A fascinating examination of the controversial work of Harvey
Wiley, the founder of the pure food movement and an early crusader
against the use of additives and preservatives in food. Though
trained as a medical doctor, chemist Harvey Wiley spent most of his
professional life advocating for "pure food"-food free of both
adulterants and preservatives. A strong proponent of the Pure Food
and Drug Act of 1906, still the basis of food safety legislation in
the United States, Wiley gained fame for what became known as the
Poison Squad experiments-a series of tests in which, to learn more
about the effects of various chemicals on the human body, Wiley's
own employees at the Department of Agriculture agreed to consume
food mixed with significant amounts of various additives, including
borax, saltpeter, copper sulfate, sulfuric acid, and formaldehyde.
One hundred years later, Wiley's influence lives on in many of our
current popular ideas about food: that the wrong food can kill you;
that the right food can extend your life; that additives are
unnatural; and that unnatural food is unhealthy food. Eating-the
process of taking something external in the world and putting it
inside of you-has always been an intimate act, but it was Harvey
Wiley who first turned it into a matter of life or death. In The
Chemistry of Fear, Jonathan Rees examines Wiley's many-and
varied-conflicts and clashes over food safety, including the
adulteration of honey and the addition of caffeine to Coca-Cola,
formaldehyde to milk, and alum to baking powder. Although Wiley is
often depicted as an unwavering champion of the consumer's
interest, Rees argues that his critics rightfully questioned some
of his motivations, as well as the conclusions that he drew from
his most important scientific work. And although Wiley's fame and
popularity gave him enormous influence, Rees reveals that his
impact on what Americans eat depends more upon fear than it does
upon the quality of his research. Exploring in detail the battles
Wiley picked over the way various foods and drinks were made and
marketed, The Chemistry of Fear touches upon every stage of his
career as a pure food advocate. From his initial work in Washington
researching food adulteration, through the long interval at the end
of his life when he worked for Good Housekeeping, Wiley often wrote
about the people who prevented him from making the pure food law as
effective as he thought it should have been. This engaging book
will interest anyone who's curious about the pitfalls that eaters
faced at the turn of the twentieth century.
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