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.
Pesticide regulation in the United States
The Delaney House Committee hearings in 1950-51 were the first instance of government hearings concerning pesticide safety. The hearings resulted in two amendments to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act: The Pesticides Control Amendment (PCA) and the Food Additives Amendment (FAA). These two amendments resulted in Food and Drug Administration (FDA) involvement in pesticide regulation. The PCA of 1954 was the first time Congress passed guidance regarding the establishment of safety limits for pesticide residues on food. PCA authorized the FDA to ban pesticides they determined to be unsafe if they were sprayed directly on food. The Food Additives Amendment, which included the Delaney Clause, prohibited the pesticide residues from any carcinogenic pesticides in processed food. In 1959, FIFRA was amended requiring that pesticides be registered.