Arthur Kallet

Who was Arthur Kallet?

Arthur Kallet was a leading consumer advocate.

An engineer, Kallet co-authored a 1933 book entitled 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs: Dangers in Everyday Foods, Drugs and Cosmetics with fellow engineer Frederick Schlink.

In 1936 he left as director of Consumers Research after its head F.J. Schlink fired three striking employees who had tried to form a union, and joined with Amherst College professor Colston Warne to found Consumers Union and Consumer Reports.

The House Un-American Activities Committee cited Arthur Kallet as the communist head of Consumers Union, which it cited as a communist front.

In 1957 Kallet broke with Warne and left Consumers Union to form The Medical Letter, Inc., and in 1961 Buyer's Laboratory.

He died of viral pneumonia.