First US Commissioner of Food and Drugs
Harvey Washington Wiley
(October 18, 1844 ? June 30, 1930) was an American chemist who advocated successfully for the passage of the landmark
Pure Food and Drug Act
of 1906 and subsequently worked at the
Good Housekeeping Institute
laboratories. He was the first commissioner of the United States
Food and Drug Administration
.
In 1904 Wiley was elected a member of the
American Philosophical Society
.
[1]
In 1910 he was awarded the
Elliott Cresson Medal
of
the Franklin Institute
.
Early life and career
[
edit
]
Wiley was born on October 18, 1844, in a log farmhouse in
Republican Township
, in
Jefferson County, Indiana
, the son of a lay preacher and farmer, Preston Pritchard Wiley and Lucinda Maxwell.
[2]
The sixth of seven children, Wiley was raised on a 125-acre farm with a creek that emptied into the
Wabash River
, a tributary of the
Ohio River
. Wiley's parents were conductors on the
Underground Railroad
as the southernmost point in Indiana, across the river from slave-owning Kentucky.
He enrolled in nearby
Hanover College
in 1863 and studied for about one year until he enlisted with the
Union Army
in 1864, during the American Civil War. He finished the war as a corporal in Company I of the 137th Indiana Infantry Regiment.
[3]
He returned to Hanover in 1865, majored in the humanities and was a top graduate (A.B.) in 1867. Wiley earned his
M.D.
from
Indiana Medical College
in 1871. He was professor of Greek and Latin at
Butler College
,
Indianapolis
, 1868?70.
[4]
After earning his medical degree Wiley taught chemistry at the Medical College, where he led Indiana's first laboratory course in chemistry beginning in 1873. At
Harvard University
, he was awarded a
B.S.
degree in 1873 after only a few months of intense effort. He then accepted a faculty position in chemistry at
Purdue University
, which held its first classes in 1874. He was also appointed state chemist of Indiana.
In 1878, Wiley went to Germany where he attended the lectures of
August Wilhelm von Hofmann
?the celebrated German discoverer of organic tar derivatives like
aniline
. While there, Wiley was elected to the prestigious
German Chemical Society
founded by Hofmann. Wiley spent most of his time in the Imperial Food Laboratory in Bismarck working with Eugene Sell, mastering the use of the
polariscope
and studying
sugar
chemistry. Upon his return to Purdue, Wiley was asked by the Indiana State Board of Health to analyze the sugars and syrups on sale in the state to detect any adulteration. He spent his last years at Purdue studying
sorghum
culture and sugar chemistry, working to help develop a strong domestic
sugar industry
. His first published paper in 1881 discussed the adulteration of sugar with
glucose
.
Wiley commissioned a medical journalist, Wedderburn, to write out his findings in a manner understandable to public and politicians. Areas of concern included Embalmed Milk (adding formaldehyde to milk); adding
copper sulphate
to tinned French beans to make them green etc. These problems were mainly associated with getting food to large city populations.
The
embalmed beef
scandal relating to the troop rations in the American-Cuban war of 1898 finally brought the industry to the public interest.
Government career
[
edit
]
Wiley was offered the position of Chief Chemist in the
United States Department of Agriculture
by
George Loring
, the Commissioner of Agriculture, in 1882. Loring was seeking to replace his chemist with someone who would employ a more objective approach to the study of sorghum, whose potential as a sugar source was far from proven. Wiley accepted the offer after being passed over for the presidency of Purdue, allegedly because he was "too young and too jovial",
[5]
unorthodox in his religious belief, and also a bachelor.
[6]
Wiley brought to Washington a practical knowledge of agriculture, a sympathetic approach to the problems of agricultural industry and an untapped talent for public relations.
[7]
After assisting Congress in their earliest questions regarding the safety of the chemical preservatives then being employed in foods, Wiley was appropriated $5,000 in 1902 to study the effects of a diet including various
preservatives
, on human volunteers. These "poison squad" studies drew national attention to the need for a federal food and drug law. These tests were called Hygienic Table Trials. The subjects received $5 a month and free food to be systematically poisoned. 12 volunteers were chosen. One additive was added per trial but he struggled to find non-adulterated products to add the poisons to. First to be tested was
borax
which tightened old meat which was starting to decompose. The borax was fed to the men in meat and dairy products. Some were given borax and some were not in order to control the study. The volunteers became known as The Poison Squad.
