History and Laws behind the Federal Food and Drug Act of 1906
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, which we know today as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Janssen).
Brief History of the Legislation
The regulations of the FDA which we know today were born from a grass roots effort in the 1870’s, the Pure Food Movement. Originally, it focused on trade interests because of competition from “replacement” food products (glucose for sugar, “lard” from cottonseed oil, oleomargarine for butter, etc.) and the intolerable differences in existing state laws to which manufacturers had to comply (Janssen, 1981). As industrialization created a demand to provide the rapidly increasing localized populations with food from distant areas, a “buyer beware” era emerged. From the use of chemical preservatives and toxic colors to the development of “patent medicines” which contained opium, morphine, heroin and cocaine; all were sold without restriction and labels did not list ing...
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...regulations, I believe the FDA should take stronger enforcement action to ensure consumer protection and ultimately consumer safety.
References
Elsner, P., & Maibach, H. (2000). Cosmeceuticals: Drugs vs. Cosmetics [Electronic version]. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc.
Janssen, W. (1981). The story of the laws behind the labels. U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Retrieved September 9, 2008, from
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/history1.html#toc
Langran, R. & Schnitzer, M. (2007). Government, Business, and the American Economy [Electronic version]. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Young, J. (1981). The long struggle for the 1906 Law. U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Retrieved September 9, 2008, from
http://www.foodsafety.gov/~lrd/history2.html
prevent further problems. Thus the Food and Drug Act of 1906 was passed to fix the
“Pure Food and Drug Act 1906.” 34 U.S. Stats. 768, quoted in Medicine in the Americas, Bethesda, Maryland: National Library of Medicine, 2004. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22116/.
Pomeranz, Jennifer L. "A Comprehensive Strategy To Overhaul FDA Authority For Misleading Food Labels." American Journal Of Law & Medicine 39.4 (2013): 617-647. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Apr. 2014.
The act of manufactures labeling of our foods products in terms of the ingredients a particular product contains and the nutritious facts is sometimes taken for granted, we often see the labels on our food products, but ignore them because we’re so used to seeing them in our daily lives. Surprisingly, food product labeling, specifically that pertaining to allergen warnings, were not always available to consumers until a government mandate in 2004 (FALCPA). I think part of the reason for such a lateness in regulation was due to a social stigma regarding allergies, that having them was some sort of natural selection and not an issue that should be taken care of. Another surprising notion I came across was that although there was no government regulation, manufactures of food products took a good amount of initiative in letting their consumers know of potential allergens in their products.
The momentum generated by the passage of the Meat Inspection Act helped secure the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which had been stalled in Congress since 1905. With these two pieces of legislation, the federal government took important steps to assure the public that the food they were eating met minimu...
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or USFDA) is a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), cosmetics, animal foods & feed and veterinary products.
To begin, the Federal Food and Drug Administration does not have the power to regulate supplements like it does with drugs. Once a product is out on the market, the FDA has to prove that it is dangerous or has illegal additives before it can be removed. The FDA has targeted around seventy tainted weight loss products after learning that they had been mixed with undeclared stimulants, diuretics, and antidepressants (Trebilcock 2). The Federal Food, and Drug, Administration is responsible for ensuring that the manufacturers of foods provide safe ingredients and the correct amount of dosages for their products.
originally called this, started in 1906 with the approval of the Pure Food and Drugs Act. This act
Whorton James, review of Pure Food: Securing the Pure Food and Drug Acts of 1906, by
"Regulatory Information." Federal Food and Drugs Act of 1906. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 20 May 2009. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. .
Tirrel, Meg. "FDA Delays Food Safety Regulations." Claim Journal. N.p., 20 Dec 2013. Web. 23 Jan 2014.
The first foremost legislation in this course was the Harrison Act, approved in 1914. One of the top powerful legislative acts ever approved concerning drugs, occurred in 1914 when Congress permitted the Harrison Act (following its major sponsor, Representative Francis Burton Harrison of New York) (Harrison). The act mandated every doctor who approved substances like the opium and morphine to trace with the government officials and if some individual without such license approved these substances could be punished together with a fine and prison time. As time progressed, it was becoming more apparent that the mistreatment and harm inflicted by these ...
Federal Drug Administration (FDA) bans foods and drugs. The Federal Drug Administration bans things that may be a nuisance to the society. Items that may cause choking hazards or products that come from overseas that may be harmful are banned. Items that are banned may not have a good enough reason to be banned, this may cause certain people to be frustrated and angry. Although not banning items may cause commotion in some ways, it is acceptable to see what the product does to the country because the product may do good for certain people.
Policymaking in federal system is fraught with challenges. The Constitution is vague on how the federal government and the national government are to share their responsibilities. There has been an ongoing challenge to sort out roles and responsibilities as far as drug regulation is concerned. However, in spite of the complexity, the federal system provides opportunities for participation by citizens and government officials. As a result, we can have a successful policy making benefits from broad participation of all involved stakeholders.
"Pure Food and Drug Act: A Muckraking Triumph." Food and Drug Act. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2014.