The Poison Squad

            The poison squad was a group of people who’s main objective was to test the effects of common food additives on the human body. They would all eat foods with progressively higher levels of these food additives until someone would start to get sick. During these series of experiments, the participants would eat only the food prepared in the Poison Squad’s kitchen. They were also required to sign a waiver that would prevent them from suing the government for damages including death. Each of the participants selected had to be men. The leading doctor, Dr. Riley reportedly referred to women as savages.

            During his time at Purdue University, Riley experimented with food additives by testing their effects on dogs. After being hired by the Agriculture department, Riley pushed for having tougher regulations on food additives. Unfortunately high paid lobbyists of the packing and canning industries shot down most of these proposed bills. Riley decided it was necessary to have physical test results to show the effects of the additives on the human body and he convinced congress to fund his “table trials” with $5,000. The first additive tested was a common food preservative called borax. It did not take long for the effects of the additive to be noticed among those in the group. They began to show signs of headaches and digestive problems after consuming them with every meal. The group continued and test many other additives including copper sulfate which is used today more commonly as a pesticide.

            Once the group finally had its test results showing the negative effects of many of these food additives, they had to find a way to beat the lobbyists of the food industry. The secretary of agriculture reportedly even shot down some of the reports from the poison squad himself. Wiley’s efforts eventually started to pay off when the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act were passed in 1906.