The Poison Dinner Club

"The Poison Dinner Club – The men who ate Borax to save your food" tells the horrifying yet heroic story of Dr. Harvey Wiley and his "Poison Squad." In the early 1900s, before food regulations existed, manufacturers freely added formaldehyde, borax, and copper sulfate to milk and meat to hide rot. To prove these additives were deadly, Wiley recruited young volunteers to eat poisoned meals under medical supervision. Author Michael C. Stone chronicles the "hygienic table trials" that captivated the nation's press. He details the sickening menus and the brave suffering of the young men who risked their kidneys and livers for the sake of science. The book explains how their sacrifice directly led to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, creating the modern FDA. "The Poison Dinner Club" is a micro-history of industrial greed and scientific courage. It reveals that the safety of our modern supermarket shelves was paid for by the nausea and pain of a few volunteers who sat down to dinner knowing it might kill them.