Dr. Ehrlich Meets the Poison Squad: Pigments in Food and Medicine

Abstract

Colorful food could be both attractive and deadly before much needed legislation minimized illegal adulteration and mandated truth in labeling on food products. The efforts of the chief of the US Bureau of Chemistry, Harvey Wiley, and his intrepid band of self-sacrificing young men, the Poison Squad, played a starring role in these achievements. Another star, Paul Ehrlich, used pigments and dyes to develop the principles of the modern medical blessings of chemotherapy, antibiotics, immunology and immunochemistry. Color, in the form of pigments and dyes, has been transformational in the area of human health and wellness.