[8]
Wiley was originally aiming just to get foods labelled to correctly show their additives. However, he concluded that certain chemicals should be banned. The food industry rose in protest. The proposed Food Bill of 1902 failed to even register a vote, being defeated by lobbyists. He sought the support of female groups, not due to their direct political influence (as they still had none) but due to the domestic pressure which they could exert. The campaign spilled into wider community health and welfare, calling for public (municipal) control of all water supplies and sewer systems. His campaign gained weight when
Fannie Farmer
joined and paralleled the call for "pure food".
Heinz were one of the first companies to join the push for pure food and changed their recipe for tomato ketchup in 1902 to replace chemical preservatives with vinegar and introducing very hygienic practices into their factories.
In 1905, the Poison Squad was set to work on
salicylic acid
which was used in multiple products. It was found to cause bleeding of the stomach.
In December 1905, Wiley organized a meeting of more progressive food producers (including Heinz) plus female activists with
Theodore Roosevelt
to lobby for safe food legislation.
Upton Sinclair
's book
The Jungle
revealed inside information from the slaughterhouses of
Chicago
which caused great consternation. This non-scientific expose of the canned
meat industry
reminded Roosevelt of his experiences with shoddy meat in Cuba in 1898. In June 1906 this led to the passing of the Meat Inspection Act (controlling slaughterhouses) and the Food and Drug Act (looking at prohibition of additives). Whilst Roosevelt was keen to take sole credit, the popular press of the day called this Act
Dr. Wiley's Law
.
The law allowed new chemicals to be added to the list of banned additives. The first one to target was
Formaldehyde
which in 1907 was found to be highly dangerous despite widespread use.
President Roosevelt brought one of his heroes,
Ira Remsen
, in to monitor Wiley. This was bound to create conflict as Wiley had raised concerns regarding the president's use of
saccharin
which had been invented by Remsen. This was intended to curb Wiley who had been having large shipments of food and additives condemned.
Wiley soon became a crusader and coalition builder in support of national food and drug regulation. His work, and that of
Alice Lakey
, spurred one million American women to write to the White House in support of the
Pure Food and Drug Act
.
[9]
Wiley was nicknamed "Father of the Pure Food and Drugs Act"
[10]
when it became law in 1906. He wrote two editions of
Foods and Their Adulteration
(1907 and 1911), which described for an audience of non-specialists the history, preparation and subsequent adulteration of basic foodstuffs. He was a founding father of the
Association of Official Analytical Chemists
, and left a broad and substantial legacy to the American pure food movement as its "crusading chemist".
Wiley targeted
Coca-Cola
in 1909, not because of its use of
cocaine
which had ceased a few years before, but because of the excessive use of
caffeine
which was proven to be addictive. The fears were particularly regarding children. This went to trial in 1911 where Coca-Cola argued it could be drunk with no ill effects whether addictive or not. The courts decided that Wiley had gone too far and Coca-Cola were found not guilty of breaching the Food and Drug Act: see
United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola
. President Taft was pressured into firing Wiley but the press supported his continuing.
The enforcement of the federal Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was assigned to the
Bureau of Chemistry
, instead of the
Department of Commerce
or the
Department of the Interior
, which was a tribute to the scientific qualifications that the Bureau of Chemistry brought to its studies of food and drug adulteration, and misbranding. The first food and drug inspectors were hired to complement the work of the laboratory scientists, and an inspection program was launched which revolutionized the country's food supply within the first decade under the new federal law.
Wiley's tenure generated controversy over his administration of the 1906 statute. Concerns over chemical preservatives, which had not been specifically addressed in the law, continued to be problematic. The
Secretary of Agriculture
appointed a Referee Board of Consulting Scientists, headed by
Ira Remsen
of
Johns Hopkins University
, to repeat Wiley's human trials of preservatives. The use of
saccharin
, bleached flour,
caffeine
, and
benzoate of soda
were all important issues which had to be settled by the courts in the early days under the new law.
Under Wiley's leadership, however, the Bureau of Chemistry grew significantly in strength and stature after assuming responsibility for enforcement of the 1906 Act. Between 1906 and 1912, Wiley's staff expanded from 110 to 146. Appropriations, which had been $155,000 in 1906, were $963,780 in 1912. The Bureau moved into its own building and used the healing symbol of
Aesculapius's staff
, or
Ophiuchus
. In 1911, his enemies urged his dismissal from the Department of Agriculture over the technicality that an expert in his department had been paid above the legal rate. But later in the year,
President
William Howard Taft
wrote a letter that fully exonerated Wiley.
