Import of Saccharin to the Ottoman State in the Conflict of Public Health and Commercial Concerns

Abstract

The Ottoman State started to struggle very early with chemical and mineral drugs, which were put on the market without sufficient testing and threat-ened public health because of being used for treatment. As it was possible for the chemicals, along with all other products, to freely enter the country due to com-mercial agreements in the 19th century, the Ottoman State had to take to new measures to safeguard the public well-being. The aim of this study is to deal with the measures taken by the Ottoman Empire against the public’s use of chemical and mineral drugs without proper awareness in order to protect public health, by looking at the example of saccharin, an artificial sweetener discovered by Fahlberg in 1879.