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.
Barbara Browne
Employed by the Food and Drug Administration in 1955 Browne saw the fraud within the administration. Fifteen years later Browne resigned from the FDA. She shifted her efforts towards creating better quality of drug approval. After testifying before the Kefauver Senate Subcommittee, the United States Congress modified the drug approval process. Browne worked with the Bureau of Deceptive Practices at the Federal Trade Commission as a medical officer in order to bring to light the ethical issues present within the Food and Drug Administration.