User Reviews

"The Poison Squad" is a film about Dr. Harvey Wiley and his crusade to stop dangerous food adulteration...which apparently was VERY common until the government ultimately cracked down on it a little over a hundred years ago.

As you'd expect with an installment of "American Experience", the show is very well written and is very compelling. I found my attention riveted to the screen and had a great time watching it and learning about Dr. Wiley and his crusade. And, it's sad that SOME of his discoveries about food adulteration are STILL going on (much of the honey in our stores is being illegally filled with coorn syrup and other additives today).

My only quibble and reason I am not giving the show a 10 is that it was well written throughout EXCEPT when it talked about Wiley's crusade against Coca-Cola. This part was lacking the same detail and I did some research and found that Wiley was WRONG about his claims about the danger of caffeine in the soft drink. Read up on it and you'll see what I mean. I didn't get upset because he was wrong (after all, he was human) but the program didn't seem to be doing its research with this portion.

Next time a republican talks about deregulation make them watch this.

Chemist Dr. Harvey Wiley learns what food processors are putting in their products. Beginning with milk products regulation begins in the United Shhhates.

So was the President at the time, Theodore Roosevelt. And so was the 59th Congress, which passed the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and sent it to Mr. Roosevelt. If you want to bray about politics, you might want to know the true history of the Democrat Party.