[4]
On March 15, 1912, Wiley resigned his leadership of the Chemistry Bureau because, from nearly the beginning, he had been antagonized in the enforcement of the Pure Food And Drugs Act, and he had seen the fundamental principles of that act either paralyzed or discredited.
[11]
Taft expressed his regret at Wiley's resignation and
Agriculture Secretary
James Wilson
spoke highly of how "valuable" Wiley had been, and in turn, Wiley thanked Wilson for the "personal kindness and regard shown him."
[11]
Work at
Good Housekeeping
[
edit
]
After his resignation from government work in 1912, Wiley took over the
laboratories of
Good Housekeeping
Magazine
, where he continued his work on behalf of the consuming public.
[12]
Director, Bureau of Foods, Sanitation and Health was Wiley's official title.
[13]
His disapprobation of “drugged” products included cola drinks; he warned against the
caffeine
in them vehemently. In a famous action he brought against
The Coca-Cola Company
in 1911, he contended that it was illegal to use the name Coca-Cola when there was no actual cocaine in the drink, and also that it was illegal for it to contain caffeine as an
additive
. Perversely, this was as much as to say that the product ought to have contained cocaine and not caffeine. Still, the case was a landmark in developing standards for truth in labeling. The beverage continued to be brewed, even as of late September 2016, with de-cocaine-ized
coca
leaves and
cola nuts
.
He remained with
Good Housekeeping
for 18 years.
He was famed for giving his "seal of approval" to multiple products, a concept which has been widely reused. The idea, which he established, is now known as the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.
[14]
Death
[
edit
]
Harvey Wiley died at his home in
Washington, D.C.
, on June 30, 1930, the 24th anniversary of the signing of the Pure Food and Drug law.
He is buried in
Arlington National Cemetery
with his wife, Anna Kelton Wiley (1877?1964), whom he married in 1911. His grave is inscribed "Father of the Pure Food Law".
Legacy
[
edit
]
The
Liberty Ship
S.S.
Harvey W. Wiley
was one of 2751
World War II
Liberty Ships built between 1941 and 1945. She was a tanker laid down September 15, 1943, launched October 15, 1943, sold by the government in 1947, and scrapped in 1969.
The
U.S. Post Office
issued a 3-cent postage stamp in Wiley's honor on June 27, 1956, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the 1906 Act.
The Harvey W. Wiley Award is
AOAC International
's most prestigious scientific award; it was established in 1956 and has been presented annually since 1957 to a scientist (or group of scientists) who have made an outstanding contribution to analytical method development in an area of interest to AOAC International. AOAC International was founded in 1884 as the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. Wiley was a founding member, President in 1886, Secretary from 1889 to 1912, and Honorary President until his death in 1930.
Wiley has several buildings named in his honor. He was honored by Hanover College with a "Wiley Residence Hall" inaugurated in 1956. He was also honored by Purdue University in 1958 when the "Harvey W. Wiley Residence Hall" was opened northwest of the main academic campus. The FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) operations are located in the Harvey W. Wiley Federal Building in
College Park, Maryland
, which was constructed in 2001 and named after Wiley in 2002.
His birthplace near Kent is commemorated with an Indiana historic marker sign placed at the corner of IN-256 and CR-850W. The marker was sponsored by the Association of Food and Drug Officials and erected in 1981.
French State Leaders named him a
Chevalier of the Order of the Legion d'honneur
in 1909.
The Harvey Washington Wiley Distinguished Professor of Chemistry is an honor established through the chemistry department at Purdue University. The position has been occupied since 1997 by Dr. Dale W. Margerum.
The home he built at
Somerset, Maryland
, in 1893, the
Wiley-Ringland House
, was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
in 2000.
[15]
Wiley's achievements are the subject of
Deborah Blum
's 2018 nonfiction book
The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
, which was the basis for
The Poison Squad
, a
documentary film
that first aired on
American Experience
on January 28, 2020.
[16]
[17]
Some libertarian philosophers
[18]
cite Wiley's work as a cornerstone to increasing the breadth and depth of state coercion in the United States, arguing that freedom in medicine, food, and the right to bodily self-ownership began a sharp decline with his measures.
