58: Smoke Signals

This episode brings us up to almost the creation of environmental chemistry. The first part tells of the 1947 explosion of the S.S. Grandcamp in Texas City, USA, and the contributory factors, plus the horrendous damage to the entire bay and nearby cities. The second is how Arie Haagen-Smit discovered the cause of Los Angeles smog in the early 1950s, and what efforts were made before and after his work to mitigate the smog. The third part talks of the 1958 Food Additives Amendment from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including the Delaney Clause, which led to the cranberry sauce scare of 1959.

Support the show

• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at [email protected]
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook