History and Laws behind the Federal Food and Drug Act of 1906

During the progressive era, 1900-1920, Chicago had a growing population due to the vast number of European immigrants settling there. By the 1900s, nearly 750,000 people, almost half of Chicago’s population was having to live in the central park. Trying to produce enough food to keep the city feed was grueling. It was about meeting the demand. When The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was published in 1906, which revealed the stomach turning ways of the meat packing companies, it caused the people to become enraged. In The Jungle, he uses disturbing visual imagery to describe the filthy conditions of the meat packing industry in Chicago during the progressive era, in order to get the public’s attention, henceforth gathering the public along his side to fight for better health codes.

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.

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.

American scholars had been focus on attention of what factors promoted the advent of Pure Food and Drug Act. Harvey Washington Wiley was one of the American chemist who contributed and known for the leadership in the landmark of Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906(Coppin, 2010). Harvey Washington Wiley and President Theodore Roosevelt discussed cooperation and disagreement over the promotion of this act. However, regardless of the different perspective from scholars, their conclusions are basically the same, that "Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906" is to protect the interests of

The Food and Drugs Act of 1906: This worthless, mislabeled and dangerous drugs led to 1st drug laws with an accurate labeling law added in 1912

In the progressive era the pure food and drug act was passed, “The Jungle” was written, and the term muckrakers was born. The pure food and drug act was passed in 1906 by president Roosevelt. It prevented the manufacturing, sale, and transportation of misbranded, poisonous, or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors. Roosevelt also created the term muckrakers for crusading journalists where he compared reporters who uncovered problems to men who raked up dirt, or muck, in stables. “The Jungle” was a book written by Upton Sinclair about the grisly details in Chicago meatpacking facilities.

This act, under the direct administration of the Bureau of Chemistry, forbade the interstate transport of illegal food and drugs, and exposed any responsible parties, that dare to violate the law, to penalty of seizure of the questionable products and/or prosecution. In fact, the foundation of the law relies on the regulation of product labeling rather than pre-market approval. The selling of Drugs, which are defined according to the standards of strength, quality, and purity in the United States Pharmacopoeia and the National Formulary, is denied under any other condition except that the specific variations from the applicable standards were clearly stated on the label. However, there were different standards that defined foods, but the law outlawed the addition of any ingredients that would alternate for the food, hide damage, generate a health danger, or constitute a filthy or decomposed substance. The controversial interpretations of the food provisions in the law engendered many, sometimes prolonged, court battles. In case the manufacturer decided to list the weight or measure of a food, this had to be done accurately. Also, the food or drug label could not be false or misleading in any particular, and the presence and amount of eleven dangerous ingredients, including alcohol, heroin, and cocaine, had to be listed (Nash 276-77).

Before the Pure Food and Drug Act, food was produced and sold in a manner that left holes in information necessary for consumers health. Food that today would be considered toxic was sold to everyday consumers. After the Industrial Revolution, it became common for people to buy their food from large food suppliers instead of family farmers. Many consumers weren't aware of the conditions of large industrial factories, but many people's opinions changed once their food’s real quality surfaced to the public by muckraker journalists. The Pure Food and Drug Act was the most perpetual aspect of the Progressive Era: the act offered consumers reassurance of what they ate and took as medication, prevented a great deal of illnesses, and led way to

This eye-opening novel was intended to focus on the difficult lives of immigrants and their harsh working conditions, but the public learned a great deal more from this story. As Sinclair once stated, “I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” This novel shined a light on the unsanitary conditions of the meat processing industry in Chicago. (“SS History”) Sinclair described the contaminated meat as diseased and rotten. The novel gave detailed descriptions of unclean work conditions and pointed out the lack of regulations within the food industry. (CRF-USA) The book became widely popular and the public was appalled by what they read. Sinclair’s book contributed to the change in laws and regulations surrounding food production, and played a large role in the passing of the first Food and Drug Act of 1906. (Friis,

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle revealed the atrocious conditions of the meatpacking industry, which led Roosevelt to pass the Meat Inspection Act in 1906 along with the Pure Food and Drug Act, which ensured food and meat to be processed under sanitary conditions, and prevented unsuitable meat products from being mislabelled and sold.

The interest of workers were advanced by boycotts, strikes, and unions. Books like “The Jungle” exposed the horrible practices done by the meat packing plants in Chicago which then led to the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Pure Food and Drug Act made the working conditions at the meat packing plants better for the workers and for the public.

Food and Drug laws were put in place to protect the public from dangerous chemicals and other sorts of health hazards such as fermentation of canned foods, that would make people sick and cause food poisoning which in serious conditions wold cause death.

Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906 focused on product labeling in order to control the quality of imported drugs. This era of chemistry from 1906-1938 was followed by toxicology after several incidences prompted the congress to pass Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDC) in 1938. One of the major incidences was the death of more than 100 people (mostly children) who took elixir of sulfanilamide adulterated with the toxin diethylene glycol. FDC act mandated the manufacturers to submit safety proofs to the FDA before marketing. It also extended FDA's control over cosmetics and other therapeutics devices, further authorizing factory inspections to ensure compliance.

In the timeline, several flaws in the adjudication process were brought to light over how the FDA handled flaws in the studies and review boards. Several times the studies that were conducted by the sweetener manufacture, Searle, were brought into question over the validity of the results and the ethics of how they were achieved. Some of the head scientists supporting the safeness of aspartame later recanted their testaments and study evaluations saying they were forced or pressured into making those claims. Originally, aspartame was denied approval by the FDA because of the substantial scientific studies showing harmful effects on a person’s central nervous system and possible link to the increase of cancer. The approval process, FDA advisory panels, and review committees are gone over in detail throughout the timeline. Highlights of the grand jury proceedings when Searle, the first manufacture aspartame, was brought up on charges for knowingly misrepresenting finding that were submitted to the FDA. Flaws in the approval and petition process were also covered. The author calls for the approval of base chemicals like aspartame to be held to the same standard as a drug being introduced to the population. Since more people will be consuming the chemical in the food than a drug being approved, it should

The DSHEA of 1994 was enacted by the U.S. Congress that was concerned the importance of the dietary supplements for the health in the public. The need for consumers to have quality supplements with accurate product information, the controversy over the Food And Drug Administration's (FDA) regulatory approach to dietary supplements. President Clinton, signing the legislation into law on October 25, 1994, said: “After several years of intense efforts, manufacturers, experts in nutrition, and legislators, acting in a conscientious alliance with consumers at the grassroots level, have moved successfully to bring common sense to the treatment of dietary supplements under regulation and law.”