Bee Wilson, author of SWINDLED: The Dark History of Food Fraud from Poisoned Candy to Counterfeit Coffee, writing in the New York Times about the Chinese milk scandal:

THE milk was marketed as pure and wholesome, and it looked fine to the naked eye. How were the mothers to know they were poisoning their babies? They had paid good money for it on the open market. It would take thousands of sick children before lawmakers did anything to stop it.

China in 2008? No, New York City in 1858. Missing from the coverage of the current Chinese baby formula poisoning, in which more than 53,000 babies have been sickened and at least four have died, is how often it has happened before…

 

Continue reading Bee’s provocative article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/opinion/30wilson.html