Harvey Washington Wiley: The Glory and Dream of a Food Safety Pioneer
Time: 18:00, October 6, 2008
Key Words: Food safety, pioneer, "Father of Pure Food and Drug Law"
Summary of content: The United States is now almost the country with the strictest food and drug supervision in the world, with more than 100 branches. FDA, with thousands of scientists working for it, protects people's tables and health. However, more than a hundred years ago, the U.S. federal government had almost no supervision over food and drugs, and their safety situation was even more worrying than that of China today...
A stone from another mountain can be used to attack jade.
As food safety arouses national concern today, the story of an American may be worthy of our attention.
This man is known as "a high mountain among people, a combative lion." It was he who directly promoted the legislation of food and drugs in the United States, and is therefore known as the "Father of the Pure Food and Drug Act."
Twenty-six years after this man’s death, the U.S. government issued a stamp to commemorate him.
Of course, until now, the American Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC International), which he founded, still awards awards in his name.
Many Americans say their dining tables are much safer because of this man’s efforts.
The organization he founded later evolved into the world-famous U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
His name is Harvey W. Wiley (hereinafter referred to as "Wiley"), a person worthy of our commemoration today.
An Angry Era
The United States is now almost the country with the strictest supervision of food and drugs in the world. The FDA has more than 100 branches and thousands of Scientists are working on it, protecting people's dining tables and health.
However, more than a hundred years ago, the U.S. federal government had almost no supervision over food and drugs, and their safety situation was even more worrying than that of China today:
Profit-driven businessmen Inject sodium benzoate into spoiled tomatoes to prevent them from continuing to rot, and splash copper sulfate to make vegetables look more tender; meat processing companies use borax to remove the smell of rotten ham; and the so-called strawberry jam is apple peel without any pulp. Made with glucose...
In order to save flour, bakers added chalk powder, dust and molten gypsum to the raw materials; some people mixed brown sugar with crushed lice (seemingly) (very much like brown sugar); as for canned turkey not having turkey in it, olive oil actually being cottonseed oil, the list goes on and on.
In 1905, reporter Upton Sinclair sneaked into a large Chicago meat factory and worked with the workers for seven weeks. What he saw was shocking: "It's broken. The pork was rubbed with soda ash to remove the sour smell; the poisoned rats were shoveled into the sausage mixer; the water used to wash hands was mixed into seasoning; workers walked around on the meat, spitting, and sowing seeds. billions of sclerotiorum bacteria..."
In the United States at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, urbanization accelerated, and a large number of rural people poured into cities. The scene of witnessing the food production process in rural markets was no longer available. Nowadays, in order to earn higher profits, business owners unscrupulously add various additives and substitutes to food.
An example that illustrates the situation at that time is that during the Spanish-American War in 1898, the U.S. government organized a cavalry team to go to Cuba. As a result, not many soldiers died during the war, and the spoiled canned meat supplied domestically. But it "successfully" made thousands of American soldiers sick!
In 1899, General Nelson Appleton Miles, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army, protested to the federal government, claiming that these canned beef killed more soldiers than enemy bullets!
Similar to food safety being out of control, drug safety at that time also embarrassed Americans today.
For example, Lydia Pinkham, an accomplished pharmaceutical patent owner in the United States, claimed that her plant mixture could cure any female ailment from neurasthenia to uterine prolapse. .
But in fact, 20% of her vegetable mixture is alcohol, and thousands of women who have sworn to give up alcohol are drinking it.
There is also a panacea called "Liquozone", which is actually 99% water, with a little sulfuric acid added to increase the smell, but it claims to be able to treat 37 diseases.
At the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Medical Association, a physician said: I firmly believe that if all the drugs we use today were dumped into the sea, it would be more beneficial to human health, but it would destroy the contents of the sea. All the fish were killed.
At this time, Willy appeared. At that time, he was the chief scientist of the Bureau of Chemistry of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The persistent efforts of a fighter
More than a hundred years later, we have regarded "Willy" as a pioneer who successfully promoted food and drug legislation, but at that time, his work was difficult It’s hard to tell outsiders.
“My promotion of pure food and drug legislation was considered a job for eccentric people, and many people thought I lacked basic business common sense.” Sometimes, Willy would whisper to the people around him.
As an expert in both pharmacy and medicine, Willie, who was born in 1844, studied at Indiana Medical College and Harvard University, and later taught at Purdue University. He noticed early on that canned food was Extending the shelf life and adding various chemical additives are very harmful to the human body.
After being invited to serve as chief scientist of the Bureau of Chemistry of the Ministry of Agriculture in 1883, he began to wage war on the infuriating food safety situation. Under his chairmanship, the Bureau of Chemistry published an eight-part report on Food and Food Adulteration, which revealed widespread adulteration in many foods.
In Willie's view, changes in the U.S. economic structure have prompted a transformation in the supply of food and medicine. He called the so-called secret recipes, ointments, and medical equipment full of duds, calling them "the most despicable." and shameless evil”.
After serving as director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Chemistry in 1902, Willey took further action and organized a group of volunteers who were interested in reforming the current food regulatory system. Some common additives, such as borax and benzene, were Inject sodium formate into them to see what effect it will have.
