History of the Food and Drug Administration
In June 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law the Food and Drug Act, also known as the "Wiley Act" after its chief advocate. The Act prohibited, under penalty of seizure of goods, the interstate transport of food which had been "adulterated," with that term referring to the addition of fillers of reduced "quality or strength," coloring to conceal "damage or inferiority," formulation with additives "injurious to health," or the use of "filthy, decomposed, or putrid" substances. The act applied similar penalties to the interstate marketing of "adulterated" drugs, in which the "standard of strength, quality, or purity" of the active ingredient was not either stated clearly on the label or listed in the "United States Pharmacopoeia" or the "National Formulary". The act also banned "misbranding" of food and drugs. The responsibility for examining food and drugs for such "adulteration" or "misbranding" was given to Wiley's USDA Bureau of Chemistry.
History of pharmacy in the United States
Hunsberger cites the founding of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (PCP) as "the first step forward in the development of a system of pharmaceutical practice in the United States," with the 1821 "meeting of apothecaries...held in Carpenters' Hall" (where the Declaration of Independence had been signed) to set up the first formal college of pharmacy and first pharmacists' association (the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy) in North America the seminal founding event. On March 13, 1821, "Sixty-eight pharmacists signed the Constitution of the first pharmaceutical association in the United States," with the symbolism of the Carpenters' Hall backdrop undeniable: American pharmacy would have a constitution, following in the footsteps of the founding fathers and their constitutional framework. The PCP constitution included a strict code of ethics that would expel anyone from the college who "adulterated" medications or knowingly sold "articles of that character," and provided for a "committee of inspection" to verify the purity, safety and effectiveness of medicines, and a "committee of equity" to arbitrate disputes between member pharmacists.
The college, which was founded as an association to advance the discipline of pharmacy not just a university, quickly became a game-changer: in 1824 they published "carefully determined formulas" for the fabrication of (formerly) "secret-formula" patent medicines previously imported from the UK, an essential step toward self-sufficient pharmaceutical manufacturing in the U.S.