While on the topic of alcohol, we also recommend Vice Squad’s Oct. 14 commentary on the Jamaican Ginger paralysis episode of the early 1930s, in which tens of thousands of mostly poor drinkers were afflicted with paralysis (“jake leg”) after consuming a cheap “medicinal” liquor substitute that had been adulterated with an industrial plasticizing chemical for purposes of evading scrutiny by Prohibition enforcers. A recent New Yorker article on the jake-leg episode (Dan Baum, “Jake Leg”, Sept. 15) declares it unfortunate (see final page of story) that this public health catastrophe occurred before the modern liberalization of product liability and class action law, which would presumably have led to a cathartic spasm of litigation. That’s a far from obvious conclusion, however, since even under today’s liberalized rules the only deep-pocketed entity on the scene, the company that made the plasticizing chemical, would not likely be found responsible in court unless someone could show it was aware its product was at risk of being added to the food supply. The more appropriate target for blame — aside from the shady operators who committed the adulteration — is the Prohibitionist regime itself, which ensured that the alcohol trade would fall into unscrupulous hands.

Filed under: alcohol, food safety