Effie Alberta Read (born about 1873 – died September 1, 1930) was an American scientist who researched food safety for the U. S.

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

Early life

Effie Alberta Read was born in

Haverhill, Massachusetts Haverhill ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Haverhill is located 35 miles north of Boston on the New Hampshire border and about 17 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 67,787 at the 2020 United States Cen ...

, the daughter of Albert F. Read and Myra A. Davis Read. She attended

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

from 1896 to 1898, but she earned her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

(in 1903, 1906, and 1907, respectively), and a medical degree at

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

."Effie Alberta Read: Pioneer in the Laboratory"
''U. S. Food and Drug Administration'' (February 2018). Her dissertation topic was the

comparative anatomy Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...

olfaction The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells (or odors) are perceived. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste. In humans, it ...

in dogs, cats, and humans.

Career

While she was a graduate student at Cornell University, she was an assistant in the Histology and Embryology Department, teaching and researching under professor

Simon Henry Gage Simon Henry Gage (May 20, 1851 – October 20, 1944) was a professor of anatomy, Histology, and Embryology at Cornell University and an important figure in the history of American microscopy. His book, ''The Microscope,'' appeared in sevente ...

; Gage's expertise in

microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of micr ...

shaped Read's later work. Read's work at the

U. S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

's Bureau of Chemistry (the precursor to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration) focused on the detection of adulterated foods, following the

Pure Food and Drug Act The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, also known as Dr. Wiley's Law, was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws which was enacted by Congress in the 20th century and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. ...

in 1906. She invented a quick test, known as the Read Tea Test, for detecting artificial dyes and other impurities in imported tea. There were legal objections from tea importers, as to the accuracy of the Read Tea Test. The importers' lawsuit was dismissed in 1914. Read also worked on testing

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diame ...

for added materials. She became the Assistant Chief of the Bureau's Microanalytical Laboratory before her retirement in 1930. She was an associate member of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia from 1914, and active in the Woman's Clinic Auxiliary.

Personal life

Read died weeks after her retirement, in 1930, from

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different c ...

. She was 57 years old.American Medical Women's Association
''The Medical Woman's Journal''
37(1930): 300."Dr. E. Alberta Read Dies" ''New York Times'' (September 3, 1930): 27. via

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Effie Alberta 1870s births 1930 deaths American women scientists People from Haverhill, Massachusetts Cornell University alumni George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences alumni American food scientists Food and Drug Administration people