Pure Food and Drug Act advances in Congress, June 23, 1906
On this day in 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act cleared a key hurdle toward its passage when the House and Senate endorsed a joint conference committee report favoring the bill. The House vote was 240-17. President Theodore Roosevelt signed the landmark Progressive Era legislation into law on June 30.
For the first time in U.S. annals, the statute permitted the federal government to regulate food and drugs that moved in interstate commerce while forbidding the manufacture, sale, or transportation of poisonous patent medicines. It arose, with strong White House support, in the wake of exposés by such muckrakers as Upton Sinclair (“The Jungle”) and Samuel Hopkins Adams (“The Great American Fraud”). In practice, the law chiefly guaranteed “truth in labeling.” It was initially aimed at raising standards in the food and drug industries while protecting the reputations of honest companies.
On the same day the law went into effect, Roosevelt also signed the Federal Meat Inspection Act. Enforcement of the Pure Food and Drug Act was assigned to the Bureau of Chemistry in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which in 1930 was renamed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Meat Inspection Act was assigned to what is now known as the Food Safety and Inspection Service, which remains within the Agriculture Department.
Sen. Weldon Heyburn (R-Idaho) introduced the Pure Food and Drug Act on Dec. 14, 1905. It sat unconsidered by the House for three months, causing some proponents to wonder whether Speaker Joe Cannon (R-Ill.) planned to squelch the legislation.
On June 21, with the congressional session soon to end, Rep. James Mann (R-Ill.) rose on the floor to speak about fruit that had been colored with poisonous red dye and liquor that had been distilled with chemical fillers. His speech made an impression on many members and was viewed by some reporters as a breakthrough event which guaranteed its subsequent passage by an overwhelming margin.
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