...Roosevelt, and the Federal Regulation of Food and Drugs By Anthony Gaughan Food and Drug Law Mr. Peter Barton Hutt Harvard Law School Winter 2004 Introduction In 1906 Congress passed two landmark pieces of legislation: the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. The acts emerged from the reformist ethos of the Progressive Era, a time when the federal government took on a new and much more active role in the everyday lives of ordinary Americans. Of all the laws passed during the Progressive Era, no legislation proved more successful and more enduring than the 1906 food and drug legislation. The acts established the foundations of modern American food and drug law, and gave birth to the Food and Drug Administration. For the first time, the federal government assumed permanent and comprehensive responsibility for the health and safety of the American food and drug supply. Although the statutes have been revised many times since 1906, the essence of modern food and drug law remains consistent with the principles of federal responsibility for consumer safety that underlay the first statutes a century ago. The passage of the 1906 food and drug legislation stemmed from the actions of many people across the political landscape, ranging from Senator Albert Beveridge to socialist writer Upton Sinclair. But no indi- 1 viduals played a larger public role in the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act than Theodore Roosevelt and Harvey Wiley...
Words: 11660 - Pages: 47
...The Pure Food and Drug Act was passed. The reason for the Act was to secure the general population against debasement of nourishment and from items recognized as empowering without support. The first Pure Food and Drug Act was altered in 1912, 1913, and 1923. A more noteworthy expansion of its degree occurred in 1933. President Theodore Roosevelt started the procedure by guaranteeing the entry of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906, which was trailed by the Pure Food and Drug Act, passed in 1906 to end up viable toward the beginning of 1907. It was to be connected to merchandise sent in outside or interstate business. The intention was to prevent corruption or misbranding. Debasement was characterized in different ways. For confectionary, debasement would be the aftereffect of any color of flavor or enhance, or of some other fixings hurtful to human wellbeing. Nourishment was debased on the off chance that it contained smudged or deteriorated creature matter, toxic or harmful ingredients, or any attempt to disguise second rate segments. Arrangements included. Before 1906, when the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed, there were no controls in regards to the ethical utilization of human subjects in research. There were no purchaser controls, no Food and Drug Administration (FDA), no Common Rule, and no Institutional Review Board (IRB). What takes after is a short dialog of...
Words: 679 - Pages: 3
...Drug and alcohol control Name Course Institution Tutor Date Drug and alcohol control The pure food and drug act of 1906 The pure food and drugs act of 1906 was an important piece of the progressive Era registration. This act was enacted to safeguard the public against the adulteration of food and also from the products which were identified to be healthful without the scientific support. It was applied to the goods that were shipped in the foreign commerce. The main reason was to safeguard against misbranding or adulteration. The adulteration was as a result of poisonous color or flavor in food or even various ingredients that which would be harmful to the health of humans. The provisions included development of the food and drug administration that was entrusted on with the charge of testing of all drugs and foods that was meant for human consumption (Curtis, 2013). The provisions required that there be prescriptions from the licensed physicians prior to purchasing certain drugs by the patients. There were also requirements for the label caution for drugs that are addictive. In case a distributor or a manufacturer were caught offending this enforcement they were liable for prosecution by the central government. However distributors were not entirely liable to this action if they could show a sufficient guarantee from the vendors (Curtis, 2013). The pure food and drug act also required that certain drugs inclusive of alcohol, heroin, cocaine, cannabis and morphine...
Words: 1880 - Pages: 8
...To begin, Theodore Roosevelt, environmental activist and conservationist, wasn't just a president and military leader. He spent many of his years in office making the best use of his presidential power, in order to protect our country's most valuable asset: the environment. Before Roosevelt took office, the ravages of coal, oil, and steel production on America's natural habitats were getting outrages. The resulting pollution, waste, and indifference of the citizenry were causes for great alarm to Roosevelt. While he was president, Roosevelt used his executive power to create laws to help protect the environment. Furthermore, He created the U.S forest service to manage the nations water and timber resources. Moreover, Roosevelt reserved over...
Words: 304 - Pages: 2
...The Progressive Era lasted from 1890 to 1920, in which many reforms, movements and politicians came into place. It wasn’t always a political movement but began as a social movement to alleviate the ills that people especially those in poverty faced. This included constitutional amendments such as the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th amendment, the Pure Food and Drug Act and countless other reforms. All these reforms led to an improvement in working conditions for workers but ultimately didn’t help everyone. The 16th through the 19th amendment were all passed during the progressive era. The 16th amendment which was ratified on February 3rd, 1913. It gave Congress the right to collect an income tax. The progressives saw this as a victory so that the...
