The Poison Eaters: Fighting Danger and Fraud in Our Food and Drugs

Formaldehyde, borax, salicylic acid. Today these chemicals are used in embalming fluids, cleaning supplies, and acne medications. But just over a hundred years ago, they were routinely added to all kinds of food by unregulated and unethical companies. Noted science and history writer Gail Jarrow introduces readers to the relentless work of U.S. government chemist Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, who mounted a thirty-year campaign to protect consumers from harmful food and drugs. As part of his research, he tested food additives by serving them to a squad of volunteers—the poison eaters. The stubborn dedication of Wiley and his allies eventually led to the creation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, and to safer—less poisonous!—food, drugs, and cosmetics.