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Upton Sinclair (1878-1968)

Educated at Columbia University, political novelist Sinclair published The Jungle, in which he criticized the unsanitary conditions of the American Meat packing industry. His political work eventually led to the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.

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Pure Food and Drugs Act (1906)

Supported by the Department of Agriculture's chief Chemis Harvey W. Wiley, the Food and Drugs Act was created to protect consumers from potentially dangerous drugs and food. The act required sufficient that the consumer was given warning about the toxic or addictive nature of certain drugs or foods.

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Harvey Washington Wiley, MD, was born in Indiana, in 1844, graduate from Hanover College in 1867, and received an MD from Indiana Medical College in 1871. Wiley was FDA Commissioner from 1/1/1907 to 3/15/1912.

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Chemical Warfare A Reality (1915)

By the middle of the 1910's, chemicals had been developed to be used by the military as weapons. Agents such as Chlorine, Chloropicrin, Phosgene and Mustard gas were all used in chemical warfare. Humans and dogs were fitted with gas masks.

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U.S. Prohibition 1919-1933

Instituted by the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibition in the United States created severe health hazards for those who consumed bootlegged alcohol. Bootleggers often used toxic chemicals and industrial grade alcohol to brew alcoholic drinks, which often led to cases of blindness and brain damage in its consumers.

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William Jennings Bryan was the chief proponent of the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914 which regulated and taxed the production, importation, distribution and use of opiates.

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Soldier with mustard gas burns

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Geneva Protocol (1925)

Prohibiting the use of Biological and Chemical weapons, the Geneva protocol was a follow up of Germany's ban to use Chemical weapons under the Treaty of Versailles.

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Ginger Jake 1929

Due to the large amount of alcohol bootlegging during prohibition in the United States, the production of bootleg drinks was never regulated. In the Ginger Jake incident, an alcohol tonic was laced with a paralyzing chemical TOCP and 50,000 adults were affected by it after consumption.

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Hawk's Nest Incident 1927-1935

Hundreds of black
workers die from
acute silicosis while
digging tunnel for a
hydroelectric project
for Union Carbide.

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Gerhard Schrader (1903-1990)

Born in Germany, Chemist Dr. Schrader accidentally developed the toxic nerve agents sarin, tabun, soman, and cyclosarin while attempting to develop new insecticides. As a result, these highly toxic gasses were utilized during World War II by the Nazi's. He is sometimes called the "father of the nerve agents".

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FDA formed (1930)

Formed to regulate the content and safety of consumer drugs and food, the FDA was established as a government agency in 1930. Some of the specific functions of the FDA are regulating data on food labels, overseeing clinical trials for new drugs and investigating consumer complaints about food and drugs.

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Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C) -1938

Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C) was passed by Congress in 1938 giving authority to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to oversee the safety of food, drugs, and cosmetics.

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