Pure Food and Drug Act facts for kids
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| Acronyms (colloquial) | PFDA |
|---|---|
| Enacted by | the 59th United States Congress |
| Effective | January 1, 1907 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | 59-384 |
| Statutes at Large | 34 Stat. 768, Chapter 3915 |
| Codification | |
| Acts repealed |
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| Titles amended | 21 U.S.C.: Food and Drugs |
| Legislative history | |
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| Major amendments | |
| Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (1938) Food Quality Protection Act (1996) |
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| United States Supreme Court cases | |
| United States v. Johnson (1911) | |
The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was a very important law passed in the United States. It was one of the first consumer protection laws in the 20th century. This law helped create the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Its main goal was to stop the sale of food and drug products that were unsafe or had wrong labels. This included products sold across different states. The law made sure that active ingredients were listed on drug labels. It also required drugs to meet certain purity levels.
Before this law, food quality in the U.S. was often poor. People moved to cities, and food took longer to reach markets. Some producers used dangerous chemicals, like formaldehyde, to keep food fresh. Medicines were also a big problem. Many were addictive or harmful and did not actually help people get better.
Contents
Why the Law Was Needed
Journalists called "muckrakers" helped show how bad things were. They wrote about the terrible practices in both the food and medicine industries. This made the public very angry and demand changes.
The Jungle and Public Outcry
One famous book was The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. It was published in the same year as the Pure Food and Drug Act. The book described the very dirty and unfair conditions in meatpacking factories. It showed how meat was processed in unhealthy ways.
This book made people demand action. Because of this public anger, the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed. The Federal Meat Inspection Act was also passed in 1906.
What the Pure Food and Drug Act Did
President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Pure Food and Drug Act on June 30, 1906. It was a key part of the Progressive Era. This was a time when people worked to solve social and political problems.
The law gave the job of enforcing it to the Bureau of Chemistry. This group was part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 1930, it was renamed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Meat Inspection Act was enforced by a different group, which is now called the Food Safety and Inspection Service. This group is still part of the Department of Agriculture.
Defining "Bad" Products
The 1906 Act was the first federal law to control foods and drugs. It only covered products that moved between states. The law clearly defined what "misbranding" (wrong labeling) and "adulteration" (making something impure or unhealthy) meant. It also set punishments for these actions.
The law used the U.S. Pharmacopeia and the National Formulary as official guides for drug standards. However, it did not set similar federal standards for food. The main idea of the law was "truth in labeling." It aimed to improve standards in the food and drug industries. It also protected honest businesses from unfair competition.
How the Law Was Passed
It took 27 years for the 1906 law to be adopted. During this time, people learned a lot about problems with food and drugs. Journalists like Samuel Hopkins Adams wrote about the "patent medicine" industry. These were medicines often sold without proof they worked.
The "Poison Squad"
Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley was the Chief Chemist of the Bureau of Chemistry. He got the country's attention with his "hygienic table studies." These studies started in 1902. Dr. Wiley wanted to see how common food preservatives affected people.
He asked young men to eat all their meals at a special table. He then added more and more preservatives to their food. These included things like borax, formaldehyde, and sulfites. While some results were debated, it was clear that formaldehyde was dangerous. It quickly stopped being used as a preservative.
Dr. Wiley believed that large amounts of these preservatives were harmful. The public seemed to agree with him. Often, preservatives were used to hide dirty production methods, especially for things like ketchup. Even if the law didn't ban all these preservatives, consumers started avoiding products that used them.
The 1906 law controlled food and drugs sold across state lines. It banned making, selling, or moving poisonous patent medicines. This law came about because of public education and the work of people like Upton Sinclair, Samuel Hopkins Adams, social activist Florence Kelley, and Dr. Harvey W. Wiley. President Theodore Roosevelt also played a big role.
Making Sure Labels Were Correct
The Pure Food and Drug Act first focused on making sure products were labeled correctly. Later, efforts were made to ban products that were not safe. After that, they worked to ban products that were safe but did not actually work.
For example, there was an attempt to ban Coca-Cola in 1909. This was because it had too much caffeine. In a court case called United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola, the judge first said Coca-Cola could use caffeine as it wanted. However, the government appealed to the Supreme Court and eventually won. Coca-Cola then agreed with the U.S. government to reduce the amount of caffeine in its drink.
See also
In Spanish: Ley de Pureza de Alimentos y Medicamentos para niños
