Deborah Blum
@deborahb.bsky.social
Book author, toxicology journalist, fascinated by poison and murder (current book project), and, oh yeah, I'm the former director of the Knight Science Journalism program at MIT.
Sign for the times.
October 3, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Sign for the times.
So...this week I was inducted into the Georgia Writer's Hall of Fame. I love that my home state of Georgia honors writers in this way. And I love that this year, when coverage of everything from food safety to vaccines to climate change matters so much, they picked a science writer!
September 26, 2025 at 4:38 PM
So...this week I was inducted into the Georgia Writer's Hall of Fame. I love that my home state of Georgia honors writers in this way. And I love that this year, when coverage of everything from food safety to vaccines to climate change matters so much, they picked a science writer!
This lamp maker is frustrating my current need to throw things in a fire.
September 19, 2025 at 8:00 PM
This lamp maker is frustrating my current need to throw things in a fire.
I loved @maryroach.bsky.social's new book, Replaceable You, so much. Which you will see in this jacket quote from me. Loved doing that too!
August 21, 2025 at 5:06 PM
I loved @maryroach.bsky.social's new book, Replaceable You, so much. Which you will see in this jacket quote from me. Loved doing that too!
In case you wondered, the book event I am actually doing is with the wonderful @mariahblake.bsky.social ! In Cambridge, on Tuesday. Without music but a very good conversation indeed.
May 22, 2025 at 11:39 PM
In case you wondered, the book event I am actually doing is with the wonderful @mariahblake.bsky.social ! In Cambridge, on Tuesday. Without music but a very good conversation indeed.
In case you are in Cambridge, MA next week, I'll be joining Mariah Carey in a conversation about her excellent and important book, They Poisoned the World.
May 22, 2025 at 7:27 PM
In case you are in Cambridge, MA next week, I'll be joining Mariah Carey in a conversation about her excellent and important book, They Poisoned the World.
Newspapers around the country warned citizens that they were eating poisonous food on a daily basis. Here is a cartoon about poisonous milk from the great Thomas Nast.
January 6, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Newspapers around the country warned citizens that they were eating poisonous food on a daily basis. Here is a cartoon about poisonous milk from the great Thomas Nast.
Things were so bad that magazines started recommending that the public safety test food before eating as the government refused to set safety standards. Here is cover from the satiric magazine, Puck.
January 6, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Things were so bad that magazines started recommending that the public safety test food before eating as the government refused to set safety standards. Here is cover from the satiric magazine, Puck.
Here's an 1890's ad for Coca-Cola, boasting about it's cocaine content. (The company removed cocaine about 1902 under pressure from the state of Georgia).
January 6, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Here's an 1890's ad for Coca-Cola, boasting about it's cocaine content. (The company removed cocaine about 1902 under pressure from the state of Georgia).
January 6, 2025 at 8:59 PM
I'm barely touching the surface of the problem. But I want to also note the craziness of unregulated drugs at the time. Anyone could throw an opioid narcotic into, well, anything. Vin Mariani, as an example, was cocaine-laced wine.
americanhistory.si.edu/collections/...
americanhistory.si.edu/collections/...
January 6, 2025 at 8:59 PM
I'm barely touching the surface of the problem. But I want to also note the craziness of unregulated drugs at the time. Anyone could throw an opioid narcotic into, well, anything. Vin Mariani, as an example, was cocaine-laced wine.
americanhistory.si.edu/collections/...
americanhistory.si.edu/collections/...
Charred bone in ground coffee, ground coconut shells in pepper, brick dust in cinnamon, strawberry jams made of red-dyed corn syrup and grass seeds, with never a trace of actual fruit trace of fruit. Gypsum and other fillers were mixed into flour. www.tastingtable.com/1080592/the-...
January 6, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Charred bone in ground coffee, ground coconut shells in pepper, brick dust in cinnamon, strawberry jams made of red-dyed corn syrup and grass seeds, with never a trace of actual fruit trace of fruit. Gypsum and other fillers were mixed into flour. www.tastingtable.com/1080592/the-...
Wiley and his chemists went on to look at coffee, tea, wine, beer, spices, canned vegetables, meats and more. In addition to toxic substances, they found an astonishing amount of fraud.
January 6, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Wiley and his chemists went on to look at coffee, tea, wine, beer, spices, canned vegetables, meats and more. In addition to toxic substances, they found an astonishing amount of fraud.
It was legal to color food green with arsenic or red with lead. Cheddar cheese, for instance, was often deepened to a richer orange with the use of red lead. gizmodo.com/weirdest-and...
January 6, 2025 at 8:54 PM
It was legal to color food green with arsenic or red with lead. Cheddar cheese, for instance, was often deepened to a richer orange with the use of red lead. gizmodo.com/weirdest-and...
But the British passed their first serious food safety law in 1860. The US, influenced by industry, flatly refused to do so. Therefore, it was legal to use the poisonous compound, formaldehyde, as a dairy preservative. undark.org/2018/10/05/b...
January 6, 2025 at 8:53 PM
But the British passed their first serious food safety law in 1860. The US, influenced by industry, flatly refused to do so. Therefore, it was legal to use the poisonous compound, formaldehyde, as a dairy preservative. undark.org/2018/10/05/b...
His department published a series of investigations that showed just how bad unregulated food and drink were in the US. Of course, this had been known for deaces. Consider the the 1820 publication in London, A Treatise on Foods and Their Adulerations.
nyamcenterforhistory.org/2013/05/22/t...
nyamcenterforhistory.org/2013/05/22/t...
January 6, 2025 at 8:51 PM
His department published a series of investigations that showed just how bad unregulated food and drink were in the US. Of course, this had been known for deaces. Consider the the 1820 publication in London, A Treatise on Foods and Their Adulerations.
nyamcenterforhistory.org/2013/05/22/t...
nyamcenterforhistory.org/2013/05/22/t...
I'm writing this as the author of a book, The Poison Squad, on the invention of food safety in the United States. So you I'm talking about the 1906 Meat Inspection Act and the 1906 Food and Drug Law, which laid the foundation for all consumer protection laws that followed in this country.
January 6, 2025 at 8:44 PM
I'm writing this as the author of a book, The Poison Squad, on the invention of food safety in the United States. So you I'm talking about the 1906 Meat Inspection Act and the 1906 Food and Drug Law, which laid the foundation for all consumer protection laws that followed in this country.
Woods Hole, MA. Always beautiful.
October 18, 2024 at 9:25 PM
Woods Hole, MA. Always beautiful.
Milwaukee airport. Should be in all airports.
June 10, 2024 at 12:33 AM
Milwaukee airport. Should be in all airports.