
The Poison Squad
One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
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Narrated by:
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Kirsten Potter
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By:
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Deborah Blum
About this listen
A New York Times Notable Book.
The inspiration for PBS's American Experience film The Poison Squad.
From Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times best-selling author Deborah Blum, the dramatic true story of how food was made safe in the United States and the heroes, led by the inimitable Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, who fought for change
By the end of 19th century, food was dangerous. Lethal, even. "Milk" might contain formaldehyde, most often used to embalm corpses. Decaying meat was preserved with both salicylic acid, a pharmaceutical chemical, and borax, a compound first identified 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 "embalmed milk" every year. Citizens - activists, journalists, scientists, and women's groups - began agitating for change. But even as 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 agriculture department, 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 30 years, a titanic struggle took place, with the courageous and fascinating Dr. Wiley campaigning indefatigably for food safety and consumer protection. Together with a gallant cast, including the muckraking reporter Upton Sinclair, whose fiction revealed the horrific truth about the Chicago stockyards; Fannie Farmer, then the most famous cookbook author in the country; and Henry J. Heinz, one of the few food producers who actively advocated for pure food, Dr. Wiley changed history. When the landmark 1906 Food and Drug Act was finally passed, it was known across the land, as "Dr. Wiley's Law".
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.
©2018 Deborah Blum (P)2018 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Full of fascinating detail...a valuable contribution to understanding the politics of food.” (Nature)
“[Blum’s] prose is graceful, and her book is full of vivid, unsettling detail.... The Poison Squad offers a powerful reminder that truth can defeat lies, that government can protect consumers and that an honest public servant can overcome the greed of private interests.” (Eric Schlosser, New York Times Book Review)
“[E]ngrossing.... Blum’s well-informed narrative - complete with intricate battles between industry lobbyists and a coalition of scientists, food activists, and women’s groups - illuminates the birth of the modern regulatory state and its tangle of reformist zeal, policy dog-fights, and occasional overreach.... [A] page-turner.” (Publishers Weekly)
“A detailed, highly readable history of food and drink regulation in the United States.... [The Poison Squad] shows the push and pull of competing economic, political and social interests. The journey our country has taken in establishing food, drink and drug regulation is an important one to understand because it is still going on.” (Wall Street Journal)
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Story
Science is a force for good in the world—at least usually. But sometimes, when obsession gets the better of scientists, they twist a noble pursuit into something sinister. Under this spell, knowledge isn’t everything, it’s the only thing—no matter the cost. Bestselling author Sam Kean tells the true story of what happens when unfettered ambition pushes otherwise rational men and women to cross the line in the name of science, trampling ethical boundaries and often committing crimes in the process.
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FANTASTIC! & What’s up with all these naysayers (negative reviewers)?!
- By Zophie Leslea on 08-19-21
By: Sam Kean
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Angel Killer
- A True Story of Cannibalism, Crime Fighting, and Insanity in New York City
- By: Deborah Blum
- Narrated by: Deborah Blum
- Length: 1 hr and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In the mid-1920s, young children began to vanish from neighborhoods around New York City. It took the police a decade to find their abductor, an unassuming 64-year-old handyman named Albert Fish. Fish had committed crimes of unspeakable horror: He had not only abducted and murdered the children, but also tortured and, in some cases, eaten them. During Fish's trial, some of the country's most prominent psychiatrists debated the exact nature of Fish's crimes. Was he evil or insane? Who had the power to determine where one ended and the other began?
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Short but chilling...
- By Douglas on 04-25-14
By: Deborah Blum
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Fuzz
- When Nature Breaks the Law
- By: Mary Roach
- Narrated by: Mary Roach
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology.
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The footnotes
- By Alex on 09-24-21
By: Mary Roach
What listeners say about The Poison Squad
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- sullivbt
- 01-22-19
great stuff
good book, great reader. recommended for all interested in food safety in America. fast moving history
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- J. D. Botet
- 12-09-22
Good but just the origins
Very good but only the beginning of the 20 Century. I'd like to learn more up to now.
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- Lynn
- 03-18-24
Everyone should read this book
I loved this book! I am proud and ashamed of our country for their part in food safety
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- Nicholas E. Ertz
- 12-27-18
What's in your food?
This is a good lesson on politics that is germane even today. Here is the birth of the FDA. Without two things, it wouldn't have happened. The chief chemist (Dr Wiley) was the great advocate supported by a vast majority of consumers - who were vocal. The villains were big food business in cahoots with the lawmakers and the bureaucracy. You can be glad today that you don't have formaldehyde in your milk and many other things. Lessons here need to be applied to the gun laws and environmental protection. Read and learn.
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- seth toker
- 05-15-20
Excellent and Timely Lesson and Call to Action
The research that went into creating the potrait of a brilliant, dedicated and passionate, though long-suffering and sometimes self-sabotaging character of Dr. Wiley is admirable. As the epilogue clearly states, this book provides a timely look at the history of food regulation and the long-running war between science and politics; as we look at Wiley's discoveries, battles and political roadblocks toward protecting public health through the Pure Foods Act, we are reminded how little has changed in the landscape of pilitics and how crucual both an educated public and tireless crusaders are to ensuring the public good over the interests of business. I enjoyed this book, and I enjoyed the reader's performance. I think she is able to convery Wiley's wry, dry humor very well. <3
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- Jerry
- 11-27-18
If you eat you must read this book!
Deborah Blum has done an extraordinary job in gathering the history of food safety and presenting it in a clear and lively manner. If you worry about the safety of today’s food and long to return to early times, you will be shocked by just how unsafe our food used to be, and how much good FDA has done over the years.
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- Cri. Vtz Fan
- 09-08-19
Government corruption way back when
Interesting to see how food was treated how vaping is viewed today. Follow the money
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- ashbaby2002
- 11-21-19
Good story but boring cause ew history
If you’re someone that enjoys history then this book is for you but the book just wasn’t for me. it is a pretty good story though!
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- Marty S
- 03-28-20
very informative
i learned a lot and it was entertaining as well would recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about food history
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- Enso
- 06-08-22
Good, until epilogue.
Mostly a good an interesting story, shedding light on a less well known history. A few mispronounced words, but generally good performance by reader. Didn’t like the preaching and erroneous information in the epilogue. Would be better if that were cut out entirely.
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