Taming the `Jungle'.

• Author: SCHAUMBURG, RON
• Position: How a novel influenced the sanitation practices of the meat industry in The United States

Disgusting revelations in a 1906 novel helped bring about federal food and drug regulation

FOCUS: Shocking Revelations in a 1906 Novel Help Trigger New Food and Drug Laws

TEACHING OBJECTIVES

To help students understand how rising popular indignation, fueled by a 1906 novel, led to federal regulation of the production and sale of meat, other foods, and drugs, paving the way for today's Food and Drug Administration.

Discussion Questions:

* What pressures do you think the business community in the early 1900s brought on Congress to prevent it from enacting food-safety regulations?

* Do you believe the food industry would eventually have cleaned up its act if it had not been for Upton Sinclair's The Jungle or some other expose?

* Write a brief advertisement for a TV movie about the work of chemist Dr. Harvey Wiley.

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

Critical Thinking: Tell students that the FDA's history of the agency says the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act was the result of a 20-year crusade for federal regulation of food and drugs. Ask why business would resist regulations designed to protect their customers. Ask students to weigh the benefits of government regulation against the benefits of a "laissez-faire" economy--one where the government keeps hands off.

Photo Study: Examine the photo on page 18. What title would they give the photo? Then ask students how they would react to the photo if the meat shown there were destined for their family's table.

Discussion/Research: What does the article reveal about the power of the press to inform consumers of their rights? If your local TV news has consumer reports, students can monitor them and then use the information they've learned to discuss the role of consumer-affairs reporting.

Next, examine the ad for Hamlin's Wizard Oil. Why, if the FDA has banned claims like those made for Wizard Oil, do ads for other suspect products keep popping up? Have students research teen magazines or supermarket tabloids for ads that make suspect claims for products that promise rapid weight loss. Have them bring the ads to class and use them to promote discussion of health frauds. (Remind students that physicians agree that proper diet and exercise are the only sure route to weight loss.)

Debate: Ask students to debate this statement: "The days of poisoned rats in meat are long gone, there is no need for new government regulation of the food industry."

Talk about gross. America almost lost its appetite in 1906, when Upton...