Food And Drug Act Of 1906 Essay

People in the United States had been displeased with the dangerous working conditions, political corruption and social injustice of the industrial age. However, it was not until the late 19th century that the issues were finally brought up in cheap newspapers and magazines which ended up causing a great opposition. Writers directed their criticisms against the oil, beef and tobacco companies, manipulation of natural resources, food processing, and many others. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was the first of many significant consumer protection laws passed by congress in the 20th century. It was because of this Act the Food and Drug Administration was created. However, before the Food and Drug Act of 1906 was passed, there was no such thing as regulating how food was produced. While doctors and majority of the public wished for food regulations many corporations as well as the National Association of State Dairy and Food opposed food safety due to the fact that it would ruin business for them. It wasn’t until numerous of people finally spoke out about the horrendous secrets of food production that congress finally took action. Some of many who helped speak out against the food processing business were the Muckrakers. They successfully

It was originally concerned with ensuring products were labeled correctly, however, later on efforts were made to outlaw any products what were not safe as well as not effective. The act required that drugs such as alcohol, cocaine, heroin, morphine and cannabis were to be accurately labeled with substances and dosage. The Pure Food and Drug Act was responsible for testing all foods and drugs intended for human consumption, made it a requirement for prescriptions to be signed from a licensed physician before a patient could purchase certain drugs, and made it a requirement of label warnings on habit forming