Words: 317 - Pages: 2
...reforms were a big impact on socity. With both groups striking, protesting and civil acts, they were able to make safer working conditions and end sufferage. From 1920 and earlier food, drinks and medicines were far from safe for consumption. Meat packiging factories did not care what went into the meat. In Upton Sinclares book The Jungle , the book depicts working class poverty, the absence of social programs, harsh and unpleasant living and working conditions, and a hopelessness among many workers. Many readers were concerned with his exposure of health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century, based on an investigation he did for a socialist newspaper. The book helped bring along two acts that would help in consumer protection. The Fedral Meat Inspection Act and The Pure Food and Drug Act.The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 (FMIA) is a United States Congress Act that works to prevent adulterated or misbranded meat and meat products from being sold as food and to ensure that meat and meat products are slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was consumer protection laws enacted by the Federal Government in the 20th century and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. Its main purpose was to ban foreign and interstate traffic in adulterated or mislabeled food and drug products. In the late 19th century into the early 20th century womens suffrage...
Words: 497 - Pages: 2
...In 1911, Dr. Hamilton Wright, the United States Opium Commissioner, at the time, stated that “of all the nations… the United States [consumed] most habit-forming drugs per capita.”1 This branded America as a drug lord, and future generations would continue to uphold the atrocious title and reputation, demonstrating that the United States’ drug control system was poorly enforced during the 1900’s. Neglectful physicians, contraband traces in food and medicine, utter ignorance in part of the American government, and social retaliation led to America becoming a leader in illicit substance distribution and use. One would think that medical professionals should be dedicated to ensuring patient health and safety, but history reveals ethical mishaps and disappointing facts dictating quite the contrary. Heroin, a substance extracted from the seed pod of certain poppy plants,2 was once a primary component for medications that treated cough-inducing illnesses. Bayer, a major pharmaceutical company, widely advertised heroin and its concoctions, such as heroinhydrochloride, to the general public. It was claimed as, “the cheapest specific for the relief of coughs,” which would appeal to any customer (see page 11, Figure 1). However, heroin is derived from morphine, which is highly addictive and even toxic in large quantities. Morphine caused crisis among civil war veterans, who became dangerously addicted to the pain reliever.3 Even with these previous events in mind...
Words: 3137 - Pages: 13
...Impacts of The Jungle on American Society As Judith Lewis Herman exhorted in her novel, Trauma and Recovery, "The ordinary response to atrocities is to banish them from consciousness” (“Trauma and Recovery Quotes”). However, a nationwide nerve was struck when the grotesque meat- packing industry was revealed by Upton Sinclair. He blazoned to Americans across the country the lurid details of the industry though his novel, The Jungle, a novel which changed American history. [This scathing review on the meat packing industry with socialist undertones brought an advent of great social and legal change to the United States.] With its stunning entrance into American literature in 1906, The Jungle created an uproar that has endured over a century since its publication. Upton Sinclair was an ardent proponent of socialism in America and yearned to reform the ailing country (Fogel). His novel was produced as a metaphor, comparing a jungle directly to the corrupt meat packing industry based in Chicago. Sinclair sought to expose the unknown atrocities hidden in the meat packing industry, which was not forced to obey any form of regulation (Shafer). Sinclair wrote that, “It was like some horrible crime committed in a dungeon, all unseen and unheeded, buried out of sight and of memory” (Sinclair 56). This fictional piece of literature brought America to a screeching halt. Never before had such a bold statement been made about an industry that affected almost every single American. Upton’s...
Words: 1435 - Pages: 6
...They introduced the division of labor into their meatpacking plants, replacing the skilled “all-around butcher” with a “killing gang of 157 men divided into 78 different ‘trades,’ each man performing the same minute operation a thousand times during a full workday.” The book portrays the objects poverty, harsh working condition and often dangerous unsanitary living condition. The jungle showed the public what was going on the factories. It showed how owners had no regard for worker safety nor public safety. People getting fingers cut off and being mixed in with meat bad/ diseased food so on. It impacted the world by showing how immigrants were being mistreated and how hard life really was in the United State. The working condition...
Words: 1067 - Pages: 5
...Problems of the Progressive era The progressive age was one of wonders and progression throughout our country. Even with all the things that were being done for the better such as food regulations, machines, and rights for some, there were terrible things that happened due to rapid industrialization and immigration. Things such as poor health and sanitation, and terrible working conditions. Social and environmental reforms were brought forward during this time also to better our country.I feel these things were searched out and most of them fixed, while others were not but no matter what are country is a better place because of these reforms.. All over America unsafe things were falling into the meat in meat packaging plants and people were adding additives to milk such as chalk or plaster. Progressive journalist (such as Upton Sinclair) exposed these unsafe practices to the public, causing a public outcry for change. The results of the outcry was the 1906 Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and the Drug Act. While there was also a pure milk campaign to better milk quality to help, drop child and infant death rates.There were also environmental abuses from companies poisoned the air and water with pollution, and urban slums were lacking water and sewer systems causing disease or death from poor sanitation. The...
