Quick Facts
Biography
Arthur Kallet (December 15, 1902 in Syracuse, New York – February 24, 1972 in New Rochelle, New York) 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 (who would chair the CU board from 1936 to 1979) 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.