These volunteers are called "Poison Squads".
The results prove that those additives are very harmful to the human body and may cause a variety of diseases. In the face of solid evidence, Willie hopes to pass strict drug legislation that requires all drugs to truly state the ingredients on the label.
However, the United States at that time believed in laissez-faire and believed that the commerce clause in the constitution did not allow the federal government to regulate product production - from January 20, 1879 to June 30, 1906, There have been 190 motions in the U.S. Congress to regulate food and drugs, but they have been repeatedly defeated.
Willy felt deeply that everything he did was like climbing a mountain. He noted that it may take many years for the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Chemistry and other regulatory agencies to understand the implications of a food and drug law.
In order to gain greater political influence, he began to unite members of the Federal Women's Club and often held various speeches pointing out the huge harm of adulterated food.
In addition, he also made suggestions to opinion leaders to control the commercial sale of medicines and food between states, because "I find that the food we consume every day is so full of harmful bacteria that I don't even dare to Go to the table”.
Between 1905 and 1906, Willie wrote twelve articles in Klinsche Zeitung to expose the adulteration of drugs. In addition, Willie lobbied President Theodore Roosevelt to recommend a law "to regulate the adulteration and counterfeiting of food, beverages, and drugs in the interstate commerce."
President Roosevelt was also worried about food safety. A slightly sadistic story is that one day at breakfast, President Roosevelt saw reporter Upton Sinclair describing meat products as filthy. My novel "Jungle", when I read those disgusting passages, I jumped up - spit out the food I had not finished chewing, and threw the remaining sausages on the plate out the window!
The introduction and amendment of a bill
In view of the strong public pressure caused by Willie and the "dung-picking" reporters, President Roosevelt ordered Secretary of Labor Charles Neill and Social Work Author James Bronson Reynolds conducts a thorough investigation of the meatpacking industry. The results of the investigation were shocking, and when the report was made public, it triggered an even stronger wave of public opinion.
At the same time, under the influence and leadership of Wiley, the American Medical Association also exerted pressure on Congress in its own way - it submitted a petition to every senator calling for food and drug legislation.
In December 1905, President Roosevelt also conveyed an important message to Congress: "I recommend that such a law should be enacted to prohibit falsely labeled and adulterated foods and beverages in interstate commerce. and medicines. Such a law would protect legitimate production and trade activities and safeguard the health and welfare of consumers."
On June 30, 1906, after more than 100 failures, Wiley participated in the final draft of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which was passed by the U.S. Congress with an overwhelming majority of 63 votes to 4. Although Willy's name does not appear in the law, he is considered the true author of the law.
This law laid the prototype and framework of modern drug law in the United States and directly gave birth to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. On the same day, the Meat Inspection Act was passed. "The New York Times" cheered: "The era has come when people can enjoy pure food and real medicine!"
However, Willie knew that this was only a staged victory, because the "Pure Food and Drug Act" Food adulteration is prohibited, but medicines are regulated only if their labels are accurate—a medicine can advertise its miraculous effects, no matter how vague the claims are!
When the Bureau of Chemistry under Willie came to enforce the bill, it also encountered embarrassment - they sued the drug Cuforhedake Brane-Fude because its label was ambiguous, but after winning the lawsuit, they were fined $700. It's hard to compare to the $2 million the company made from this drug!
During Willie’s period, the staff of the Chemical Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture increased from 110 to 146, and the funding also increased from US$155,000 to US$963,780. It moved into its own building. However, the Board of Food and Drug Inspection and the Referee Board of Consulting Scientific Experts were respectively established within the Ministry of Agriculture. Moreover, a large part of the powers of the Bureau of Chemistry were also restricted by the court. Cancel.
In 1912, Willie resigned sadly - "Because of his basic principles, the Pure Food and Drug Act has ceased to exist in name only and is no longer capable of punishing manufacturers with false trademarks and adulterated food."
Willie's passing was sadly called "the guardian angel in the kitchen is gone", and many women cried.
What is gratifying is that although the 68-year-old Willie has left the government, this fighter has not left the food safety cause he fought for. He went to "Good Housekeeping" magazine, continue its efforts to use the influence of the media to supervise the government.
During his 19 years in charge of the magazine, he and his colleagues independently tested meat, bread, flour, etc. and published the results in the magazine, gradually forming a responsible system for the magazine. Brand Image - To this day, "Good Housekeeping" magazine still leaves a good impression on consumers.
Just three years before his death, Willie also expressed the view that tobacco may cause cancer, and caused "Good Housekeeping" magazine to refuse to publish cigarette advertisements 12 years before the statement that "smoking is harmful to health".
Also in this year, the Food and Drug Administration, which was reorganized from the Bureau of Chemistry of the Ministry of Agriculture, was born.
In 1930, 86-year-old Willie died at his home in Washington and was later buried in Arlington National Cemetery. More than 20 years after his death, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp with his face as a pattern to commemorate his contribution to the Pure Food and Drug Act. Not only this, but many buildings in the United States are also named after him.
Many Americans say that when food safety issues are mentioned, they will think of the name of a pioneer - Willie.