Words: 938 - Pages: 4
...“Do we need more regulation on food? Why or why not?” Food regulation is a developing concept that constantly requires attention and iteration in order to minimize food safety and health risk and best manage and communicate these risks. Food Regulation is the production, processing, distribution, retail, packaging and labeling of food items and constituents that are governed by a mass of laws, regulation, codes of practice and guidance. Similarly, food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation and storage of food to prevent foodborne illness. Though similar, the differentiating factor is that food safety informs food regulations. Consider food safety as the assessment and food regulation as the management and communication domains to reduce risks. The current piece will evaluate the scope of food regulation and look at how it has been developing over the years. The current piece highlights the mechanism of food regulation, explores major players and shares several differentiated case studies to further navigate food regulation problems and implementations. Over the course of history, food regulations, both proposed and implemented, have represented the primary concerns that arose during a certain period of time. Food regulation has been enforced since 300 BCE and since then, one of the most important food regulations was enacted in 1906 through the Pure Food and Drugs Act. The Pure Food and Drugs act prohibited interstate commerce...
Words: 1788 - Pages: 8
...The Jungle and Fast Food Nation are both books that were written to expose the working environments and carelessness that goes into preparing packaged meat. These two books were written to do two things. One of the two things that they were intended for was to outrage the public about how the food was being prepared, and what it took to prepare the food. The second goal was to have reforms done about these processes. Upton Sinclair wrote the Jungle in 1906 wanting the public and government to notice the unsafe and unsanitary working conditions and processes that went into making food that was being sold to them. Sinclair’s goal was achieved because the public took notice of the book and all the awful things that were done to the things and food being sold to them. This led to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. This act made sure that there were no other substances and drugs in the food sold to the public, hence the name of the act....
Words: 533 - Pages: 3
...The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act was a law which was enforced to be used by United States Food and Drug administration to safeguard the health of the consumers of Food, Drug and Cosmetics in the United States. The enactment of the law was done after the disaster that happened in 1937 due to the consumption of Elixir sulfanilamide which resulted in the death of public due to its toxicity effect. The disaster happened because of the use of Polyethylene glycol as a solvent to dissolve the sulfanilamide which resulted in the toxicity of the medicament. The medicament was not tested for its toxicity studies and Pharmacological studies which resulted in failure to determine its toxic effects. So, the consumers of the medicine died of severe toxicity. Thereafter in 1938 the Federal government passed this law to ensure that the manufacturers perform all the required tests on the products manufactured so that they are...
Words: 465 - Pages: 2
...assassinated, Roosevelt became president. He was also the youngest president at 42 years old. 4. The Square Deal is the term Roosevelt used to describe the various progressive reforms he sponsored. 5. The Meat Inspection Act introduced strict sanitary requirements for meatpackers and created the federal meat inspection. 6. The Pure Food and Drug act was passed by congress in 1906. It halted the sale of contaminated foods and medicines and demanded veracity in labeling. 7. Conservation, to Muir was the complete preservation of the wilderness. While to Roosevelt and Pinchot, it meant that some wilderness will the preserved while others will be developed. 8. The NAACP stood for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP’s purpose was to achieve equality among the races. Critical Thinking Forming Generalizations: Experts greatly influenced Roosevelt’s reforms. Upton Sinclair, an expert on the meat scandal, greatly influenced Roosevelt’s Meat Inspection Act by exposing the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry. Dr. Harvey Washington, a Chief Chemist at the Department of Agriculture, greatly advocated the Pure Food and Drug Act by criticizing manufacturers added preservatives to food. When Roosevelt camped with John Muir, a conservationist, was able to persuade the president to set aside 148 million acres of forest reserve, 1.5 million acres of water-power sites, 80 million acres of land for resources, 50 wildlife...
Words: 411 - Pages: 2
...been passed to benefit the American society and citizens socially, politically and economically. These laws and amendments often have a positive affect on society. Two major laws and amendments that impacted American Society were the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the 19th amendment giving woman rights. The United States industries were all growing in the late 1800’s and this caused the way food was produced to change. Before the industrial revolution most American’s were farming and growing their own food. If they didn’t grow their own then they would get it from a neighbor or small town store. Because it wasn’t easy to preserve food it was generally eaten soon after the animals were slaughtered or the food was harvested. However, with large monopolies forming they began to produce mass amounts of food to sell to the public. With the growth of cities, food had to be sent long distances to get the people in the cities. Food manufactures needed to come up with a way to preserve this food while it is on the long route to get to the cities. They began to hire chemists to find ways to preserve the food, because there were not many laws that dealt with the distribution and preparation of food products they were able to put preservatives in the food. However, if the meat spoiled they would also put a dye in it to make the color back to normal and would sell the spoiled meat. The meat packing industry was one of the worst. The meat was often prepared from diseased animals and shoveled...
Words: 793 - Pages: 4
