Harvey Washington Wiley

Harvey Washington Wiley (1844–1930) was an American chemist and the chief campaigner for federal food and drug regulation. Born in a log farmhouse in Indiana, he taught chemistry at Purdue before becoming chief chemist of the Department of Agriculture in 1883. He studied adulteration in American foods and organized the so-called Poison Squad, volunteers who ate measured doses of common preservatives so that their effects could be observed. His crusade led to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. After leaving government in 1912 he directed product testing for Good Housekeeping magazine. He wrote Foods and Their Adulteration.