Food Security: Professor Wiley and The Poison Squad

There was a time when most people produced their own food. By working day and night, they grew their own crops and fish were farmed in their own ponds. Cow’s milk may have been obtained from a known cowherd. There was a little doubt, the cow does not mix more water in the milk? The opportunity to investigate was at hand.

But times have changed. As a result of industrialization, the burden of our food production has passed into the hands of others. We have no chance to know where our food is coming from. Just believe and accept. But in this age of extreme profiteering mentality, where is the opportunity to believe?

As soon as you open the page of the newspaper, you can see various methods of mixing adulterated food. A class of people is doing it regularly without caring about ethics. So we are worried about almost all foods – there are no harmful chemicals in them?

Let’s hear a story of hope in this time of despair. The story of a real hero. Who started the fight alone to ensure safe food for the American people. Bishalakaya went against all the food-producing companies and stood up for the people.

The protagonist of the story is Harvey Washington Wiley. He was born in 1844 on a farm in Indiana, USA. His father was a farmer. His father was also a conductor of ‘ Underground Rail Road. ‘He helped runaway slaves to safety. So it is safe to say that Harvey received his education from his father, a farmer, and his interest in pure food.  

He did not study much in his childhood. But the curious mind was always chasing him. So at the age of twenty-one, he started studying anew. At first, the subject of interest was medicine. He also earned a degree from Indiana Medical College. But he soon realized that he could not tolerate human illness. So he left medicine and started taking new initiation in chemistry.

This branch of science has just begun to develop. Scientists are isolating new elements. By combining a few, he is again creating a new substance whose qualities and abilities are completely different. Almost every day, new amazing things were happening in the world of chemistry. Have fun, Harvey. In 1874 he joined the University of Purdue as the first professor of chemistry.

Meanwhile, industrialization is in full swing in America. Urbanization is going on, it is no longer possible for people to make their own food. Most of the food that comes directly from the farm to the city is out of reach. So they have to depend on the food industry for cheap food.

But there was no government body to oversee the food industry. As a result, counterfeit food spread in the market in the form of an epidemic. Cottonseed oil was being released in the market under the name of olive oil. Morphine was mixed in the children’s syrup, dust particles and various seeds were mixed with the spices.

Harvey became vocal against the adulteration of food. Indiana state authorities tasked him with investigating the market’s sweetness. He found that what was being sold on the market as honey was, in fact a mixture of waxy substances with glucose syrup. When the results of his research were published, there was a lot of noise about it. After this incident, the name and price of Harvey also spread a bit.

During this time, he left the academy and joined the United States Department of Agriculture. Within a few years of coming here a new subject made him anxious. That is one of the blessings of his favorite chemistry – preservatives. Many foods would be wasted if it was too late to bring them to the city or sell it from the farm. The milk would have boiled, the meat would have rotted. People get sick after eating these foods. Therefore, it was necessary to invent food preservation methods for the welfare of the people.

In this case, when scientists came up with some magical chemicals called preservatives, most traders took them. A few days or even a few weeks will pass, but the food will not be wasted anymore. As a result, chemicals such as borax, formaldehyde, salicylic acid, etc. began to be used in food. This is what Americans take with every meal. They did not know how many chemicals they were consuming. No one knew what effect this had on their bodies.

Harvey became concerned about the harmful effects of preservatives. Over the years, he has repeatedly called for the government to oversee the use of preservatives in food . But his appeal did not resonate with food industry lobbyists. Repeatedly failing, he adopted a new approach. In 1902, he began an experiment to observe the effects of food preservatives on health. At the same time, he wanted to build public opinion to establish government control over the food industry.

For the test, he selected twelve government employees as guinea pigs. They were all in good health. For one year, they swore to take part in the Harvey experiment. It is said that they can only eat the food given by Harvey. As a result, no harm can be done to their health, even death.

Harvey hires a special cook for them. He cooked all living food with extraordinary skill. And lastly, he used to mix different amounts of ‘poison’ with this food. It all started with Bordeaux. At first, this chemical was mixed with butter. After a while, it was seen that they were finishing the meal without butter. Then it was mixed with milk, it was seen that they also stopped eating milk. Bordeaux capsules were made without looking up. It was confirmed that they were eating the capsule every now and then. Gradually there is an increase in the amount of chemicals.

These twelve were kept under close observation. Their weight, body temperature and heart rate were measured before each meal. Their stools, urine, sweat, etc. were tested every week. The strange thing is that most of them do not get any money in return for so much risk or hardship. All they got was three free meals.

Harvey’s test papers were well received. He first named it ‘Hygienic Table Trials.’ But in the end, the group was known as The Poison Squad, named by a Washington Post reporter. People were waiting with interest to know the latest news of Poison Squad. This also increases public awareness about preservatives.

Within a few days of experimenting with Bordeaux, they realized that the chemical was responsible for various digestive problems, including headaches and abdominal pain. Once this was confirmed, they experimented with formaldehyde, saltfitter, sulfuric acid and other preservatives one by one.

Among them, the results obtained using copper sulfate were quite terrible. It was used to make peas bright green. It was the cause of nausea, diarrhea, jaundice. Its harmful effects on the liver, kidneys and brain were also noticeable. It is currently used as a pesticide.

But Professor Wiley’s work did not end with the harmful effects of these chemicals or with public support. He still has to fight with the home-grown people of the food industry. Even Harvey’s superiors themselves suppressed some of the poison squad’s reports.

However, despite some reports, it was not possible for anyone to control the newspapers. Newspapers were constantly reporting on the poison squad. Harvey was terrified that so much fuss in the papers would distract him from his main goal. So he imposed a strict ban on giving any news in the newspaper. But the journalists could not be stopped. They then started spreading all the fabricated rumors about the party. Harvey lifted the ban without seeing Upayantar.

Not only newspaper reports, from product advertisements to poems, the word of poison squad comes up everywhere. But despite so much excitement, he has to wait a few more years for the desired law to be enacted. That goal was finally achieved in 1906. Congress passed the Safe Food and Drugs Act. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was established to ensure safe food. Harvey Washington Wiley became known as the father of the FDA. The following year, his famous Poison Squad closed.

But did Wiley’s dream of safe food for all, even after the FDA was established, come true? While we can’t say for sure in the American context, we can talk about our country. Here, the possibility of realizing that dream seems to be getting weaker day by day.