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This month I am reading The Poison Squad, by Deborah Blum. It’s a fascinating book about Harvey Wiley, the first commissioner of the FDA and head chemist for 29 years (until 1912). He spearheaded passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, the first legislation to regulate what could be put into our food and drink. Prior to (and even subsequent to) passage, hundreds of deaths, mostly children, were linked to toxic additives or adulteration of food. Formaldehyde, for example, was routinely added to milk as a preservative and was linked to dozens of children’s deaths. This single, dedicated scientist fought governmental corruption and big business to protect the public.
The book describes dark money corrupting senators, fake news, denigration of science, suppression of FDA scientific studies that ran counter to administration goals, solicitation of “scientists” who would publicly denounce test results, advocates of states’ rights who fought federal overreach, those that predicted regulation would “ruin American business” and other themes that parallel what we encounter in current news. There are even examples of policy by Executive Order (related to purity of whiskey of all things). One could easily be reading about tobacco, climate change, or vaccines and encounter the same themes. “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” (Santayana 1905 and Churchill 1948).
We are covering a number of important articles this issue. Our cover stories concern surgery in patients with cirrhosis, post colonoscopy FIT testing, and liver transplant in patients with alcoholic liver disease. Another important story reminds us to help our IBD patients with reproductive counseling.
Just a few months to go before Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) in San Diego. Registration is open and hotels are filling; visit www.DDW.org/registration for more information. This year’s scientific lineup is stellar.
John I. Allen, MD, MBA, AGAF
Editor in Chief
This month I am reading The Poison Squad, by Deborah Blum. It’s a fascinating book about Harvey Wiley, the first commissioner of the FDA and head chemist for 29 years (until 1912). He spearheaded passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, the first legislation to regulate what could be put into our food and drink. Prior to (and even subsequent to) passage, hundreds of deaths, mostly children, were linked to toxic additives or adulteration of food. Formaldehyde, for example, was routinely added to milk as a preservative and was linked to dozens of children’s deaths. This single, dedicated scientist fought governmental corruption and big business to protect the public.
The book describes dark money corrupting senators, fake news, denigration of science, suppression of FDA scientific studies that ran counter to administration goals, solicitation of “scientists” who would publicly denounce test results, advocates of states’ rights who fought federal overreach, those that predicted regulation would “ruin American business” and other themes that parallel what we encounter in current news. There are even examples of policy by Executive Order (related to purity of whiskey of all things). One could easily be reading about tobacco, climate change, or vaccines and encounter the same themes. “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” (Santayana 1905 and Churchill 1948).
We are covering a number of important articles this issue. Our cover stories concern surgery in patients with cirrhosis, post colonoscopy FIT testing, and liver transplant in patients with alcoholic liver disease. Another important story reminds us to help our IBD patients with reproductive counseling.
Just a few months to go before Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) in San Diego. Registration is open and hotels are filling; visit www.DDW.org/registration for more information. This year’s scientific lineup is stellar.
John I. Allen, MD, MBA, AGAF
Editor in Chief
This month I am reading The Poison Squad, by Deborah Blum. It’s a fascinating book about Harvey Wiley, the first commissioner of the FDA and head chemist for 29 years (until 1912). He spearheaded passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, the first legislation to regulate what could be put into our food and drink. Prior to (and even subsequent to) passage, hundreds of deaths, mostly children, were linked to toxic additives or adulteration of food. Formaldehyde, for example, was routinely added to milk as a preservative and was linked to dozens of children’s deaths. This single, dedicated scientist fought governmental corruption and big business to protect the public.
The book describes dark money corrupting senators, fake news, denigration of science, suppression of FDA scientific studies that ran counter to administration goals, solicitation of “scientists” who would publicly denounce test results, advocates of states’ rights who fought federal overreach, those that predicted regulation would “ruin American business” and other themes that parallel what we encounter in current news. There are even examples of policy by Executive Order (related to purity of whiskey of all things). One could easily be reading about tobacco, climate change, or vaccines and encounter the same themes. “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” (Santayana 1905 and Churchill 1948).
We are covering a number of important articles this issue. Our cover stories concern surgery in patients with cirrhosis, post colonoscopy FIT testing, and liver transplant in patients with alcoholic liver disease. Another important story reminds us to help our IBD patients with reproductive counseling.
Just a few months to go before Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) in San Diego. Registration is open and hotels are filling; visit www.DDW.org/registration for more information. This year’s scientific lineup is stellar.
John I. Allen, MD, MBA, AGAF
Editor in Chief
