Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-03-11

w on my way 10 one Of the principal
schools of the city, passed little
child about three years old sucking very
highly colored, dirty looking lump OF glu-
cosc known as an All Day Sucker" AS
| ncarcd the school more children were just
coming out OF penny candy store across
the street. They were all eating some of
these highly colored "Al Day Suckcrs.''
gave a little girl five cents and asked
her if she would 60 into the store across
the street and buy me much candy and
as many different kinds as she could Soon
she returned with variety of brilliantly
dyed candies which proved 10 be coored
with such material as an artist might use to
paint pictures: but. however, too cheap.
believe for even an amateur artist to USE
took these pieces of candy to my labora-
tory and showed them 10 members of my
class They became extremely interested
and asked them whether they would like
10 know how useful food this material
was for the children Of that school 1t did
not take long TO discover that large per-
ccntage Of the candy was made up Of in
furious anilinc dyes, and material which
was>not fit 10 be fed to animals
Cherries That
Never Grew on Trees.
The next day students collected from
various schools throughout the city the diff
fcrcnt kinds OF penny candy which we're
sold near school buildings Among these
was found an interesting type of candy
known as the Penny Maraschino Cherry"
This appeared to be cheap grade Of choco-
late within which was found something
hard and tough resembling cherry, but
was in reality some kind Of pulp decor
ated with red aniline dyes
After much discussion and thought over
the matter, we decided to teach the children
something about these candies We be-
lleved the best way to, do away with this
evil was to give the children an object les
son that they would remember The result
OF this work was the Miss f. p Sweets
shown here-F. p. standing for Fraudulent
and Poisonous She stands as warning
to all you parents that unless YOU act, your
children will be poisoned, just as certain
AS though some one had poisoned the food
you give them
great deal has been said in the past
lew years regarding the use of coal tar
dyes. 1t was not long ago that our con
iecuoners and manufacturers of candy had
list OF thlrty-threc so-callcd harmless ami
line dyes, which undoubtedly great many
OF them used unconscious Of the fact that
they were detrimental to health. II was
not until after a partial investigation Of
artificial colorlng material the public be-
gan to realize that virtually all coal tar
dyes contained different percentages of
arsenic, lead, zinc, copper, TN and other
poisonous metals.
Although enough is not known about the
physiological effects of coal tar dyes upon
the human body, we do know that inves-
legations have found certain doses given
to dogs have caused DEATH and other eS-
periments have proven that coal tar dyes
affect the respiratory organs paralyze the
heart, produce indigestion and bring
about certain depressions and weaknesses.
Following some Of these Investigations
the Agricultural Department issued an or
der prohibiting the use of coal tar dyes in
foods, with the exception Of seven These
were called the certified colors; but the
department specified that these dyes should
be used only in their purest forms; that is
free from arsenic lead, zinc, tin or any
ether poisonous metals
great deal of penny candy from the
different stores near the school BUILDINGS
have been examined in the laboratory Of
the State Normal School, Newark n J.
and IN many cases this candy has shown
that coal tar dyes were used containing
arsenic and poisonous metals
u