By Harvey W. Wiley, MD
Summary: In 1907, Dr. Wiley was America's most famous food-purity activist as well as the head of the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Chemistry, the forerunner of the FDA. For over ten years, Wiley had fought to get the first food inspection and purity law passed in the United States, and in June 1906 his efforts were rewarded with the Pure Food and Drug Act. In this report from the following year, Wiley comments on the historic law, discussing the "two ideas kept always in view in all the sections of the act," namely the misbranding of food products and the addition of dangerous substances to the food supply. Little did Wiley know that his insistence on enforcing these provisions would lead to his dismissal a few years later, as industrial food manufacturers and their allies within the government succeeded in ousting Wiley and circumventing the law intended to protect America's food supply. For more on Dr. Wiley and the corruption of the Pure Food and Drug Law, see "Letter to the President About Food Additives" and "Letter to the President [by Harvey Wiley]" in these archives. From lllustrated Sunday Magazine, 1907.
View PDF: May We Know Our Food
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