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Friday, May 6, 2011
When the U.S. Government Connived in the Poisoning of Tens of Thousands of Americans
The Federal government's response was to require that wood alcohol be made even more poisonous. When the toll of the dead and maimed from drinking the stuff was pointed out, the Federal government's position was basically that the drinkers should have known it was poison, so it sucks to have been them.
So under the guise of trying to improve the health of the nation by banning the consumption of alcohol, the Federal government did not only turn a blind eye towards the carnage, they cheered at it.[2] In 1926, in New York City alone, 1,200 people were sickened or blinded by drinking various forms of wood alcohol and 400 people died.
There was, of course, an undercurrent of classism in all of this. Rich people could afford to buy good hard liquor that was smuggled in from Canada, the Bahamas and other places. High-class people in major cities often had connections with foreign embassies or consulates, where they could attend parties and drink legally. It was the workers and the poor who were drinking "bathtub gin". It was those people who filled up the hospitals and the morgues.
Prohibition was not only an abject failure, it exposed the moralists, people that I now would refer to as the American Taliban, as people who would willingly close their eyes to public health issues if they thought it served their goals. People of the same moralistic stripe would later initially oppose research into AIDS prevention and vaccines. They opposed, and continue to oppose, needle-exchange programs as a tool to prevent the spread of hepatitis and other diseases (including AIDS).
In point of fact, the carnage actually pleases them. They are just despicable.
More reading: "The Poisoner's Handbook" and the author's blog, Speakeasy Science. The Poisoner's Handbook also looks at how, back before the days of Federal regulations, companies willfully put poisonous compounds in consumer products.
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[1] I am vastly oversimplifying the chemistry and I'm lumping a lot of different types of denatured alcohol under the rubric of "wood alcohol". Alcohol taxonomy is not the focus of this post. So sue me.
[2] This was during the presidencies of Coolidge and Hoover.
9 comments:
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Huh. Did seeing or reading Water for Elephants trigger this? Because a) a case of this poisoning figures strongly in it and b) if you didn't, you should. The period stuff is very,very well done.
ReplyDeleteNot at all, the book was recommended to me by a chemist who is a former co-worker.
ReplyDeleteThat blog is great!
ReplyDeleteI remember having some fun demos in HS chemistry but not as good as one's on her site. College chemistry was on the other hand more informative but not quite as exciting.
Coolidge was personally opposed to prohibition and thought the Volstead Act was bad law, especially as it encouraged disrespect for all law. (And he doesn't fit your evil racist Republican meme, either: "Our Constitution guarantees equal rights to all our citizens, without discrimination on account of race or color. I have taken my oath to support that Constitution...."
ReplyDeleteOTOH, Hoover was a hypocrite, largely silent-to-approving of Prohibition in public while criticizing it in private.
The guy in the White House gets lot of blame and credit for things Congress actually does (or caused to be done). It's a simple, easy shorthand -- and frequently oversimplified or plain wrong.
Roberta, would you be so kind as to point out where, in this particular post, I referred to "evil racist Republicans"? I didn't, so far as I know, use the word "Republican" once.
ReplyDeleteIf I was bashing any group, it is the moralists who are only too happy to see people die and suffer for failing to live up to the behavior that the moralists demand.
Ah, gee, strewth, you refer to the GOP as "the party of the confederacy" elsewhere. A lot. It's a bit...ahistorical.
ReplyDeleteHey, I only loathe one more political party than you do.
"There was, of course, an undercurrent of classism in all of this. Rich people could afford to buy good hard liquor that was smuggled in from Canada, the Bahamas and other places."
ReplyDeleteBy Joe Kennedy, no less!
By Joe Kennedy, no less!
ReplyDeleteThere is some question as to whether he was involved. He did move fast to snap up distribution rights for some booze when the repeal of Prohibition was looking likely. But given his noted willingness to appease Hitler even after the bombs began falling, I'm willing to believe that Joe Senior was a bootlegger. (Hell, I'll believe he was involved with prostitution, hijackings and contract murder.)
Roberta, I also loathe the Democrats, but for different reasons than I loathe the Republicans. And yes, I loathe the Democrats slightly less. If they were not as spineless as they are, I might loathe them equally.
Whereas I loathe the Dems a bit more than I loathe the GOP. I'm sure we are both convinced our reasons are good.
ReplyDeleteI try to hate 'em all without venom. I think most of our elected and appointed officials should be executed for Constitutional violations but I'd as soon see it done with no more malice than changing the kitty litter.
Alas, instead I will never see it done at all. Funny, they all retire rich.