Pure Food and Drug Act
The 1906 Act paved the way for the eventual creation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is generally considered to be that agency's founding date, though the agency existed before the law was passed and was not named FDA until later. "While the Food and Drug act remains a foundational law of the FDA mission, it's not the law that created the FDA. [Initially,] the Bureau of Chemistry (the precursor to the FDA) regulated food safety. In 1927, the Bureau was reorganized into the Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administration and the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils. The FDIA was renamed the FDA in 1930."
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.