'Public hygiene'

If you enjoyed your soft drinks spiked with coal tar and used strychnine for stomach indigestion, or if you craved that cough syrup laced with heroin and relished your chewing gum powdered in talc, then you were not pleased with the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. The Kansas State Health Board embraced these laws under the leadership of Dr. Samuel Crumbine. Regulations, science and education were integrated by the health board to fight adulterated food products and the spread of contagious diseases. Read the KGI Blog, Part 3 of a series on the Kansas State Board of Health's early years, written by Donna Casement and provided by the State Library of Kansas' KGI Online Library.

"Kansas State Board of Health. Part 1, Prevent the Disease"... The first duty of the board of health is to aid in checking the spread of contagious disease, to prevent the development of diseases and to instruct people in sanitary science.-Dr. Johnson, first president of the newly formed Kansas State Board of Health, 1885. This late nineteenth century health board, evolved into a science-based educational resource for Kansans battling numerous infectious diseases. Read the Blog and other resources available at the State Library of Kansas KGI Online Library...