The Chemistry of Fear

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"Harvey Wiley spent most of his professional life advocating for food free of adulterants and preservatives. He was a proponent of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, and he ran the Division (later Bureau) of Chemistry at the US Department of Agriculture from 1883 to 1912. He gained fame for the so-called Poison Squad experiments-in which Wiley's own employees at the USDA consumed food mixed with additives and were studied for their body chemistry. In this biography, Jonathan Rees examines Wiley's many and varied conflicts over food safety"--