Sinclair had intended to expose the horrific conditions faced by immigrants as they attempted to survive in Chicago's Meat-Packing District in his 1904 novel, The Jungle. While he did an admirable job of showing the unjust working, housing, and economic conditions in Packingtown, he did an even better job of depicting the horrible conditions in which American meat was produced. His descriptions of dirty and unsavory additions to sausages and other meat products awakened politicians to the problem, including President Theodore Roosevelt. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayThe Jungle is directly credited with helping pass the Pure Food and Drug Act as well as the Food and Drug Act meat inspection in 1906. Examples of how horrible Chicago's meat packing plants really were. The main protagonist of the novel, Jurgis, saw men in the picking room suffering from skin diseases. Men who used knives on fast-paced assembly lines often lost fingers. Men carrying pieces of meat weighing about 100 pounds paralyzed their backs. Where workers with tuberculosis constantly cough and spit blood on the floor. And right next to where the meat was processed, workers often used rudimentary toilets without access to soap and water to wash their hands. In some areas there were no toilets and workers occasionally urinated in a corner. Dining halls were quite rare at the time and often scarce, so much so that workers ate where they worked. Throughout the novel, Jurgis experienced a series of heartbreaking misfortunes that began when he injured his foot on the assembly line. And the consequences of all this resulted in there being "no workers' compensation" at the time, as well as the employer not claiming responsibility for Jurgis' injury at work. Because of this, Jurgis' life fell apart, eventually losing his family, his home and his job. Face the revolting nature of meat processing companies; passage of the Meat Inspection Act cleared the way for Congress to approve a long-stalled law aimed at regulating the sale of most other foods and drugs.