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Lädt ... The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (Original 2018; 2019. Auflage)von Deborah Blum (Autor)
Werk-InformationenThe Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century von Deborah Blum (2018)
Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. Did you know that lead has recently been found in some cinnamon spice products? You should have been around before , and even after 1906, when anything that could be added to food was added, and nothing was ever inspected. People, and especially children, died after consuming bad milk, candy (legally laced with arsenic as a decoration), and all kinds of additives. I found the pictures of old, white men helpful as I tried to keep track of the good guys (chemists and muckraking journalists) vs the baddies, (food processors, corrupt politicians). Made me appreciate the fight it took to even pass safe food laws, never mind enforcing them. Of course, even today, the fight continues. I appreciate the good fight the original heroes fought. I also have a new respect for Good Housekeeping Magazine, an early food safety champion. I really enjoyed Deborah Blum's [b:The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York|7054123|The Poisoner's Handbook Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York|Deborah Blum|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442933592l/7054123._SY75_.jpg|7305202] about poison in the Jazz Age, and this prequel, so-to-speak, of the turn of the century push for food purity was fascinating. Many popular non-fiction books read like an afterthought of stitched together essays masquerading as a book, but Blum's journalism background really shines. The narrative flows nicely from one section to the next, painting a complete picture of an America held captive to corporate interests and party politics on one side and activists, suffragettes, socialists and scientists on the other. This may feel a little on the nose for modern politics, but Blum never lets a parallel slip out, instead sticking strictly to history. She does so largely by focusing on the story of Dr. Wiley, the titular "one chemist," who forms the also titular, "poison squad" -- a randomized controlled trial to determine the effects of preservatives on food. Perhaps my biggest complaints about the books are the flip side of its virtues. With a singular narrative focus, Blum loses the opportunities to draw parallels and also address how the FDA and food regulation has evolved since FDR. Wiley's campaign against preservatives like saccharin and benzoate is addressed with complete credulity analogously to his campaigns against formaldehyde and copper salts in food. Blum never even mentions that both are FDA-approved now (a tangent: as a professional biochemical geneticist, I use benzoate all the time as a nitrogen scavenger because it binds to the amino acid glycine to form hippuric acid, which is easily excreted in the urine. When I first started interpreting urine organic acid analyses, I turned to my mentor confused -- why do so many samples have hippurate in them? I assumed that some hippuric acid might be naturally occurring. Instead, my mentor handed me a diet soda bottle, clearly labeled "contained potassium benzoate to preserve flavor."). She also didn't address the modern "pure food" movement or how that may be different with a more robust FDA who does approve the chemical additives... keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
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Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley set out to ensure food safety. He selected food tasters to test various food additives and preservatives, letting them know that the substances could be harmful or deadly. The tasters were recognized for their courage, and became known as the poison squad.
"By the end of the nineteenth century, food in America was increasingly dangerous--lethal, even. Milk and meat were routinely preserved with formaldehyde, a practice based on the embalming of corpses. Beer and wine were preserved with salicylic acid, a pharmaceutical chemical; canned vegetables were greened-up by copper sulphate, a toxic metallic salt; rancid butter was made edible with borax, best known as a cleaning product. This was not by accident; food manufacturers had rushed to embrace the rise of industrial chemistry and were knowingly selling harmful products. Unchecked by government regulation, basic safety, or even labelling requirements, they put profit before the health of their customers. By some estimates, in New York City alone, thousands of children were killed by adulterated and chemically 'improved' milk. Citizens--activists, journalists, scientists, and wornen's groups--began agitating for change. But although protective measures were enacted in Europe, American corporations blocked even modest regulations. Then in 1883, Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, a chemistry professor from Purdue University, was named chief chemist of the United States Department of Agriculture, and the agency began methodically investigating food and drink fraud, even conducting shocking human tests on groups of young men who came to be known as the Poison Squad. Over the next thirty years, a titanic struggle took place, with the courageous and inimitable Dr. Wiley campaigning tirelessly for food safety and consumer protection. Together with a gallant cast, including the muckraking author Upton Sinclair, who fought to reveal the horrific truth about the Chicago stockyards; Fannie Farmer, then the most famous cookbook author in the country; and Henry Heinz, one of the few food producers who actively advocated for pure food, Dr. Wiley changed history. When the landmark 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act was finally passed, it was known across the land as 'Dr. Wiley's Law.' Deborah Blum brings to life this timeless and hugely satisfying David and Goliath tale with righteous verve and style, driving home the moral imperative of confronting corporate greed and government corruption with a bracing clarity, which speaks resoundingly to the enormous social and political challenges we face today."--Dust jacket. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)363.19Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Other social problems and services Public safety programs FoodKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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Some of the descriptions of spoiled or adulterated food that the author included are so disgusting that I had to stop reading for a bit and let my stomach settle.... and I am not known for having a weak stomach! While it s important for readers to visualize the poor and most likely dangerous the quality of food was at the end of the 19th century, readers may want to skim some of grosser passages. ( )