[19]
Depictions of Harvey W. Wiley and advocation for the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Laws
-
H. J. Titus, Harvey Washington Wiley, A. D. Charlton, & George Ainslie (circa 1913)
-
Harvey Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Department of Agriculture’s Division of Chemistry (third from the right) with his staff, not long after he joined the division in 1883. Wiley’s scientific expertise and political skills were a key to passage of the 1906 Food and Drugs Act and the creation of FDA.
-
This political cartoon pays homage to Bureau of Chemistry Chief Chemist Harvey Wiley who led the fight to institute a federal law to prohibit adulterated and mis-branded food and drugs, which President Theodore Roosevelt signed in 1906 as the Pure Food and Drugs Act.
-
Commemorative 50th Anniversary of
Pure Food and Drug Laws
stamp first issued by the U.S. Postal Service on June 27, 1956
Publications
[
edit
]
- The Sugar Industry of the United States
. 1885.
- — (1887).
Bulletin No. 13. Foods and Food Adulterants, Part First: Dairy Products
. Washington: Government Printing Office
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- Principles and Practice of Agricultural Analysis
(revised ed.). 1906?1914 [1894?97].
- — (1904).
Bulletin No. 84, Part I. Influence Of Food Preservatives And Artificial Colors On Digestion And Health. I. Boric Acid and Borax
. Washington: Government Printing Office
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- — (1914).
1001 Tests Of Foods, Beverages And Toilet Accessories, Good And Otherwise: Why They Are So
. New York: Hearst's International Library Co
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- The Lure of the Land
. 1915.
- — (1915).
Not By Bread Alone: The Principles of Human Nutrition
. New York: Hearst's International Library Co
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- — (1917).
Foods And Their Adulteration: Origin, Manufacture, And Composition Of Food Products; Infants' and Invalids' Foods; Detection Of Common Adulterations (3rd ed.)
. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Co
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- — (1917).
Wiley's Health Services Book One: Nutrition, Hygiene, Physiology
. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- — (1917).
Wiley's Health Services Book Two: Nutrition, Hygiene, Physiology
. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- — (1917).
Wiley's Health Services Book Three: Nutrition, Hygiene, Physiology
. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- — (1919).
Beverages And Their Adulteration: The Origin, Composition, Manufacture, Natural, Artificial, Fermented, Distilled, Alkaloidal, And Fruit Juices
. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Co
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- — (1929).
The History of a Crime Against the Food Law. The Amazing Story of the National Food and Drugs Law Intended To Protect The Health Of The People; Perverted to Protect Adulteration of Foods
(PDF)
. Washington, D.C.: Harvey W. Wiley
. Retrieved
November 2,
2019
.
- Wiley, Harvey W. (1930). "Harvey W. Wiley, An Autobiography." Bobbs Merrill Company, Indianapolis.
He also edited a series of
Health Readers for Schools
in 1919.
Film
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
"APS Member History"
.
search.amphilsoc.org
. Retrieved
June 28,
2021
.
- ^
Hilts, Philip J. (April 27, 2003).
"
'Protecting America's Health'
"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
March 16,
2023
.
- ^
Page, Walter Hines; Page, Arthur Wilson (1912).
The World's Work
. Doubleday, Page & Company. p. 30.
- ^
a
b
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922).
"Wiley, Harvey Washington"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
(12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
- ^
Reid Mitenbuler (2016).
Bourbon Empire: The Past and Future of America's Whiskey
. Penguin.
ISBN
9780143108146
.
- ^
Wiley, Harvey Washington (1930).
"Harvey W. Wiley-An Autobiography"
.
- ^
Suzanne White, "Chemistry and Controversy: Regulating the Use of Chemicals in Foods, 1883-1959, unpublished dissertation, Emory University, 1994, pp. 4-5.
- ^
PBS America: The Poison Squad
- ^
"Alice Lakey (1857-1935)"
.
Alice Lakey
. Outstanding Women of Cranford, NJ. Archived from
the original
on July 8, 2011.
Alt URL
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
"Harvey W. Wiley"
. FDA. July 28, 2016. Archived from
the original
on November 14, 2017.
- ^
a
b
"Harvey Wiley Explains Resignation"
(PDF)
.
The Daily Princetonian
. Associated Press. March 16, 1912. p. 1.
President Taft expressed his regret at the resignation. Secretary Wilson said that Wiley had been a "valuable man." Wiley thanked Wilson for the "personal kindness and regard shown him."
- ^
Commissioner, Office of the (February 28, 2022).
"Harvey Wiley"
.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
. Retrieved
June 30,
2022
.
