Collier’s attacks on, 21
corn syrup labeling and, 186–87
corporate backlash from Pure F
Cuban sugar policy testimony of, 78–79
cumulative doses, potential effects of, 34, 67–68, 102, 135
death of, 284
on deception of consumer, 116
defrauding government charges related to Rusby hiring arrangement, 247–59
dextrose proposed amendment and, 281–83
early life of, 11–12
embalmed beef scandal and, 54, 55–57
on glucose, 17, 18
at Good Housekeeping, 272–73
Hepburn-McCumber legislation hearings, testimony at, 103
hired as chief chemist at Agriculture Department, 5, 20–22
hires Kebler, 105–6
honey/maple syrup purity studies of, 16–19
industry attacks on, 123–24, 138–39
investigations of food fakery begun by, 5
job offers received by, 258, 261
labeling of food and, 18, 19, 34, 68, 103
lard study published by, 35–36
law linked to his name, 7, 152
leadership of, 6
marries Ana Kelton, 234–36
Mason hearings testimony of, 67–68
medical school, attends, 12–13
milk and butter investigated by, 23–24, 26–27
Morton and, 40–43, 44–46
nicknamed “Old Borax,” 92
ordered to release Wedderburn, 41–42
Poison Squad studies of (See Poison Squad studies)
prolaw advocacy of, 124–25
proposes marriage to Anna Kelton, 72–73
protests advertising of fake remedies and fraudulent foods, 137–38
protests Food Inspection Decision (FID) 76, 174–76
public presentations at Chicago exposition of, 43–44
public support for, 253–55
public talks schedule, in 1910 of, 227–28
at Purdue as chemistry professor, 13–14
reaction to resignation of, 263–65
resignation of, 261–63
resolves to raise awareness of impurities and fakery in food, 28
Roosevelt’s annoyance with unwillingness to compromise to, 185–88
Roosevelt views on Wiley’s contribution to Pure Food and Drug bill, 151–52
seeks Roosevelt’s help on whiskey labeling, 167–68
self-publishes The History of a Crime Against the Food Law, 283–84
sense of humor of, 94–95
speeches to International Pure Food Congress, 116
spices and condiments investigated by, 30–32
straight-whiskey, ties to, 105, 118
studies food chemistry analysis in Germany, 13–14
on Supreme Court’s decision in Lexington Mill case, 271
Taft decision in Rusby case, 257–58
tensions and rift between Wilson and, 165–71, 175–76, 196–97, 199–200, 217–18
trip to France and helps French update their food laws, 172–73
urged to return to government service, 267–69
Wedderburn hired to publicize findings of, 36
whiskey labeling conflict and, 165–69
women activists as allies of, 106–110, 227–28
writes open letter to Coolidge, 280–81
writings on food safety, 60–61
See also Board of Food and Drug Inspection (USDA); Bureau of Chemistry (USDA)
Wiley, Lucinda, 47
Wiley, Preston, 11–12, 47
Willard, Frances, 74
Williams, Walter, 67
Williams Brothers, 67, 214
Willis, Henry Parker, 210, 225
Wilson, James, 54, 65, 67–68, 73, 116
accepts Wiley’s resignation, 262, 263
asks Wiley to testify on Cuban sugar tariff, 78–79
assigns Wiley to draft pure food act rules and regulations, 156
bleached flour issue and, 198–200
blocks publication of Poison Squad and other Bureau reports, 192–93, 217
Coca-Cola case and, 220–25
corn syrup labeling and, 186–87
defrauding government charges against Wiley and, 248–50, 251
delays saccharin ban, 246–47
gives McCabe full authority over food and drug regulation, 228
meets with California coalition on sulfite labeling, 175
Moss committee hearings and, 256, 259
National Association of State Dairy and Food Departments censure of, 196–97
opposition to Tawney’s amendment, 164–65
protects Wiley from Roosevelt, 79
resignation of, 269–70
Roosevelt asks for explanation of Inspection Department’s reviews of meatpackers, 144
sodium benzoate hearing in Indiana case and, 214–15
supports Wiley on sodium benzoate, 183
tactics used for sodium benzoate vote by, 217–218
tensions and rift between Wiley and, 165–69, 175–76, 196–97, 199–200, 217–18
Wiley’s stridency alienates, 135–36
Wilson, Woodrow, 267, 275, 276–77
wine
labeling of, 212
preservatives in, 32–34, 66
Witthaus, Rudolph, 241
Woman’s Christian Temperance Movement (WCTU), 74, 107, 124
Woman’s Home Companion, 127
women/women’s organizations, 285
as allies of Wiley during fight for pure food legislation, 106–110
public support for Wiley and, 253
pure-food movement and, 106–10, 163–64
suffrage movement, 74, 228, 275–76, 277
Wiley addresses, on importance of national food and drug law, 227–28
World’s Work, 144
World War I, 275, 276
Young, John H., 188, 189. See also scientific review board
zinc salts, 67–68
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About the Author
Deborah Blum is director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT, and editor of Undark magazine, (undark.org). In 1992, she won the Pulitzer Prize for a series on primate research, which she turned into a book, The Monkey Wars. Her other books include The Poisoner's Handbook, Ghost Hunters, Love at Goon Park, and Sex on the Brain. She has written for publications including The New York Times, Wired, Time, Discover, Mother Jones, The Guardian and The Boston Globe. Blum is a past president of the National Association of Science Writers, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a lifetime associate of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Deborah Blum, The Poison Squad