We as a
people assume that the food we order or buy is safe to eat. This faith in our food comes in part from the
FDA and the laws and regulations that govern our food. Currently the FDA oversees the country’s food supply. Also, it is responsible for assuring the
safety of human and veterinary drugs, medical devices, cosmetics and
tobacco. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came into being with the
passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act.
This law prohibited interstate commerce in misbranded food and drugs.
Harvey Washington Wiley, chief chemist of the Department of Agriculture, had
been the driving force behind this law and headed its enforcement. In the
1880s, when Wiley began his 50-year crusade for pure foods, America's
marketplace was flooded with poor, often harmful products.
In 1902, Wiley was given a grant of $5,000 in order to
study the safety of
the chemical preservatives that were being added to foods. With this money, he assembled a troop of
twelve men who became known as “The Poison Squad”. These men would meet in the basement of the
Department of Agriculture (DOA), dressed in suite and tie, for the finest meals.
The goal of the Poison Squad was to consume some of the most commonly used food
additives in order to determine their effects. During each of the Poison Squad’s
trials, the members would eat steadily increasing amounts of each additive,
carefully tracking the impact that it had on their bodies. They would stop when
they started to get sick. The members of
the Poison Squad took an oath that, for a year, only allowed them to eat food prepared
in the DOA kitchen.
(The goal was to) “Investigate
the character of food preservatives, coloring matters, and other substances
added to foods, to determine their relation to digestion and to health, and to
establish the principles which should guide their use."
-Wiley
The Poison Squad tested additives such as borax, sulfuric acid,
saltpeter, formaldehyde and benzoic acid. These brave and iron stomached men suffered
from many ailments including nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, liver damage, kidney
damage, brain damage, and jaundice. The
Poison Squad experiments got wide media coverage and caught public
attention. It allowed people to question
what they ate, and become open to change.
In 1907, the Poison
Squad came to an end. In 1912 Wiley went
to work for Good Housekeeping Magazine as
the head of testing. It was during this
time that the Good Housekeeping “Seal of Approval” became so desirable on a
product Wiley also explored the effects of additive sugar and the negative
effects of cigarettes. In 1921, an
article of Wiley’s contributed to the passage of the Maternity Bill, which
increased Federal funds for improved infant care and led to a reduction of the
appalling infant mortality rate.
Quality
food is important. Still today many
preservatives are put in our food that we may not know the long term health
effects of. Harvey Wiley started to examine the many
questions that were proposed about preservatives and coloring in our food and
opened up scientific and public knowledge on the subject. 
Advertisements for many different remedies in the late 1800's and early 1900's
"The Poison Squad"
Harvey W. Wiley
http://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/whatwedo/history/default.htm
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