Their Dining Table Had a Skull and Crossbones Flag Above It.

Their Dining Table Had a Skull and Crossbones Flag Above It.

1902. Washington D.C.
Dr. Harvey Wiley — chief chemist
of the US Department of Agriculture —
needed to prove that chemical preservatives
in America’s food supply were dangerous.
He recruited 12 healthy young men
as volunteers.
Above their dining table hung a flag
with a skull and crossbones.
Every meal contained measured doses
of chemicals commonly added
to American food —
borax, formaldehyde, salicylic acid,
sulfuric acid, and others.
Every symptom was recorded.
One by one, the men grew sick.
Stomach pain. Headaches. Nausea.
Inability to work.
The results exposed what most Americans
had never suspected —
their everyday food was being quietly
preserved with industrial chemicals
that were making them ill.
The Poison Squad’s findings directly
led to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 —
the first major federal food safety law
in American history.
The food on your table today is safer
because 12 men volunteered
to eat poison for breakfast.
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— Sources —

1. Wikipedia — Poison Squad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_Squad

2. Smithsonian — The Poison Squad
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/poison-squad-100-years-food-safety-180967629/

3. FDA — The Poison Squad
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/harvey-w-wiley-founding-father-food-drug-law

#poisonsquad #darkhistory
#americanhistory #foodsafety #shorts