Born in Kent, Indiana in 1844 where he grew up and then joined the Union Army in May of 1864. He spent most of this time guarding railroads in Alabama and Tennessee. He was later discharged in September of 1864. At the time of his discharge, he decided to enroll at Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana. He received his B.S., Masters and M.D. all by 1871.
In the year 1882 he was offered the position of Chief Chemist for the United States Department of Agriculture. He accepted this position after being passed over for presidency at Purdue. During his time he had helped in the studying to certain preservatives used in plants and their effects. After concluding this study, he was awarded $5,000 to launch his own study on the effect of a diet consisting of plants with certain preservatives on human volunteers. This is where the term the "Poison Squad" comes into effect. The term "Poison Squad" was used for this because of the potentially "poisonous" effects that the preservatives had on their human subjects. These could have led to severe illnesses or even death and that is why the subjects were call the Poison Squad. Because of these studies, it had been brought to attention that there needed to be stricter laws on what was acceptable for human consumption.
During his time working for the government, he had gained the nickname "Father of the Pure Foods and Drugs Act" due to his support and research creating such a stir that over one million women wrote to the Whitehouse to pass the law in 1906. Post nickname and law passing, he authored two editions of "Foods and Their Adulterations", one in 1907 and the second in 1911. These books went into detail about the history, preparation and adulteration of "basic foodstuffs" for a broad audience. It helped to put things into perspective for the average person, instead of using technical jargon.
In the year 1912 he resigned from office and took over the laboratories of Good Housekeeping Magazine. While working here, he conducted studies and published work that affected the general public and was able to get the information out. He proceeded to work there for 18 years.
Dr. Wiley later passed away on June 30, 1930, which just so happened to be the 24th anniversary of the passing of the Pure Foods and Drugs Act. His body was then buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Since his passing his legacy has lived on through the naming of military sea vessels, being acknowledge by the US Postal Service by being featured on a three cent stamp and even having his home that he built in 1893 listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
His studies paved the way and helped to explain everything that was being used and what all was really going on through agriculture preservatives and the effects that they really had on the consumers. Without him, many people, if not everyone could still be in the dark and not know the true harm or possible effects of what they may be eating.
Sources:
http://lipidlibrary.aocs.org/history/Wiley/index.htm
http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/CentennialofFDA/HarveyW.Wiley/default.htm
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/hwwiley.htm
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