Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-08-27
EXPERTS FIND BENZ0ATE
AS HARMLESS AS SALT


As a result | submitted to the pres
ident the names of Doctors Chitten-
den. Long, Herter and Taylor. The Sc
leettons We're ut ono approved by the
president and the appointments prom
pity made by the secretary of agricul-
ture. In the meantime / had talked
over the situation with Secretary Will
son ana since the appointments my
dealings have been directly with the
secretary You understand that the
referee board was to take MP only
such questions as should he referred 70
It by the secretary. You understand
We had othing To do with the admin
istration of the pure FOOD low. our
function is to answer to the best of
our power such questions rs the sec
rotary may put.
NoW in regard to this work on
hcnzoate of soda The referee board
WAS asked to determine two points:
u Whether bonzate of soda in
quantities as are likely to be used. is,
OF is not. injurious to health?
80 Whether the quality of strength
OF "A food to which benzoate of soda
has been added is thereby reduced,
lowered, or iniuriously affected
you know the conclusions. to which
the board has been led by its work.
With the actual experimenting | had
nothing to do. The board had a num-
Der of long meetings iii which the me
th0ds to be followed were fully dis
cusscd and finally agreed upon. | at
tended these meetings and took part
i'm the discussions. During the pro-
gress of the work | kept informed in
regard to it, We then agreed to the
form of the report and the knowledge
| had gained was of such a charac-
ter that / felt justified in signing the
report"
Benzoate Cannot ConceaI InfcriorltN.
1t was DR.. John II. Long of Evan
ston, m. who as a member of the
referee board, came in daily contact
with the six young men upon whom
the experiments with henzoate of soda
We're made for the government,
The evidence from the experimnts
was so open and unmistakablc that no
fair minded person could avoid the
conclusion that bcnzoate in the
employed is a perfectly
harmless substance" aid Or. Long
After drawing the conclusion that
benzoatc used in small quantities
never would injure health Or. Long
went on to discuss whether or not the
drug could be employed to cover up
any impurity in foods.
AT the request of a large manutaC-
turing company he said. there was
sent to my laboratory a mass of rot
ton tomatoes with which to make eat
sup. | meanwhile gathered up
more rotton tomatoes, apples, q few
peaches and some bananas. These
were allowed to rot for three or four
days further. out of this about two
gallons Of catsup were made. Some
of it was preserved with vinegar and
spices. some with benZoate and some
left unmixed. The odor and taste of
the last were bad. hat with the ben
zoate showed essentially the same
condition. while with the vinegar and
spices a fair grade of commercial cat
sup was secured. a worse lot of raw
material could not be imagined yet
the inferiority in the one lot of pro-
duct was completely concealed by the
use of vinegar and spices. Bcnzoate
has but little taste and no odor and
therefore it cannot conceal inferior
Harmless a. Common salt.
Speaking of the results of expert
made by administering quaint
ties OF bcnzOatc Of soda into the food
given to six healthy yOung men for
periods respectively Of two months
ana one month. Or Russell II chit
tcnden OF New Haven, Conn, Il mem
Der of the referee board, said that
ihrec-tcnths of a gram was admins
tered daily to zach during the two
months period. In the one month cx-
pertinent, each man received per day
iuring the first week. two grams and
he fourth week four grams.
surely this administration when ac-
'ompanied by - gain of body weight
md without loss of power to digest
absorb the portion and fat of the
laily food should be taken as evidence
benzoate in the doses administ-
red is not seriously detrimental to
said Or. Chittenden. He con
inued, from our experiments only
logical conclusion seems possible,
H. A.. l,.,.t. -, a,,.11 u.,I I,,r.