- ^
"Harvey W. Wiley (1844-1930)"
.
lipidlibrary.aocs.org
. Retrieved
June 30,
2022
.
- ^
"Wiley, Harvey Washington, 1844-1930"
.
Purdue University
. June 30, 2022.
Archived
from the original on December 6, 2020
. Retrieved
June 30,
2022
.
- ^
"National Register Information System"
.
National Register of Historic Places
.
National Park Service
. April 15, 2008.
- ^
Schlosser, Eric. "The Man Who Pioneered Food Safety,"
The New York Times
, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018.
Retrieved January 28, 2020
- ^
"Encore: How A 19th Century Chemist Took On The Food Industry With A Grisly Experiment," Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) Radio News, Tuesday, January 28, 2020.
Archived
January 29, 2020, at the
Wayback Machine
Retrieved January 28, 2020
- ^
Szasz, Thomas. "The Food and Drugs Act of 1906," Excerpt from, "Our Right To Drugs," online at
Schaffer Library of Drug Policy
, by Thomas Szasz, Praeger Publishers, NY, 1992.
Retrieved June 9, 2020
- ^
"The Politics of Purity: Harvey Washington Wiley and the Origins of Federal Food Policy", Clayton Anderson Coppin and Jack C. High. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999. pp151-153.
ISBN
0472109847
.
- ^
The Poison Squad
. Film by John Maggio
General sources
[
edit
]
- Allyn, Lewis B. (February 1915).
"Pure Food In The United States"
.
McClure's
.
XLVI
(4): 78
. Retrieved
July 31,
2009
.
- Dunn, Arthur Wallace (September 1911).
"Dr. Wiley And Pure Food, First Article: A Twenty-Year's Fight, The Long Struggle Against "Influence" To Enact The Law, The Harder Struggle To Enforce It, An Amazing Story of Obstruction"
.
The World's Work: A History of Our Time
.
XXII
: 14958?14965
. Retrieved
July 10,
2009
.
- Dunn, Arthur Wallace (November 1911).
"Dr. Wiley And Pure Food, Second Article: The Chief Of The Bureau Of Chemistry As Washington Knows Him"
.
The World's Work: A History of Our Time
.
XXIII
: 29?40
. Retrieved
July 10,
2009
.
- Dye, Charity (1917).
Some Torch Bearers In Indiana
. Indianapolis: The Hollenbeck Press. pp.
208
?213
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- Francis, F. J. (2000). "Harvey W. Wiley: Pioneer in Food Science and Quality." In
A Century of Food Science.
Chicago: Institute of Food Technologists. pp. 13?14.
- Fisher, Carl D. (March 1909).
"Editorial: Dr. Wiley And The Pure Food Laws"
.
Progress
.
VIII
(4): 91?94
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- Kettle, William (January 30, 1909).
"Shall The Special Interests Rule?"
.
La Follette's Magazine
.
XCI
: 225?227
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- Stealey, Orlando Oscar (1910).
130 Pen Pictures Of Live Men
. New York: Publishers Printing Company. pp. 457?461
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- Shaw, Arch Wilkinson (June 1907).
"In The Business Eye: To Enforce The New Pure Food Laws"
.
System: The Magazine of Business
.
XI
(VI): 650
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- "Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, of Indiana, Class of 1871 of the Indiana Medical College"
.
Indiana Medical Journal
.
XXV
(11): 446?448. May 1907
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- Bellamy, Francis Rufus (January 30, 1909).
"Pure Food and Decent Food"
.
The Outlook
.
XCI
: 225?227
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- Association, Indiana State Medical (August 15, 1911).
"Editorial Notes"
.
The Journal of the Indiana State Medical Association
.
IV
(8): 348?
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- Association, Texas Medical (August 1911).
"Dr. Wiley To Be Investigated"
.
Texas State Journal of Medicine
.
VII
(4): 109?
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- Smith, Alfred Emanuel (September 23, 1911).
"The Exoneration Of Dr. Wiley"
.
The Outlook
.
XCIX
: 147?148
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
- "Record of Political Events From May 1 to November 7, 1911: July 12"
.
Political Science Quarterly
.
XXVI
(4): 741. December 1911
. Retrieved
August 1,
2009
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Deborah Blum (2018).
The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
. Penguin Press.
ISBN
978-1594205149
.
- Piott, Steven L.
American Reformers, 1870-1920: Progressives in Word and Deed
(2006); chapter 10 is on Wiley.
External links
[
edit
]
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