"The Introduction of 'Cellucotton' and the Perception of Health Risk, 1915-1925"

Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation

Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org

Alsop’s research examines the expansion of wood-pulp consumer goods in the opening decades of the 20th century from newsprint to intimate human contact in the form of surgical bandages and personal hygiene products. Wood pulp was created through the extensive use of industrial chemicals in the fiber separation and bleaching processes. The question arose at the time: did this pose a health risk to the consumers? Alsop explores this topic of the perception of health risk in America, 1915-25, as posed through industrial chemicals by addressing the questions: how was this issue raised, by whom, and with what results?

James Alsop was educated at the Universities of Winnipeg, Western Ontario, and Cambridge. He is interested in the social histories of health and medicine, with a concern for “history from below.” In 2001 Alsop presented a Brown Bag Lecture at CHF on the theme of chemical experimentation on servicemen in the United States and Britain, 1700-1850.