Federal Food Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938

Before the Pure Food and Drug Act, companies could add whatever they wanted to their products and consumers did not know what is was. “They use everything about the hog except the squeal.” (Sinclair 35) There was false advertising, false claims and most of the time food was adulterated and had dangerously unsafe preservatives. “Borax compounds...were used to make old butter seem like new...the effects of borax included nausea and loss of appetite, symptoms resembling those of influenza and overburdened kidneys”(Carson 1) In addition to borax, common

The Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) is a federal statute that was enacted in 1976. Under the TSCA, chemicals must meet regulations set by the administering body, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Toxic Substance Control Act also requires testing of new chemicals to determine how they affect both the environment and humans. If the chemicals do not meet the regulations, the EPA is allowed to limit or prohibit their manufacturing and sales (Cheeseman, Page 523). While the Toxic Substance Control Act has been around since 1976, it has been amended or expanded 29 times in the last three years alone (EPA.gov). Violating this federal statute can result in hefty fines, and in serious cases, jail time. Like many federal statutes, the Toxic Substance Control Act has some opposition, especially as more changes continue to be made, but overall it has been well-received as a vital protection law that is generally well-enforced.

As one of the primary federal consumer-protection laws in existence today, The Federal Food and Drug Act of 1906 was a law that had two primary goals for food and drugs: (a) forbid harmful ingredients and additions and (b) demand labeling of ingredients to inform consumers. According to Janssen (1981), it was hoped that the enactment of this law would eliminate adulterations and poisons sometimes found in foods, sometimes in drugs and often in both. The foundation of food and drug protection came from the development of scientific methods of analysis by the Federal Bureau of Chemistry,

Pure food and drug Act is a valid and useful Act because it is still felt today. The immediate results of this Act is to stop the unsafety misbranded food and the drugs that don’t have details about the ingredients in it. Also, it made people to become conscious about what they're eating or drinking. It is a good way to become conscious about it because it is our freedom to know about what’s in our food and drug that we usually take everyday. On the other hand, the long term results is that, people would feel safe about what they buy in a store because it benefits them to protect their health and awareness about the unsanitary factories. It is a fundamental piece of the legislation that people should be thankful for, because without this Act

One of the key components was that now, civil penalties could be assessed for failure to follow FTC’s orders, such as cease and desist orders, should the respondent ignore the order. Previously, they would just be sanctioned. In addition, the amendment to Section 5 was to include unfair and deceptive acts or practices. Prior to this passage of the Wheeler-Lea Act, it was the burden of the FTC to prove unfair methods of competition. The Wheeler-Lea Act expanded on the food and drug advertising, as well. (Brown, 1947)

Everyday you consume things may it be food, drinks, or prescription drugs. Most people will just absent mindedly intake these products subconsciously knowing that they are monitored by government organizations ensuring your safety. It has not always been that was and has progressed greatly throughout the years. although all consumer safety organizations may not be reputable, they do much more good than harm. Consumer safety is something that is extremely important to the American family, and has help thousands of people survive. Consumer safety is something that has allowed America to progress to where it is today.

The first Pure Food and Drug Act was put into action by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. The act was passed to prevent the manufacture, sale, or transportation of misbranded or harmful food, drugs, medicines, and liquors. Due to this act the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came to be. The FDA is now responsible for the testing of all foods and drugs for human consumption and the label warnings on them as well.

This policy paper is going to analyze and show the strategic use of public policy. The law is called the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which is a law to protect consumers from purchasing adulterated or mislabeled food or drug products. This law also led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration, is a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. In my policy paper, I will be providing a comprehensive history of Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 in the next section to give a general and brief description regarding to the background of this Act, and see why the law is necessary. Next, I will be trace the implementation of Pure Food and Drug Act, and its code and agency to provide an insight of how the law was passed. For decades, this law has made a huge impact on the business and society, and many progressive food, drug manufacturers, and the general public worked actively to support the law. Lastly, I will be conducting a policy analysis of this law to observe the strengths and weaknesses of this policy, and formulate some recommendations for further improvement of this act.

In 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act, that was years in the making was finally passed under President Roosevelt. This law reflected a sea change in medicine-- an unprecedented wave of regulations. No longer could drug companies have a secret formula and hide potentially toxic substances such as heroin under their patent. The law required drug companies to specify the ingredients of medications on the label. It also regulated the purity and dosage of substances. Not by mere coincidence was the law passed only about five years after Bayer, a German based drug company began selling the morphine derivative, heroin. Thought to be a safe, non-habit forming alternative to morphine, heroin quickly became the “cure-all drug” that was used to treat

“Race is always historically specific” (7). This quote summarizes a major argument in Mae Ngai’s book, Impossible Subjects. Ngai argues that since the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924, race and immigration are closely tied together in the United States. This act solidified the category of the illegal alien and this group of people have since become a major concern for leaders of the government. Mae Ngai goes in-depth about how the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 impacted American immigration policies until it was replaced by the Immigration Act of 1965. The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 greatly impacted the plight of racial and ethnic minorities and Ngai clearly depicts each of the many instances throughout her book. Some of the groups that became disenfranchised where Filipino immigrants during the 1920 and ‘30s and Japanese immigrants during World War II.

The second of the three movements was the passage of the 1938 Amendment. This came as a result of a drug called Sulfanilamide, which was mixed with DI-ethylene glycol (sometimes called anti-freeze). It killed more than 100 people. Government stepped in very quickly, and, with this new act, recquired the manufacturer of any new drug to present convincing evidence to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that the product was relatively safe for use before it was put on the market.

"It is not possible to add pesticides to water anywhere without threatening the purity of water everywhere. Seldom if ever does Nature operate in closed and separate compartments, and she has not done so in distributing the earth's water supply" (Carson 42).

FOOD DRUG AND COSMETIC ACT 1938, (FD&C ACT) according to this act it is illegal to import prescription drugs which are not FDA approved into USA by individuals or groups. We (FDA) are a federal regulatory body of United States responsible for regulating the use of the unapproved drugs in United States. The FDA has a ban for importing the unapproved drugs from other countries. The United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (Act) (21 U.S.C. section 331) prohibit the shipment of unapproved drugs, which includes the importing drugs from other countries. The importer can be liable for prosecution by the FDA.

It is also shown that pesticides are partly responsible for the rising cancer rates and birth defects among children (“Pesticides”).

1) “Preventive Control”, this is the first time the FDA have a legislative mandate to require comprehensive, science-based preventive controls across the food supply. This mandate includes: mandatory preventive controls for food facilities, mandatory produce safety standards, and authority to prevent intentional contamination. Mandatory preventive controls for food facilities means food facilities are required to implement a written preventive