Effie Alberta Read Explained

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.

Early life

Effie Alberta Read was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, the daughter of Albert F. Read and Myra A. Davis Read.^[1] She attended Mount Holyoke College from 1896 to 1898, but she earned her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees at Cornell University (in 1903, 1906, and 1907, respectively), and a medical degree at George Washington University.^[2] Her dissertation topic was the comparative anatomy of olfaction in dogs, cats, and humans.^[3]

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; Gage's expertise in microscopy shaped Read's later work.^[4]

Read's work at the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Chemistry (the precursor to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration) focused on the detection of adulterated foods,^[5] following the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.^[6] She invented a quick test, known as the Read Tea Test,^[7] for detecting artificial dyes and other impurities in imported tea.^{[8] [9]} There were legal objections from tea importers, as to the accuracy of the Read Tea Test.^{[10] [11]} The importers' lawsuit was dismissed in 1914.^[12]

Read also worked on testing black pepper for added materials.^[13] 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,^[14] and active in the Woman's Clinic Auxiliary.^{[15] [16]}

Personal life

Read died weeks after her retirement, in 1930, from ovarian cancer. She was 57 years old.^{[17] [18]}

Notes and References

1. John William Leonard, Woman's Who's who of America (American Commonwealth Company 1914): 675.
2. https://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/History/VirtualHistory/HistoryExhibits/ucm342830.htm "Effie Alberta Read: Pioneer in the Laboratory"
3. Carla Gillespie, "Women’s History Month: FDA Spotlights Food Safety Pioneer Effie Alberta Read" Food Poisoning Bulletin (March 30, 2013).
4. Cornell University, The Register (1906): 301-302.
5. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22796116/effie_alberta_read_1913/ "Government Women Who Hold Unique or Lucrative Jobs"
6. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22796002/effie_alberta_read_1913/ "Experts Detect Fraud by the Tasting Process"
7. https://books.google.com/books?id=TLomAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Read+test%22+tea&pg=PA42 "The Read Tea Test in Court"
8. Lori Valigra, "Women’s Role in Reforming Food Safety" Food Quality and Safety (August 6, 2013).
9. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22796217/e_alberta_read_1912/ "Invents New Way for Testing Tea"
10. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/12/22/100670019.pdf "Struggle over Tea Test"
11. https://books.google.com/books?id=5B0xAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Read+Tea+Test%22&pg=PA611 "'Read Tea Test' Case Tried"
12. https://books.google.com/books?id=5B0xAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Read+Tea+Test%22&pg=PA808 "Court Decision in Read Tea Test Case"
13. Edith Moriarty, "With Women Today" Sandusky Star-Journal (November 27, 1919): 8. via Newspapers.com
14. https://books.google.com/books?id=yO5XAAAAMAAJ&dq=Effie+Alberta+Read&pg=PA156 "Proceedings of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia"
15. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22796875/e_alberta_read_1914/ "Woman's Clinic Auxiliary Entertains Workers"
16. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22798485/effie_alberta_read_1914/ "Woman's Clinic Has Blazed Path for Medical School for Woman Physicians"
17. American Medical Women's Association, The Medical Woman's Journal 37(1930): 300.
18. "Dr. E. Alberta Read Dies" New York Times (September 3, 1930): 27. via ProQuest